Tag: Miscellany Page 151 of 175

Been one of those days, but it’s still Saturday, so posting it still counts 🙂

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• How the Hitchhiker’s Guide can make the world a better place
• One other way to help make the world a better place, at least a little: comes from this tweet reminder — from Harry Connolly
• From ‘alibi’ to ‘mauve’: what famous writers’ most used words say about them — a fun little read
• Interview: the Lucky Nows — Alex Bledsoe talks about getting someone to write a song for the new Tufa novel and then interviews them.
• 10 Characters in the Mercy Thompson Series You Absolutely Must Meet — B&N’s Sci-Fi & Fantasy blog has a good piece in honor of the new Mercy book this week.
• INFOGRAPHIC: The Salaries of Famous Fictional Characters — an odd selection of characters in this Infographic featured on Electric Literature.

A Couple of Book-ish Related Podcast Episodes you might want to give a listen:
• Alan Dean Foster was interviewed on Hank Garner’s Author Stories podcast this week — some fascinating stuff from an author I’m sure you’ve read a little of.
• The Writers Panel #319: Christine Lennon/Bob Daily, features some good stuff — I really liked what Daily said about characters/scenes (have used it a little already in looking at books). The story about getting his job on Frasier is pretty good, too, albeit off-topic for this blog.

After a couple of slow weeks on the New Release front, we get hit with this one…leading to: Bledsoe’s right. Get to work, people. This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon are a good place to start:
• Gather Her Round by Alex Bledsoe — the fifth Tufa novel looks to be the darkest so far. Really looking forward to this.
• Silence Fallen by Patricia Briggs — I’m almost halfway done with this, and it’s a good one, folks (shock). Mercy’s kidnapped by a vampire, and well, Adam’s trying not to kill everyone in sight.
• Magic for Nothing by Seanan McGuire — the new InCryptid novel is from Antimony’s point of view, and she’s getting to deal with the fallout from Verity’s live television surprise at the end of Chaos Choreography.
• How the Hell Did This Happen? The 2016 Presidential Election by P. J. O’Rourke — title says it all, don’t it?
• Say Nothing by Brad Parks — Parks’ first stand-alone is fantastic. Read my full take here.
• Hunger Makes the Wolf by Alex Wells — SF world, Biker Gang, and some strange sort of magic. Cool book. My full take on this one is right here.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to five experts for following the blog this week.

Skimpy results for odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• How the dusty Merriam-Webster dictionary reinvented itself. Bigly.
• Please Stop Writing in Library Books — who are these monsters? (hyperbole aside, it’s a monstrous thing to do)
• Here Are The Media Hottakes We’d See If The Chronicles Of Narnia Were Released This Year
• Book Storage Ideas for Apartments and Small Living Spaces — many of which I’d like to incorporate into my house

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Accidental Detective by Michael RN Jones — Meet Victor Jones, Mr. Robot with a less creepy, humorous and Farenheit Press-ish twist.
• Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames — a fantasy novel about a mercenary group “getting the band back together” in a world where they’re treated like rock stars.

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• Books worth $2.5 million stolen in a daring London heist — Obviously, not suggesting this was justified, but c’mon . . . who hasn’t been there when it comes to a book you just “have to have”?
• Neil Gaiman announces Neverwhere sequel, The Seven Sisters — huh. Okay…Neverwhere isn’t my favorite, but sign me up for more.
• How It Happened by Brad Parks — Parks gives a thumbnail view of his career
• Author Kevin Hearne Is Leading A Plague of Giants — ooooh. This is going to be good.
• Just Who Are the Tuatha Dé Danaan, Anyway? — can’t help but run into them in UF lately, but everyone has their own take — this is a good look back on early stories about the Tuatha Dé Danaan.

A Couple of Book-ish Related Podcast Episodes you might want to give a listen:
• Episode 17 of Two Crime Writers — usual good stuff, plus the interview with Adrian McKinty is hilarious
• Elan Mastai by Beaks & Geeks

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak — okay, it came out last week, but I forgot to mention it. This celebration of the 80s looks great.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to Mollie Player for following the blog this week.

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• Book bloggers are real readers — was unaware of this controversy, or whatever you want to call it. Still I’ve enjoyed some of the response to it this week, like this one.
• How Does Reading Level Matter in Fiction? — can’t stand what my kids’ English teachers are doing to them when it comes to “reading levels.” There’s a lot of fodder for my rants (and against them) here.
• Eight Characters From Literature We Love To Hate
• Dusk City Outlaws — a Kickstarter for an interesting looking fantasy game.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• What You Break by Reed Farrel Coleman — Gus Murphy returns for another mystery/exploration of grief. Which is a bad description (still, pretty accurate), I think I did better in my original post
• All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai — Mastai’s debut time travel novel that I’m really rabid about, as you can read about here
• The Turn by Kim Harrison — the prequel to Harrison’s Hollows/Rachel Morgan series.
• Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman — do I have to say anything?

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to iosappdevelopmentcompanyinbangaloreblog for following the blog this week.

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• Revealing A Plague of Giants — A cover for Kevin Hearne’s upcoming epic fantasy. Oooooohhhhh….
• Michael Connelly to publish next Bosch book and begin new series in 2017 — if that headline isn’t enough to get you clicking, nothing I say will
• Patrick Rothfuss Announces The Name of the Wind Tenth Anniversary Edition and Shares Updates on The Kingkiller Chronicle Book 3 — if that headline isn’t enough to . . . . etc.
• Editor Anne Sowards On Working With Patricia Briggs — about Briggs, Mercy and the upcoming Mercy . . .
• FIVE HABITS of an Efficient Reader — The best part of the Confessions of a Readaholic blog joining Facebook is that he’s posting links to old posts like this one that I haven’t seen before.
• The Book That Scared Me — Brad Parks talks about his upcoming book — which I’ve been trying to write about for a week (stupid Influenza B, etc.) IT’S (almost) INDESCRIBABLY GOOD. This essay by Parks should get you interested in his book.
• Top 3 Reasons Why Thrillers are the Ultimate Comfort Read — blah
• Breaking Barriers: Against Restoring Monarchy in Epic Fantasy — I didn’t mean to lean on Tor.Com so much this week, but Thoraiya Dyer’s piece was good enough I had to.
• The Two Sides of Every Heart a Doorway/a> — I had very similar thoughts a time or two while reading McGuire’s book — but then got swept up in the story and forgot about it. Really wish I’d written 94% of this post myself. Thankfully Alex Bledsoe did.

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch — Peter, Nightingale, Walid, Bev and the rest of the whole gang are back (plus some new faces). In case you missed it, here’s my $.02 about it .
• Wires and Nerve: Volume 1 by Marissa Meyer — a graphic novel about Iko from the Lunar Chronicles.
• Six Wakes by Mur Laferty — a gripping (looking) murder mystery in space. With clones. ’nuff said.
• Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough — I can’t stop hearing great things about this thriller (especially from the folks at Two Crime Writers and a Microphone who devoted an entire episode to talking about the book).

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to tripleblacktri, SnoopyDoo, discobarbizar for following the blog this week.