The Rest of the Summer

Just a quick note to let you know what I've got on my plate leading up to Worldcon. 

Speaking of Worldcon, I'm going to read at least some of the short fiction nominees, as many as time will allow, and give my thoughts.  I don't think I'm going to try to read all the novels.  The publisher of two of them put a security code of the ebooks that went out in the Hugo voters' packet.  I don't appreciate what that implies.  I'm not going to upload the books to a file sharing site.  I'm not a crook, nor do I care to be treated as though I were.  Therefore, I won't be reading (or voting for) Blackout by Mira Grant or 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson.  I do have some comments to make about this year's nominees in general.

The Gemmell Awards are a bit later than usual this year to coincide with the World Fantasy Convention.  My review copy of Winter Be My Shield by Jo Spurrier arrived the other day.  It's on the long ballot for the Morningstar Award.  I'm looking forward to reading it.  I'll post the review on the Gemmell Awards site and a notice here when it goes live.  After the awards are given out, I'll post the review here.

I've got a number of titles from Pyr.  The ones I intend to review in July are The Doctor and the Kid by Mike Resnick, Kindred and Wings by Phillipa Ballentine, and Wrath-Bearing Tree by James Enge.  Then there's The Scroll of Years by Chris Willrich and The Doctor and the Rough Rider by Mike Resnick.  Those I probably won't get to until August.

I've had a copy of the conclusion of Joshua P. Simon's Blood and Tears Trilogy, Trial and Glory on my ereader for far too long.  It's going to be reviewed within the next four to six weeks. 

I don't know what order I'm going to read them.  It will depend on my mood and what I feel like reading.  I'm also going to throw in a bit of shorter works, both here and over at Futures Past and Present.  There are also a couple of other novels I'd like to read by the end of the summer.  And somewhere in there, I'll be reading things for my column at Amazing Stories (TM). 

What I've Been Up to at My Other Blogging Gig

I thought I'd list the posts I've done over at the Amazing Stories (TM) blog.  I'll probably do this every month or two in case something I've done there catches your eye.

I started out with "Opening Salvo" and "What I Mean When I Say", both of which were intended to set the tone and the focus.  The former states I'll be reviewing indie published and small press books, while the latter defined what I mean by terms like "indie published" and "self published".

Then I started in on reviews.  The first, "Five Military SF Novellas by Five Authors" was a review of a project Kevin J. Anderson put together, Five by Five.  I followed it up by a review of Space Eldritch, "Dead Cosmonauts and Other Eldritch Horrors."

"Frogs in Aspic, Like a Box of Chocolates" was a review of the short story collection, Frogs in Aspic by Keith P. Graham.  Graham was an author I'd not read before this book.  I looked at a sword and sorcery novel next, Morticai's Luck, in "Swashbuckling with Morticai".

The two most recent posts both concerned Joshua P. Simon, whose work I've reviewed on this site, here and here.  "Three Military Fantasy Shorts" examined three shorter works that fill in some of the backstory in Simon's Blood and Tears Trilogy.  Then, I followed the review up this week with "An Interview with Indie Author Joshua P. Simon", which is just what it says it is.  I ask Mr. Simon a number of questions involving his work, how he got started writing, and what it's like to be an indie author.

I'm tending to focus more on science fiction, since Amazing Stories started out as a science fiction magazine, but as you can see, I've included a number of fantasies. 

Check out what's going on at Amazing Stories.  There's a lot of great content being put up every day, and I'm not saying that because my name is on some of it.  I've gotten behind, so when spring break rolls around in a couple of weeks, I'm going to be playing catch-up.

Steel and Sorrow Delivers

Steel and Sorrow:  Book Two of the Blood and Tears Trilogy
Joshua P. Simon
Trade Paper, $14.95
ebook $3.99 Kindle Nook Smashwords

Joshua P. Simon set himself a high standard with his premier novel, Rise and Fall (reviewed here).  He maintains that high standard in his second novel. 

I'm going to avoid giving too many details about the story so that I don't give away either of the twists at the end of the previous book.  (They were great twists, too.)  The story takes place the next year.  The civil war in Cadonia continues, with rebel nobles trying to wrest the throne from Queen Elyse.  The Hell Patrol and a few loyal nobles are all that stand between her and the traitors, but the mercenaries have their own wounds to deal with, not all of them physical.  On the continent of Hesh, Tobin continues his war of conquest, unaware that a beautiful snake shares his bed.

October

Well another page on the calendar had turned, and I'm more behind than ever.  Some things never change.  Here's what I've got on the plate for October.  First, sometime tomorrow, I'll announce the winner of the James Enge book giveaway.  I've got a dentist appointment in the morning along with my son, followed by a three hour class, so it might be later in the day before that announcement goes up.

The next novel on the agenda is Steel and Sorrow by Joshua P. Simon.  I'll probably start it sometime this weekend.  I'll refrain from saying what novel is after that; I'm going to play it by ear.  I've got several I'm going to read this month, but I haven't decided on the final order.

There are a couple of items that are seasonal in nature that I want to sprinkle in the mix, so I'm not going to lock myself down to any particular sequence.

One thing I am going to read a great deal of over the next few months is short fiction.  In the next week, I want to review the premier issue of Nightmare magazine (I'm about a third of the way through now, and it's great), the new fiction being posted on Black Gate, the anniversary double sized issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies (it's not live as of this writing, but I have a subscription and have already downloaded it), plus the inaugural stories in Eclipse Online.  Jonathan Strahan was kind enough to send me advance copies of the first two stories, and I'll be reading those over the next day or two.  Plus I have a number of anthologies and single author collections sitting on the shelves I've been wanting to finish.

That's plenty to keep me busy.

What's Next

I've got almost all of the stuff out of the old house we didn't have time to pack before we moved.  One more night (~1.5 hrs) should get the rest of it.  Then maybe I can get back to reading, writing, and blogging.  I've been reading a novel by Scott Fitzgerald Gray for about a week and a half, which is a long time for this novel.  It's good, and I'm really enjoying it.  It's just that I haven't had much time to read lately, and when I do, my aging body betrays me by going to sleep in spite of my best efforts to finish one more chapter. 

I'm hoping to make it to Fencon this weekend.  It was looking like a done deal, but some things have come up.  I think I'll still make it.  I really need the break.

Afterwards, I've got a novel to read that's been sitting in the queue for way too long , followed by A Guile of Dragons by James Enge.  This one will have a giveaway associated with it.  After that, although not necessarily this order will be Hard Times in Dragon City by Matt Forbeck, Steel and Sorrow by Joshua P. Simon, and The Black God's War by Moses Siregar III.  I'll also be weaving some anthologies and periodicals in the mix as well as a small backlog of titles from Angry Robot that I wasn't able to read when I intended because of the move. 

All of this is tentative of course, but that's the general plan.

Rise and Fall Heralds the Rise of a Great New Fantasy Trilogy

Rise and Fall:  Book One of the Blood and Tears Trilogy
Joshua P. Simon
Paperback $14.95  
various ebook formats $2.99: Amazon  B&N Smashwords

Seeing as how he's only published one novel and a few pieces of short fiction, it would be understandable if the name "Joshua P. Simon" were unfamiliar to you.  But if you're smart, you'll make note of it and remember it.  If you're smarter, you'll buy and read Rise and Fall.  

In his author bio, Mr. Simon includes among his influences Robert E. Howard and Glen Cook's Black Company.  Howard is one of my favorite authors, and the Black Company one of my favorite series.  By divulging this information, Mr. Simon set the bar of my expectations high.  Very high.  The question is, did he meet them?

The Next Week or So

I'm getting over a sinus infection at the moment, something that isn't helped by the dust and the wind here on the South Plains.  Unless something major happens tomorrow, I probably won't be posting anything new until Sunday night or more probably Monday evening.  I'll be attending ConDFW this weekend and will give a full report when I get back.  I'm also reading Mark Finn's updated biography of Robert E. Howard, Blood and Thunder, and Matt Forbeck's Carpathia.  They're both great reads, and I'll review them next week.  I had hoped to finish one of them in time to write a review before the con, but being sick has slowed me down some.

In the meantime, this Saturday will see the first guest post here.  Author Ty Johnston is doing a blog tour to promote his new book, Demon Chains, the latest in his Kron Darkbow series.  I'd like to thank Ty in advance for his column.  I've read it, and it's good.  Check it out.  And if you haven't read any of his books, start with City of Rogues, which I reviewed a few months ago.

Coming up after the report on ConDFW, I've got commitments to review (not necessarily in this order) Shadow's Master by Jon Sprunk,  Thief's Covenant by Ari Marmell, The Alchemist of Souls by Anne Lyle, Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig, Trang by Mary Sisson, and Rise and Fall by Joshua P. Simon.  I'll probably look at some short fiction in the midst of all that, plus the occasional essay.