More on Ebook Prices

My wife had surgery yesterday morning.  She's home now and doing fine, but I have been and will be a little distracted.  Also it doesn't help that I'm in the middle of final exams.  Point being, posts for the next few days, when there are any, will tend to be short and sweet.

So for your education and edification, let me refer you to the following post about ebook prices by Nik Fletcher, at the end of which he makes a couple of good suggestions.  And thanks to Passive Guy at The Passive Voice for making me aware of this post.

When Honor is a Career Liability

Among Thieves
Douglas Hulick
Roc, 417 p., $7.99

This is a first novel, but it doesn't read like a first novel.  It's polished, complex, fast-moving, and keeps you off balance.  In other words, it's a great deal of fun.  If you like Scott Lynch or Stephen Brust, this one is probably your cup of tea.

To briefly explain the setup.  Ildrecca is an ancient city, seat of an ancient empire.  An empire with a very old emperor.  A number of centuries ago, the Angels split the soul of the Emperor Dorminikos into three parts.  Each of the three parts was then reincarnated as the emperors Markino, Theodoi, and Lucien.  When one dies, the next in the cycle assumes the throne.  That way there is always one aspect of the original in power at any time.  Sort of a sovereignty-by-time-share.

This arrangement has worked for centuries and allowed for a (mostly) unbroken sequence of rule, with only a few interruptions when someone has attempted kill off the present incarnation and take over before the next incarnation can be identified.  There's only one problem.  Each incarnation is starting to show signs of insanity, and each incarnation is showing those signs earlier in his life than his predecessors.

David Gemmell Legend Award Finalists Announced

This year's slate of finalists for the David Gemmell Legend Award for Best Fantasy Novel 2010 have been announced:

•  Towers of Midnight by Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan (Tor/Orbit)
• The Alchemist in the Shadows by Pierre Pevel (Gollancz)
• The War of the Dwarves by Marcus Heitz (Orbit)
• The Black Prism by Brent Weeks (Orbit)
• The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (Tor/Gollancz)
• The Desert Spear by Peter V. Brett (Voyager)

Named after the late David Gemmell, the award aims to recognize excellence in the fantasy field.  The main page of the award is here.

Also announced are the finalists for the Morningstar Award for Best Fantasy Newcomer/Debut and the finalists for the Ravenheart Award for Best Fantasy Book Jacket/Artist.

The nominees for the Morningstar Award are:

Long Looks at Short Fiction: The Forest Boy by Martha Wells

It's been a while since I've done one of the Long Looks at Short Fiction posts.  Far too long a while.  A few weeks ago I reviewed The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells and griped a little bit about having to wait on the order of a year before the sequel is published.

I really enjoyed the world Wells created and have wanted to see more of it since before I finished the last page and closed the book.  Fortunately, I have.  On her webpage, Martha Wells has made available a selection of novel excepts and short stories.  You should really check some of them out.  One of them is entitled "The Forest Boy", and it's a prequel to The Cloud Roads.  In that book we learned that the protagonist, Moon, had been orphaned as a young boy.  Because of his ability to shape shift, he was never able to settle down and find a home, instead continually being forced to leave because of the fear his other form caused the people around him.

In "The Forest Boy" we get to see an episode from Moon's early life, one of the attempts he made to find a home and acceptance, and how jealousy drove him from it.

Instead of making Moon the viewpoint character, Wells has chosen instead to tell the story from the point of view of Tren.  Tren is one of six foster children adopted by Kaleb and his wife Ari.  The settlement where they live is along a trading route called the Long Road, and the children are primarily those abandoned along the road.

Blogging Kull: The Altar and the Scorpion

Kull:  Exile of Atlantis
Del Rey
trade paper, 317 p., $17

This is another of the brief tale, although unlike the previous one, "The Striking of the Gong," Kull isn't featured in this one but merely mentioned. This is a minor story in the Kull canon, and upon close examination it's easy to see why. 

Howard opens the story with an unnamed youth bowing before an altar of a scorpion and imploring the scorpion to save him and the girl he loves, also never given a name, from the evil priest Guron.  Guron isn't a priest of the Scorpion God but rather the  Black Shadow.  Guron and his priests are sacking the city, something else that doesn't have a name.  Guron plans to sacrifice the pair on an altar to the Black Shadow.  From what Howard tells us, the cult of the Black Shadow practices human sacrifice. 

Gene Wolfe's 80th Birthday Blog

The name Gene Wolfe should be familiar to most of you reading this blog.  Author of numerous works of science fiction, fantasy, and unclassifiable combinations of both, Gene Wolfe is a giant in the field.  Mr. Wolfe's 80th birthday is this Saturday, May 7th.  If you click here, you will be taken to a blog in which you can leave a birthday message.  Drop him a line and wish him many happy returns.  And feel free to pass this link on.

Realms of Fantasy: A Review of the April 2011 Issue

Realms of Fantasy,  April 2011 Issue
81 p., $6.99

I don't know if this issue was late or if the distributor at the local chain box store simply drug its feet, but I just saw this issue a couple of days ago.  I know it wasn't in the store a week prior to that. 

It doesn't really matter, either.  The important thing is that the issue is there.  After last year's cancellation of the magazine, it's good to see it back on the stands. The usual slew of columns are basically intact:  book reviews, movie reviews, a special in-depth look at the Addams Family on Broadway.  Theodora Goss devotes her Folkroots column to vampires, something we've examined a time or two here in the last few weeks. The Artist Gallery, always one of the high points of the magazine, looks at Brom this month. 

Which brings me to a negative point.  The cover stock used by the new publisher is of a lower quality than what was used in the past.  I was halfway through reading the issue when I noticed that the ink was coming off on my fingers.  Now I prefer my reading material to melt in my mind, not in my hands.  I understand the need to economize and that the new publisher, Damnation Books, is in business to make a profit.  But at seven bucks a pop, it wouldn't hurt to invest in the cover a little  more.

All that aside, the fiction is the backbone of the magazine, even though it tries to cover every aspect of the fantasy field.  So the question is, how does the fiction in this issue hold up?