Website Showcase: Fantasy Literature

I've been in communication with Kat, the website operator of Fantasy Literature, and I wanted to take a moment to showcase this excellent resource. They have made it their goal to catalog fantasy literature, and they have done an impressive job. Fantasy Literature has an extensive list of authors and their works plus reviews of each title. Say you want to check out Jacqueline Carey. You would click on the Jacqueline Carey link, which would take you to a page showing highlights from her career, such as awards, images of her books and reviews of each book she has written. Sometimes, there are multiple reviews for each book. You can leave comments on each review.

Or, if you decide you like a particular reviewer, you can click on the reviewer's link and see more about that reviewer along with all reviewed books, arranged "star" order.

The site also has a blog, a forum and a nifty Fantasy Title Generator that generates some very cool titles! Here are the ones it generated for me:

Uneasy Venom
The Deep Phantom
Grail of Key
The Flame-Pits's Demon
The Page of the Flesh
Temper in the Magic

The strangest title? Wonderland in the Boy. Hmm . . . so the boy is the portal . . .

There's much more. This is the kind of website where you just want to poke around for a while and see what's there. If you work for a major publisher, I know Kat would be thrilled if you could send her some raw data of your upcoming titles.

Check it out: http://www.fantasyliterature.net/index.html.

Wow! And I mean, WOW!

Check out what Pat's up to at the Fantasy Hotlist. He's compiling an anthology! And not just any anthology, a Subterranean Press anthology! With big-name authors! Plus, he's giving a way a sizable chunk of his advance to breast cancer research, which he has long supported.

Mega-Congratulations to Pat!

The Bookie Monster's Back!

I met the Bookie Monster on David Anthony Durham's blog in the summer of '07. Well, of course, with a name like "Bookie Monster", I had to investigate. It turned out that Bookie had a fledgling blog as well, and for a while we happily visited each other and exchanged links. However, about a year ago, he vanished. Life does intrude from time to time, but the Bookie Monster's back! And yes, his blog--or I should say, his site, since he owns the domain--is as fun as its name suggests. Go pay him a visit while he dusts off his site and gets ready to munch books once again.

Bookie Monster's Book Reviews

Blogger Showcase: Dark Wolf's Fantasy Reviews

I've been meaning to showcase Dark Wolf's Fantasy Reviews for a while now. Dark Wolf is from Romania, and he writes in excellent English. He concentrates on fantasy and fantasy art. He even occasionally showcases bad fantasy art, which is always amusing. Scroll down and check out the cover for an awful cover for a Terry Brooks translation. Here is one of his comments from that post:

However, as much as I appreciate their efforts I could not buy their second title. Trust me, I tried to, but seeing this cover art I couldn’t take my money from the wallet.

I respect a guy who can be funny outside of his native tongue. He also recently did an interview with Peter Straub.

I like reading Dark Wolf's blog because it gives me a perspective outside of the usual American/Canadian/British blogs that I usually haunt. Plus, he writes excellent and thoughtful reviews. Check it out!

I love Your Blog Award

Wow. I've never been nominated for one of those pass-around blog appreciation awards. Until now. The Book Smugglers, Darque Reviews and SciFiGuy all nominated me in the past few days. Thank you so much!

Now's the hard part. Deciding who to award it to next. I'm supposed to award it to at least seven others. In the interest of spreading the love, I'm not going to nominate any blog that appeared in the above lists, although a few certainly deserve re-nominations! Some of these may be unknown to you, because they are personal blogs. Here are just a few of the blogs that I love to read.

Kristophrenia. I've been following Kristin's blog for almost two years now. This is a personal blog. Her posts are very funny. Pay attention to those footnotes! She posts once or twice a week on writing and on life.
Star Captain's Daughter. My husband and I both read this blog. Kimber An is very funny and she always has apt pictures on her blog posts. She blogs in writing, living in Alaska, and being a mom.
Katie Lovett. Superwench runs the last of the personal blogs that I'm nominating today. Katie writes about writing, popular culture, and the world of science fiction and fantasy.
Dragons, Heroes and Wizards. Ok, so I've mentioned this site before. Mulluane reviews entire series at a time, and she and I have such similar tastes that it is scary. Oh, and she also helped me with my three-column template. Plus, we're both over 40.
The Book Swede. What can I say? Chris runs a great blog and he, like me, plays the piano. We occasionally shoot emails about what we are trying to learn. You never know what to expect when you visit Chris's blog.
Grasping for the Wind. Home of "Ask the Blogger" and lots of reviews, news and insightful articles. Every time he recommends an article, I know it's going to be something interesting.
The Fantasy Cafe. This beautiful blog is the creation of Kristen, who also seems to have tastes that run similar to mine. Now if I can just make my blog as pretty as hers.

I love your blogs!

Steampunk Extravaganza

If you haven't already, get yourself over to Heather's Galaxy Express blog for a steampunk extravaganza that has lasted all week. The contest is over (sorry for the late announcement) but the posts are still well worth visiting. She has links galore on everything steampunk, from books to movies to video games.

Check it out:

Welcome to the Retro-Future of Steampunk
Steampunk is the New Black (includes interview with Colleen Lindsay)
The Splendor of Steampunk: Visual Media
Steampunk It!
Steampunk Forever

Heather did an excellent job and is showing us all how it should be done.

Blog Showcase: Young Adult Science Fiction

I met Kimber An in the blogosphere within a week of starting Fantasy Debut, but to be honest--and not even she knows this--I haunted her first blog long before then. Her blog seemed very clubby and I was quite frankly a bit intimidated, so I became a "lurker". I felt like the geeky kid wishing I were a cheerleader. Well little did I know, that Kimber and her friends were more like me than I knew.

I lost track of her when she switched blogs, and Linnea Sinclair, one of this blog's early cheerleaders, pointed me back to her and suggested that we hook up.

Well this Florida girl and Kimber the Alaska girl have been in touch ever since.

Kimber runs a personal blog and a romance book review blog. Now she has decided to start a book review devoted to teen-friendly science fiction. I have no doubt of its potential for success. Kimber's personal blog is so funny that my husband has become a regular reader of it, and he lurks without commenting. He's constantly asking me, "Have you read Kimber's latest?"

In her newest blog, Kimber intends to help introduce science fiction to the younger audience. Her lead article today addresses that very topic.

Here it is: Young Adult Science Fiction!

Blogger Showcase: The Book Smugglers

Ok, one more Blogger Showcase before we return to our regular blog programming. I want to give a shout out to The Book Smugglers, because Ana and Thea have a really cool thing going. They read Romance and Speculative Fiction with a twist--they do Siskel and Ebert style reviews. (Oops! I just dated myself. It's Ebert and Roeper now.)

Their Inagural Post explains the concept of a book smuggler, and it outlines their goals for their blog. They don't always do joint reviews, just once a month as a Book of the Month selection. Their latest Book of the Month was for a historical fiction but back in July, they did one on Neil Gaiman's American Gods.

Plus, they do all kinds of posts on science fiction and fantasy on TV and at the movies, plus comics and graphic novels. They have author chats and reviews galore, and both are really in-depth. I highly recommend that you give The Book Smugglers a permanent home in either your feed reader or your blogroll (or both!).

Blogger Showcase: The Galaxy Express

After my post on Friday about Mulluane's blog, I realized that I know of several other excellent blogs that deserve showcasing. So I'm going to devote a few posts to them, because I suspect the rate of the debut showcases won't pick up until September (going by last year's pattern). I'm only going to showcase blogs that I've only become aware of recently, so please don't think I'm leaving you out! If you think I have overlooked or missed your SF/F blog, feel free to email me.

I like blogs with a tight focus, therefore I like The Galaxy Express. Heather runs The Galaxy Express, and she focuses on Science Fiction Romance. And I'm not only talking about the modern stuff. Heather goes all the way back to the 1930s in search of great science fiction romance. She has blogrolls devoted to romance, science fiction and science fiction romance (of course), plus her top ten lists.

She puts up a lot of discussion posts, which has a lot of people jumping in for their say. It's a lively site; go check it out!

Blogger Showcase: Dragons, Heroes and Wizards

I've been watching a new-to-me site for the past few weeks and I've found it so impressive that I just had to give it a shout-out. It's called Dragons, Heroes and Wizards, and it is run by Mulluane. She has an niche--I just love blogs that have niche--in which she reviews fantasy novels by the series. Not only does she have a review for each book in the series, plus she puts up a post on the series as a whole.

Here is her latest series summary, on The Book of Words. It includes a link to each of her book reviews for this series.

Not only does her blog have a great angle, but her sidebars are a treat to browse through. She's got them packed with stuff, most of it highly clickable. She makes me want to get busy on my own sidebars. Her ads are unobtrusive and relevant.

Congratulations to Mulluane for coming up with such a great concept and for executing it so well!

Now go check it out!

Debut Coverage Link-up

Here's some debut coverage that I've noticed on other blogs recently.

Kelly Gay loves A Rush of Wings. She's not usually a reviewer, but she was so enthusiastic about Adrian Phoenix's novel that I thought I'd link it here.

Urban Fantasy Land has the cover art for Mark Henry's Road Trip of the Damned.

Over at Fantasy Book Critic, Liviu reviews Principles of Angels by Jaine Fenn, which I have not yet announced since it is not yet available here in the United States (according to Amazon).

Robert announces some upcoming debuts from Orbit Books.

Liviu also reviews The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson, which I need to announce.

And moving away from Fantasy Book Critic, the Fantasy and Sci-Fi Lovin' Book Review reviews Russell Kirkpatrick's Across the Face of the World.

Chris the Book Swede reviews The Graceling, another UK debut by Kristin Cashore.

And Thea at the Book Smugglers reviews one of my recent favorites, Bewitching Season by Marissa Doyle.

One more! Over at the newly-redesigned Hotlist, Pat interviews Chris Evans, the author of A Darkness Forged in Fire.

And I won't mention how long it's been since I've written a review of my own. Things should pick up again on Monday. I'm finally off antiobiotics, and I'm halfway through a novel that I hope to finish this weekend.

News and Events

David Anthony Durham recently announced something potentially big. He has sold the movie rights for Acacia. He mentioned it on his blog here and here. I think Acacia would make a terrific movie--such a sweeping epic and his scenes are so visual that I can't wait to see how they are portrayed on screen. The League Platforms? The battle scenes? I just hope they don't go too CGI-crazy. Congratulations, David!

Kimber An is giving one of her famous Cyber-Launch Book Parties for one of my early blog supporters, Linnea Sinclair over at Enduring Romance. Linnea's latest novel is Shades of Dark and the book party starts today. I'll update this post with a link directly to it when I see that the link has gone live.

UPDATE: Here's the link!

Over at Grasping for the Wind, John started a new feature called Ask the Bloggers where he asks questions of various SF/F bloggers. The first installment features Shaun, Scooper and SQT. Check it out--there's even a contest. I'll be taking part in future installments.

Thanks for all your well-wishes while I was sick. I am now on the mend.

Another Debut-Focused Blog!

Over at The First Book, soon-to-debut novelist Scott William Carter is interviewing first-time novelists of any genre. Some of his speculative fiction interviews include:

• Nathalie Mallet (The Princes of the Golden Cage)
  
• Misty Massey (Mad Kestrel)
• Matthew Jarpe (Radio Freefall)
• J. F. Lewis (Staked)
• Mark Henry (Happy Hour of the Damned)
• Adrian Phoenix (A Rush of Wings)

I know how much work such interviews are, so here's a hat tip to Scott William Carter!

Lisa Shearin's Cyber-Launch Book Party!

Kimber An is throwing a Cyber-Launch Book Party for Lisa Shearin's Armed and Magical today. Don't know what a Cyber-Launch Book Party is? Pop over to Enduring Romance and find out. It starts at 6:00 AM Alaska time and runs 24 hours.

Because Others Have Much Better Content Ideas Tonight

Chris ventures into science over at The Book Swede.

Katie is hosting an "Agent Pick-Up Line Contest". She'll buy you a paperback if she judges you as the winner. Ignore my lame entry.

Graeme is giving away some copies of Reaper's Gale by Steven Erikson.

John asks, would you wear this? I would, but not during muggy Florida summers.

Kimber has a review of Goblin Quest, where she hilariously compares Jim Hines goblins to Lisa Shearin's.

Larry returns to his childhood, and then takes a bit of it into his classroom.

Laura Benedict discusses the dangers of filling in the blanks on the stories you see playing out around you every day.

Colleen Lindsay, Literary Agent

La Gringa is now a literary agent. Got a fantasy novel? Go query her.

Matthew Jarpe, Part Two

Matthew Jarpe continues his discussion on "what worked, what sucked" for his author promotional activities for Radio Freefall. Again, it's hilarious. You've GOT to check out that stop-motion animation book trailer on YouTube.

Matthew Jarpe on Author Promotional Activities

The author of RADIO FREEFALL has a post on "what worked, what sucked", which had me giggling like an idiot here in my cube at work (and inspired me to sneak in a blog post).

Debut Award News and Sundry Shout-Outs

The Border's 2007 Original Voices Awards includes several names that have come up on Fantasy Debut, and one that probably should have come up..

Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind made the Fiction list. Melissa Marr's Wicked, Lovely made the Young Adult list.

Things have been going well for both Rothfuss and Marr. I have already mentioned other awards for them in a previous post. Embarrassingly, I have not read either book. I keep meaning to pick up Wicked, Lovely and I'm really, really going to try to get it this weekend. I think I'll bring my camera to the bookstore and try to get some Bookshelf Action Shots of recent debuts.

Marr has a list of recent reviews and recognition for her novel here.

Elsewhere, I have recently shared the following posts on my Other Debut Coverage sidebar:

Over at Of Science Fiction, TexasBoyBlue has "finally" finished another award-winning novel, Acacia, by David Anthony Durham.

Adian has finished reading The Book of Joby by Mark J. Ferrari, and he loved it.

Over at Bookgasm, Mark Rose liked The Sword-Edged Blonde, but thought the title was ridiculous.

Darque Reviews has reviewed the second book in the Jaz Parks series, Another One Bites the Dust. Because of the rapidity in which Orbit is releasing these novels, Jennifer Rardin is already a debut graduate!

And I just saw this at the Swivet. UK debut Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips has been "optioned" to be developed as a TV series. I'm not a publishing person, so I can only guess at what the verb "to option" means, but I'm assuming that this is one day going to be on TV.

Great Writing Article

I just read a fantastic post by Janet Lorimer, the author of Master of Shadows, which I just announced last week. I know that a lot of my readers are aspiring authors, so I thought I'd share. It's called Don't Throw Anything Away. It's at the Fiction Beyond the Ordinary Juno author's blog.