A few bits ‘n’ bobs
By
Lavie Tidhar’s wonderful steampunk romp The Bookman continues to draw attention from all over the blogosphere. The Mad Hatter’s Bookshelf and Book Review lists it as one of his books to look forward to for 2010.
And how about his for a review from Fantasy Book Critic:
Self-contained and with a great ending, The Bookman seems to be part of a planned series and I really am happy about that since I want more of this wonderful milieu.
Just big time fun,”The Bookman” is highly, highly recommended.
A fabulous review of Andy Remic’s Gemmell-inspired axe fest, Kell’s Legend over at Lateral Books.
It’s been so long since we had Robin Hood, or Conan the Barbarian floating around, and Gemmell – he updated them with class. For me, Gemmell revived my favourite heroes and gave them a good kick in the pants… Mister Remic looks like he could do this, too.
Lateral Books also has this to say about Sixty-One Nails:
I really didn’t think it would really hold to its own and become something unique. I thought it would remain under the Gaiman shadow for the whole novel… I thought this one would die a slow death toward the end… By the end of the novel, I was hanging onto the pages, drawing every last scene out as though I were sucking it out through a straw. I really did enjoy the ride.
Meanwhile, over at the World SF News Blog, Angry Robot’s launch novelist Kaaron Warren interviews a few of her Australian writer mates (who all happen to be bloody good, by the way) about how their cultural backgrounds influence their writing.
KAARON. Gillian talks about the ‘fall-back cultural position’. How can we avoid this in our fiction?
GILLIAN: I don’t think we can avoid it. Novels are based on us sharing some of these with others. However, we can control our use a bit more and reduce some of the negatives. We can learn about our own background and find out what our assumptions are. We can watch for recurring patterns in our own fiction and in others’.
SIMON: To start with, you don’t have to avoid it. It’s just important you’re aware of it, so you can avoid it if you want to.
YARITJI: Isn’t the ‘fall-back cultural position’ something people do no matter where they come from or what their heritage is? People write from what they know and understand from their own perceptions on life and the people around them. I don’t think I use a ‘fall-back cultural position’ with my fiction, unless I’m asked to use some of my heritage.
Over at The Book Smugglers Kaaron Warren tells of her favourite books of 2009, and what she’s looking forward to in 2010. I did the same a couple of week ago, but forgot to mention it at the time.
Incidentally, I’ve been interviewed by Charles Tan at The Bibliophile Stalker. If you’ve ever wondered what the hell it is I do all day when I’m not blogging here, feel free to pop across. Do prepare yourself for disappointment, however.
