Aaaah . . . an at-Home Vacation

I took a the rest of the week off just to stay at home and hang with the husband before the end of the school year. This is our annual movie-watching time, (yes, annual) and I think we'll take in Wolverine and Star Trek. I'm also hoping to get some time to write my posts for Epic Fantasy Week because I haven't written another word for that since I last posted.

I haven't read much either. I spent much of last week working on another project, which I hope to discuss here soon. But I didn't stop reading completely. I've been reading Griffin's Shadow, Doc Wilde and the Frogs of Doom and The Hourglass Door.

Tomorrow, author Kelly Gay, author of the upcoming The Better Part of Darkness, is going to give us her update on The Road to Publication. She has some news that I think is quite exciting, so be sure to check in. Her post will be up bright and early.

Upcoming and Ongoing

Discovery Showcase Update
I never had the influx of submissions that everyone warned me about, but I still have plenty of entries for the next month and a half. Judging from the increase in the number of visitors who check in on Saturday, the Discovery Showcase is getting some readership, even if the entry doesn't always generate comments. I used to have a dip on Saturdays. This isn't typical anymore. The Discovery Showcase announcement post is now my most widely-read post.

If any of my blogging buddies are approached by any self-published authors, please refer them to this post.

Bookspot Central Tourney
Bookspot Central is having a head-to-head matchup of book vs. book. Pick your book and defend it to the death. Some debut-including match-ups include The Digital Plague vs. Black Ships, and Sly Mongoose vs. Sharp Teeth. Check it out here.

Ann Aguirre Book Tour
Ann Aguirre is having a virtual book tour for her new urban fantasy series, Blue Diablo, which comes out on April 7th. She's stopping here. Along with the tour, she's running a giveaway. Ann will be stopping by here on April 16th after touring for almost a month. I hope she isn't burned out by then!

William H. Drinkard Interview
I've arranged for an interview with William H. Drinkard, author of Elom, one of my favorite debuts of 2008. It will be along the same lines as a One Year Later guest post, but formatted as an interview because I had some specific questions for him.

In the meantime, here is a video that Tor made of Mr. Drinkard, in which he discusses his novel, Elom.

Adrian's Contest, plus other stuff

Adrian Phoenix's giveaway--which is still going on here--will come to a close on Sunday, March 1st at 11:59 PM, so you will have every possible minute of Sunday to get your entry in on time.

I have a Discovery Showcase tomorrow, and I now have a couple of months worth of them. Kimber An said that the number of downloads for her novel doubled after I posted her excerpt. So I was thrilled to hear that.

I have been getting a lot of books well in advance of the release date, so I will be able to post a lot more reviews on or close to the day that they release. I had to get organized, so I came up with a system where all my advance copies are sorted by release date. Some, I get months before they come out. Some--like The Warded Man--I get just a week or two ahead of time. Here is a picture of my current stack:

(Books that I've already read but have not yet reviewed are not in this stack. Books that I am currently reading are not in this stack, except the top one. Yes, I read more than one book at a time, until one hooks me enough to set aside the other.)

Notice my super-high-tech sticky system. Yes, I know. Very impressive. The top ones have the highest priority, because the release date has recently passed. It may not look like a lot of books to some of you who get this many every week, but they are all debuts, except the 2nd book the The 13th Reality series. The bottom one came out in 2006, but the publisher sent it to me just before Christmas, probably because the second book in the series comes out in paperback in May.

At this point, I am heaving a sigh. I received the second book in a series that I was unable to finish last year. The publisher ended up sending me both books. They are not in the above stack. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about those. Maybe I'll give them another chance.

I have an interview coming! William Drinkard, who wrote the excellent and underrated Elom, has agree to an interview. Since he has not had a huge amount of exposure on the web, I have loads of questions for him. I'll be writing that interview this weekend.

Tidbits, and an Author Catch-Up

This week, I have a One Year Later post for you--Adrian Phoenix! Plus, Adrian is going to run a contest, so be sure to check back on Thursday for that.

Thanks to everyone who entered my Discovery Showcase. I have written to the editor of The Self Publishing Review, and I will be doing an occasional column there, starting sometime this week. I'll link to it when the editor posts it.

Nathalie Mallet just announced on her blog that her next novel, The King's Daughters, finally has a release date! Since it was supposed to come out in December, some of us have been waiting around a while for it! Her first novel, The Princes of the Golden Cage, was a very quick and fun read, that took place in a truly original setting.

Jo Graham, author of Black Ships, recently got a starred review from Publishers Weekly for her next novel, The Hand of Isis. Congratulations, Jo!

Alex Bledsoe is another one of those awesome authors who blog about mixed reviews. He did find one gem in it, but otherwise, this review of his next novel, Blood Groove, really is a wincer. It appears to have hit the reviewer's hot buttons. His previous novel, The Sword-Edged Blonde, got a starred review from PW, so he now has gotten both ends of the spectrum. I, for one, cannot wait for the sequel, Burn Me Deadly.

Laura Benedict's novels are part of Target's Bookmarked promotion! She is having a mysterious photo contest, and everyone who enters wins a small but cool prize. But you'd better watch out for the camera police! Actually, you don't have to take a picture. Pop on over to this post for the details.

David J. Williams would like to remind you that his novel, Mirrored Heavens, is eligible for both the Hugo and Campbell Awards. He also graciously throws in his recommendations of novels besides his.

~*~

I thought of another post to expand on my Blogging Advice for New Authors. That post explained how to attract readers. This next post will be how to keep readers. In it, I'll discuss--without naming names--what has driven me away from following certain blogs. I'll try to get that up on Wednesday. I will also incorporate some of the suggestions from the comments of the original post.

Upcoming

I'm cranking my One Year Later series back up, and this time, there will be a contest! I'm still working out the details with the author, so I'm not sure if I'll have that post this week or next week. I'll let you know ahead of time.

We have a lot of debuts this month, so you're going to see lots of Debut Showcases this week. February seems to be Debut Month for many fantasy publishers, so they're coming fast and furious. Tor sent me a copy of Lamentation well in advance of the release date, so I'm going to post the Showcase and the review on the same day. Otherwise, I won't have enough days in the week to post everything that's going to need posting.

This Saturday, we'll also have our first Discovery Showcase. I now have a handful of entries, so I am pleased. No influx so far!

Debut Authors Challenge, Random Updates and More

I just had to link this. The Story Siren is hosting a Debut Author's Challenge. You basically read as many debut authors as you can. Since a lot of book bloggers love covering debut authors, I thought I'd bring it to your attention. She's focused on YA novels, but why limit ourselves?

Read about it here!

Random Updates

I have several things in the hopper, including one of Raven's urban fantasy reviews (or two), a One Year Later post and a contest! All in February!

I've been reading Lamentation by Ken Scholes. It's very good and since I have an advance copy, I want to be able to post my review on the release date in about two weeks. I may put up an as-I-read-it post or two, mostly because I haven't done any of those in a while.

I also read Amanda Ashby's Zombie Queen of Newbury High. It doesn't release until next month, so I'll try to stifle myself until then. And don't forget, I'm already stifling myself about Betraying Season by Marissa Doyle.

Future of Publishing?

I took note of this post by Nathan Bransford on The End of Publishing because it made me think about an email conversation with an author (actually, his wife) that I've had recently. In the conversation, I agreed to review a novel that is outside of my usual guidelines, by which I mean, published by a small press. I haven't done that since I reviewed Griffin's Daughter by Leslie Ann Moore last year. I'm very proud of being one of the few websites to discover Griffin's Daughter, which won the 2008 Ben Franklin Award for Best First Fiction.

The article above talks about how the business model for publishing might be changing, and how new authors may have to self-publish more and more in the coming years while we go through this state of flux. In particular, I took note of this paragraph:

At the same time, the Internet and e-books are opening up new sales avenues for authors who either catch on through word of mouth or are able to build their own buzz. As a result, you're seeing progressively more self-published and small-press books rise up through the cacophony of titles and find their readers.

I'm torn. I don't like being a snob, but I genuinely don't have time to vet a bunch of self-published books. At least the good small presses edit their work and make it professional, which happened with Griffin's Daughter, and presumably happened with this other novel I agreed to review. If, in the future, most authors have to publish books on their own in order to be noticed, then I'm going to have to adapt as well.

In the case of this small press novel (not self published!), the author's wife--some of you probably know who I'm talking about--convinced me to review the book because it had already gotten good reviews by several reviewers that I trust.

I'm not sure how I'm going to handle this. I may wait to see which small press and self published books do rise up, like I'm doing now.

What would you prefer--that I stick to major publishers? Or should I occasionally try to find those small press and self-published gems?

News and Upcoming Stuff

Went to the bookstore yesterday for a nonfiction book, and I picked up PEACEKEEPER by Laura E. Reeve as well. It has been a while since I read a current debut, and PEACEKEEPER had the added advantage of being an inexpensive paperback. Plus, I liked the blurb a while back.

Raven will be by in a week or so with some follow-up reviews for Debut Graduates. She'll be able to add a little urban fantasy in the mix, with perhaps even the appearance of a fang or two.

~*~

The convention post is still drawing lots of comments. Please feel free to jump into the discussions I've started at the brand new convention blog as well.

Mulluane really has done a fabulous job setting up the new book blogger forum, whimsically named the Dragon Federation. Just go to the home page and dig how cool it is. Both bloggers and readers are welcome.

And if you're a book reviewer, you've really got to go to John's blog and check out the SF/F/H Book Reviewers Database and get on board if your blog qualifies. I'm beginning to think I'm already in some database somewhere. I've started getting review copies from publishers who--as far as I knew--didn't have my address. One was from London! I'll be putting up a book swag post in a few days as a way of thanking those publishers.

Whew! That's a lot of activity in a short amount of time! Everyone must have made New Year's resolutions, or something.

~*~

This Thursday, we will have another guest author with another One Year Later post. Except it will be a bit over a year since her debut. Maybe I should rename the series. After the Debut? I'm drawing a blank. This author always is an enthusiastic commenter, so be sure to check out the comments throughout the day.

Upcoming Stuff, and an Introduction

I tried to post this from work during lunch, but I can't seem to post from work anymore.

Upcoming

I've been reading like the blazes in recent weeks. I finished four books since the middle of December, including a non-fantasy non-debut. I'll still post a review because the folks at Mystery Book Spot seem to like my mystery reviews (thanks for all the links, guys!). I also finished Mirrored Heavens, The Name of the Wind and Betraying Season. You can expect all those reviews except Betraying Season, which doesn't come out for months, so I'll save that for later.

I'm getting back in gear after my little break. I've lined up a One Year Later post and I'm waiting for an author to get back to me for another. Mulluane combed Robert's January Spotlight for debuts, and I combed Publishers Weekly. The debut calendar for 2009 is filling up. Last year, a surge of debuts caught me off guard in February, so I'm hoping to be on the ball enough that I won't be taken by surprise again.

Something Mysterious

I've been contemplating proposing something to the book blogger community, as I hinted on Twitter and FaceBook. This isn't anything I'm going to rush into, so I'll sleep on it before I decide for sure. I Googled it, and so far, nothing like it appears to exist. I already ran it past the husband, since it will affect the whole family, and he is good with it. If I decide to propose it, I'll do so before the end of the week. If I decide not to do it, I probably won't bring it up again.

A Re-Introduction

Last but not least, Raven has agreed to do reviews again for Fantasy Debut. Last year, she reviewed titles such as Truancy, A Rush of Wings and God's Demon. She's going to be handing most of the urban and dark fantasy here at Fantasy Debut.

Welcome back, Raven!

Random Chatter, and Some Questions

I have temporarily taken down my "Other Debut Coverage" box because I have not been populating it. I have decided to give myself a break from combing blogs for debut coverage until the new year, or maybe just until after Christmas. Depends on how the mood strikes me.

I have been busy reading some of my unfinished novels of the year. I could not finish five, but at least two of them I am determined to finish before my end-of-year post. So in the next two weeks, expect those reviews along with the usual Debut Showcases.

I have also been busy buying gifts. This weekend was much busier than I usually prefer. Actually, so were the last three weekends.

Some questions for you, if you feel like answering:

Do you ever read the "Other Debut Coverage" box on my sidebar? It doesn't take much effort to populate it, but sometimes it gets a bit dated when I get behind on my blog reading.

If you are a blogger, do you ever see it pop up in your list of referrers?

And because I am curious, I am also interested in knowing which other blogs you read besides this one. Please leave a comment with three to five (or more!) of your favorites.

Kelly and Colleen Blow Away My Blog Stats!

Normally, I don't expect much of a boost when I have author guests here. Maybe five or ten visits. Big-name authors don't know about this place, and they therefore don't send me their big-time blog traffic. The occasional editorial blog will cause a spike. But mostly, I have to scrabble for every bit of web traffic I get, using the methods I outlined here.

But looky here at what I saw when I opened my Google Analytics this morning.

Sweet! I went ahead and clicked the link, and behold!

A spike! Awesome! Who did I have to thank for this?

Kelly Gay and her agent, Colleen Lindsay! And they're not done sending clicks this way. Thanks, guys!

For you newcomers, welcome! I usually do an "upcoming" type link over the weekend, but I'll go ahead and do it now in an attempt to lure you back.

I have a few Debut Showcases to catch up on because my blogging schedule has been a bit unusual this week. Mulluane has been very busy gathering links. I also have in my greedy possession an advance copy of BETRAYING SEASON, the second book by soon-to-be Debut Graduate Marissa Doyle. I loved her first novel, Bewitching Season, and I'm already on chapter 4 of Betraying. I'll have to squelch my review for a while, however, because the book doesn't come out for a few months. Not much point in reviewing something that you can't rush out and buy for months. So I really just wrote this to taunt you, because it will not be upcoming in the next week.

What will be upcoming? Well, Colleen and Kelly's web traffic has inspired a Wednesday Commentary post, and I'll try to get that done and up by Wednesday. No guest posts this week--we're all to busy preparing for the holidays, I think. I also am planning on a fun post with book p*rn--something I don't usually do because honestly, I don't get much. (Book p*rn, to those who are gasping in shock, is nothing more than free books sent by various authors and publishers.) My book p*rn of course, will be different, because of the mere fact that I like to be different.

(I'll be curious about the surge in web traffic tomorrow because this blog now, for the first time ever, includes the word "p*rn." In fact, I think I'll obscure the word, because I'd rather not have that traffic after all.)

And you never know when I'll throw up something random, so check back often!

Upcoming Stuff

Instead of a One Year Later post, I'm planning something a little bit different this Thursday. And then, I believe that will be the last guest post until the new year. I expect web traffic to take a dip during Christmas week, and judging from last year's traffic, it will probably stay dipped until the new year.

In the meantime, I need to get busy with my year end post! Last year's post was great fun to put together, but I'll have some new categories this year, like "Best Nonhuman Character". I occasionally review non-debuts and non-fantasies, but I'll confine my favorites list to SF/F debuts.

I've been reading a lot lately. Last week, I finished a Debut Graduate novel, but I'll schedule that for after the holidays because the book isn't available until then. I also read a non-debut fantasy, and I'll write about that in the next week.

Thank you to everyone who linked to my Blogger Advice for New Authors post. I don't think I've ever had a post linked quite so widely. I thought of a few more tips, plus the comments thread had some great suggestions, so I'll update that post, put it on my sidebar and throw up another post when it is ready.

Upcoming

I meant to write my review of Grimspace today, but I was working on a self-imposed deadline for another project, plus I've gotten all caught up in Laura Benedict's upcoming novel, Calling Mr. Lonely Hearts, which is absolutely spellbinding and unputdownable. I also did something rather stupid--I returned Grimspace to the library before I wrote the review. Duh! I've never had to write a review without the book right in front of me. But I finished reading it just before it was due and never even thought to renew it, which I can easily do from the comfort of my computer. And I borrowed it from another branch--meaning it will take days to re-check-out. I'll have to do the best I can.

I'm arranging for another batch of authors to ask to write guest posts. I may go a bit further back in time than one year, because some of my really interesting authors were my very first ones, whose books came out in the summer of '07. One who I just emailed had a novel that came out within a few weeks of Harry Potter 7, which had to be nerve-wracking competition! Or does it work that way? I usually come out of the bookstore with more than one book, after all.

Since this Thursday is Thanksgiving, I won't plan anything for then, but hopefully I can arrange a guest post for next Thursday.

The New and Improved Debut Showcases will start on Tuesday. One is actually all ready to go, but it was too late in the day to put up such a post today, and on Monday I have high hopes of getting my Grimspace review up.

New and improved how, you ask? Well, in the spirit of The Book Smugglers' joint reviews, both Mulluane and I will comment on each debut. Our tastes do run rather similar, but they are not perfectly so, so it will be a good thing--I think--for you to read more than one opinion on each debut.

Since my Grittiness Tolerance Level is now in the green (I expected Grimspace to be grittier than it turned out to be), I may try to finish a novel from the summer that I had set aside. I am a bit curious about how it ended. The one with the eyeballs popping out is going to have to wait a bit longer.

After that, maybe I'll try something warm and sentimental to get me in the mood for the holidays.

I'm Back

I took a few days away from blogging while getting over a rather nasty case of a stomach virus and the flu. Yes, I had both at once. Lucky me. I'm also behind on my blog reading so you may see me popping up on your blog over the next few days, commenting on week-old posts.

I did do some reading and I finished Matters of the Blood--which I enjoyed--and I'll try to get a review up tonight. (I also read a short mystery called Access Denied, which is part of the Turing Hopper series.) For my next review, I'm going to take a turn away from urban fantasy. I'll either get out my copy of The Name of the Wind and resume reading that, or I'll get on over to the library and pick up that copy of The Sword-Edged Blonde. When I'm finished with those, I'll be ready for some science fiction. Maybe Grimspace; I've read a lot of good reviews about that novel.

The Villain Monologue

The villain monologue isn't traditionally all that prevalent with traditional fantasy, but it's a staple of mystery. Since urban fantasy is usually centered around a mystery, and since urban fantasy is infiltrating other subgenres of fantasy, I am seeing it more and more.

The Incredibles did a delightful mockery of the villain monologue. The gag starts here:

Lucius: So now I'm in deep trouble. I mean, one more jolt of this death ray and I'm an epitaph. Somehow I manage to find cover and what does Baron von Ruthless do?
Bob: [laughing] He starts monologuing.
Lucius: He starts monologuing! He starts like, this prepared speech about how feeble I am compared to him, how inevitable my defeat is, how the world will soon be his, yadda yadda yadda.
Bob: Yammering.
Lucius: Yammering! I mean, the guy has me on a platter and he won't shut up!

And it leads to this:

Mr. Incredible: I was wrong to treat you that way. I'm sorry . . .
Syndrome: See? Now you respect me, because I'm a threat. That's the way it works. Turns out there are lots of people, whole countries, that want respect, and will pay through the nose to get it. How do you think I got rich? I invented weapons, and now I have a weapon that only I can defeat, and when I unleash it . . .
[Mr. Incredible throws a log at Syndrome, who dodges it and traps Mr. Incredible with his zero-point energy ray]
Syndrome: Oh, ho ho! You sly dog! You got me monologuing! I can't believe it . . .

I have noticed two types of monologues:

1. When the hero tries to keep the villain talking, so the hero can figure out a way out of the fix he's in.
2. When the villain is simply bragging, as above.

Either way--and let's face it--the villain monologue is simply a way to infodump the reader with any missing pieces to the plot puzzle. My preference would be that the hero figure most of it out for himself. It might make the novel a bit longer, but as long as the action keeps coming, I can't see that as a bad thing.

The monologue usually occurs in first-person novels, or in close third-person, where the villain doesn't get any time as the POV character. It doesn't usually happen in traditional fantasies, where you know who the villain is and your job is to stop him/kill him/render him harmless. But when you have twisty plots, I can appreciate the fact that it's difficult to communicate all the twists to the reader without resorting to a monologue.

I mostly see monologues in the lighter mysteries. I don't recall any monologues in the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series, or in Maisie Dobbs. Both novels feature smart heroines who manage to figure it all out, with a bit of help from their friends. And I love both series.

What do you think of villain monologues? Good? Bad? Indifferent?

* * *

Upcoming

I have something special planned. I have started working on a One Year Later series of guest posts. I already have four authors who have agreed to participate. For these posts, I have asked the authors to tell us about their first year as a publish author. I plan to cover both authors that I have coverd before, as well as authors who will be new here. I hope you enjoy it.

Check back tomorrow for the first installment!

Random Updates

Just finished Black Ships and I loved it. I'll get my review written in the next day or so. It was a library copy so at some point, I'll be getting a copy for myself, because this is one for the re-read pile (one day when I don't have a stack of debuts to read). When I do post this review, it will be my first in a while. I've had a difficult time getting through a few books and I just had to take a break and set them aside for a while. I may pick them up again soon, but for now I needed to read something different.

I also have a library copy of another novel, which I have long promised myself I would read. And with that novel will begin a new epoch here at Fantasy Debut, where I finally embrace Urban Fantasy. I have not one, but two urban fantasies to read, one of them being--horrors--a vampire novel!

So as to not keep you in suspense, the first urban fantasy on my list is Once Bitten, Twice Shy by Jennifer Rardin. I interviewed her a while back and it was somewhat embarrassing to interview the author of a novel I had not read, so I promised myself I would read her novel. Hers is the one and only vampire novel that has appealed to me since starting Fantasy Debut.

The other novel is a Juno Books novel called Matters of the Blood by Maria Lima. Juno Books sends me all their debut novels (thanks, Juno!) and this one looks especially good. In fact, I have already read the opening chapters.

On the non-debut front, I have also read the first few chapters of Harry Turtledove's The Valley-Westside War, and it rocks. Expect that in the future.

On the non-skiffy front, I've sampled a library copy of a mystery series, The Gaslight Mysteries by Victoria Thompson. I learned about this series through Mystery Robin's review at Enduring Romance. The copy I managed to snag is not the first book in the series, so I may just turn it back in and try to get the first book. I read the first few chapters and there are some established storylines that I'd rather read from the start.

So, as you can see, even though there has been a dearth of reviews here, it has not been for a lack of trying! Plus, I was involved in a super-secret project that only a handful of you know about, which took up a lot of my time and which will be sucking away at my time again in the near future. Still, I'll try to continue to post at least three times a week.

Ok, I'm done here, so why don't you jaunt over to Spacefreighters Lounge, where it has been deemed Science Fiction Romance Week? The weekly themes really are catching on!

Upcoming Goodies!

Labor day weekend is kind of a slow blogging weekend for Americans, because it's traditionally the last big bash of the summer. However, do try to stop by sometime between Sunday the 31st and Tuesday the 2nd. Jennifer Estep, author of Karma Girl, Hot Mama and Jinx has provided me with a guest post that I will put up on Sunday night. Plus, she has promised to check in to answer any comments or questions you may have.

Plus plus, Jennifer is sponsoring a rare contest here at Fantasy Debut. How do you enter? Stop back by on Sunday night, when I will give you all the details.

(Please, do not attempt to enter the contest today.)

And then, later next week I'm going to be starting something entirely new that I hope you will like.

Yes, I'm Still Alive

I have a bit of author news. From a bulletin sent out by Adrian Phoenix:

I'm very pleased to announce that Pocket has just purchased books three and four in the Dante and Heather (and Lucien) saga.

Thanks to all of my readers for making this possible! I hope this is just the beginning.

Adrian wrote A Rush of Wings, which Raven reviewed (and loved) back in January. Here are all the Adrian Phoenix posts and my original showcase.

* * *

I'm behind on my reading stack, because while I was sick, my vision really fluctuated and I was unable to read small print. (It was a sinus infection.) Therefore, although I tried to read both Mirrored Heavens and Seaborn, I had to set both aside temporarily. I have since resumed reading Mirrored Heavens. Seaborn also looks excellent so I should be able to finish and review it in the upcoming weeks.

I did finish Jynx, the third novel in Jennifer Estep's Bigtime series, and I'll start working on my review this week. I also hope to set up some special kind of event with the author. We emailed about it briefly, but we need to hammer out details.

Jennifer's first two novels, Karma Girl and Hot Mama, have been re-released as mass-market paperbacks and Jynx is set to release on September 2.

(I also re-read a comfortable old classic with large print, but I really don't feel the need to review classics here. If you've never read Pride and Prejudice, read it. Enthusiastically recommended. There. I'm done.)

(Speaking of Jane Austen, my seven-year-old daughter is absolutely hooked on all my Jane Austen movies. She especially loves the A&E adaptation of P&P, but she'll happily watch any of them over and over again. But I digress.)

Anyway, thanks to everyone who continued to visit each day despite no new posts. I was really heartened by all the loyal readers of this blog!

Random Chatter

Last night's post was originally scheduled for Saturday night, but I had a sick child on my hands so I took thirty seconds to change the date so it went live last night. My daughter wanted to go to bed at 6:30, but then I wanted to stay in the family room where I could hear her, rather than here in our cave, as we so fondly call our computer room. She slept all night long and woke up perfectly healthy. I wish I could get over fevers like that!

I've been accumulating books at bookstores and various other sources, most of them not debuts. Here are my recent acquisitions:

• Patrick Rothfuss - The Name of the Wind
  
• Cam Banks - The Sellsword (courtesy of the author)
  
• J. V. Jones - Fortress of Grey Ice (an incredible bargain in hardcover)
  
• Jennifer Estep - Jynx (courtesy of the author)
  
• Khaled Hosseini - A Thousand Splendid Suns
• Anne Rice - Christ the Lord (not a debut but a significant genre-leap for her)

I'll try to keep the non-genre and the non-debuts confined to Saturday posts, which is when I usually go off-topic around here.

I also--unfortunately--have a few novels that were provided to me, but which I have been utterly unable to get into. I gave another one of them another shot last night, but the dialog just felt so icky to me that I again set it aside in favor of Sandra McDonald's The Stars Down Under (also provided by the author).

Among the novels I still want to get my greedy hands on:

• Jo Graham's Black Ships (interview forthcoming!)
• Elizabeth C. Bunce's A Curse as Dark as Gold (interview forthcoming!)
• Jennifer Rardin's Once Bitten, Twice Shy
• Naomi Novik's His Majesty's Dragon (yeah I know--I've been meaning to get this one since forever.)

I've moved away from ARCs in recent months. The last one that I sought for myself was for The Book of Joby. I've asked for a few on behalf of guest reviewers, and when someone offers and if I'm really hooked by the premise, I'll accept. But for the most part, I actually prefer to purchase my own novels.

I keep costs down by buying used whenever possible. I know that the author doesn't make any money off of it when I buy used, but they don't make any money off me anyway when they send me books (and they actually invest a bit), so I figure its OK. I put up a post on every novel I read, regardless of genre, so maybe I can make up for buying used by generating a bit of publicity.

Why do I prefer to purchase my own novels? Well, for one, it acts as a nice filter for the stuff I cover here, since I have to be willing to plunk down money for it. Also, I get more excited about the book if I've paid for it. I was super-excited about Bewitching Season, plus now that I've contributed to Patrick Rothfuss's bestseller-ness, I'm eager to see if the book lives up to its hype. When I do accept a review copy, I first ask myself, "Is it something I might have purchased on my own?" For the author-provided copies above, the answer was yes.

Which novel do you think I should read next?

2008 Authors and Other Stuff

I spent some time tonight doing some much-needed organization. I went through all the debuts that I've showcased since the beginning of the year and added a bunch of authors to my Google Reader. I also went to Amazon and created a Listmania list, which I hope to fill with every author I showcase. Right now, I just have a couple dozen books in it from 2007.

I've been trying to read Seekers of the Chalice, but I'm afraid I have not gotten past the first chapter, which appears to be a history. Then, I was tempted away from that by Sandra McDonald's second novel, The Stars Down Under. I've finished Elom and will have that review up in a day or so.

I have two interviews lined up and hope to be able to start posting them next week. In the meantime, I'm going to showcase some of my fellow reviewer's reviews so you can see some other points of view. There were so many authors who debuted in the past few months that all the names sort of blurred together in my mind. Therefore, the next few weeks will focus on authors who have debuted since the beginning of the year.

UPDATE!

Lisa Nevin added this comment a few posts down, and I thought it was worth sharing here. It's regarding Lisa Shearin's Armed and Magical:

"For those picking up a copy, Lisa asked on her website/blog for people to buy them from Barnes & Noble. Actually, you can order an autographed copy, NO shipping, from the B&N that hosted her kickoff party. See her blog/website for details."

Quick Post . . .

. . . to say that I'm not dead. I was a bit under-the-weather since Thursday, and I only answered blog comments. I'm feeling much better now!

Later tonight, I'll put up my thoughts on Lisa Shearin's Armed and Magical, which officially releases tomorrow. After that, I have a few more reviews to put up (one already written, but I felt too icky to post it), plus I'm lining up some author interviews. Since there were so many new debuts in the past three months and since I read so abysmally slowly, I thought I'd make up for it by doing interviews and maybe inviting some authors to do guest posts.

Blogger In Draft has some new gizmos I can try too, and if I find an author that is adventurous enough, I may try to line up an Author Chat!