Linda Nagata Reaches For Twenty Reviews: Can you help?
Nebula Award-winning author Linda Nagata wants to hit twenty reviews on Amazon.com for The Dread Hammer and Hepen the Watcher, the first two books in her Puzzle Lands series. From Nagata’s website: Author Stephen Harper Piziks, a fellow Book View Café member, says that: “Amazon makes recommendations based on the number of reader reviews a book gets. When a book reaches 20 reader reviews, Amazon’s computer starts recommending it. The content of the reviews doesn’t matter–only that the book got reviews.” To test Stephen’s theory, I’m following his example and launching a contest to encourage you to help me by writing an Amazon review of either The Dread Hammer or Hepen the Watcher, or if you’re really into it, of both! The review doesn’t have to be elaborate. A couple of sentences conveying your general opinion should do it, though of course longer coverage is fine too. To sweeten the pot, she’s going to give away free books to one international and one U.S. reviewer. All you have to do is leave a comment with a link to your review! In the pot: The selected USA commenter will receive EITHER a print copy of both Puzzle Lands books OR a print copy of any ONE of the Nanotech Succession books OR the Tor® hardcover of Memory. The selected non-USA commenter will get to select any two of Mythic Island Press LLC’s ebooks. Admit it. That sounds pretty awesome, right? You can find free samples here. Both books are available on Booktopia, Powell’s, Book View Cafe, Amazon and Barnes and Noble in print and/or ebook editions. You can find links to all these places here. The ebook is only $4.99! Have at it, folks!
Guest Post: “The Perils of the Past” by Michaele Jordan
If you’ve read my novel Mirror Maze, then you already know that I’m just a tad obsessive about accurate historical detail. I admit it: it just drives me nuts to read a supposed period piece only to discover that it is chock full of anachronisms and all the characters have a completely 21st century ‘tude. Perhaps my suspension of disbelief is more fragile than some, but that always knocks me right out of the story. So when I’m writing, I research. But. . . The thing about research is that you never know where it will lead you. Sometimes it won’t take you anywhere (or at least nowhere useful.) I had a character once who heard a loud bonging noise. I wanted to say that it sounded like Big Ben, but I figured I should check if Big Ben had been built in 1886. It seemed like a simple yes or no question. I discovered immediately that the tower for Big Ben was certainly in place. The clock was installed in plenty of time. But the bell was put in later. After four hours of research (during which I learned many interesting things about Victorian construction techniques, the sociological functions of large
Episode 96 — An Interview w/ Sherwood Smith (a.k.a. Scribbles and Cream)
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/TheSkiffyAndFantyShow–Episode96–AnInterviewWSherwoodSmith/Sandf–Episode96–InterviewWSherwoodSmith.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSAuthor Sherwood Smiths joins us for an in-depth discussion about her writing life, her new book, Banner of the Damned, and much more. We cover everything from language to history to sexuality to the finer points of the fantasy genre. We hope you enjoy the episode! Note: If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Here’s the episode (show notes are below): Episode 96 — Download (MP3) Intro and Discussion (0:00 – 1:07:36) Sherwood Smith’s Website (Psst: Buy her book!) Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0). That’s all, folks! Thanks for listening. See you next week.
Episode 94b — An Interview w/ Stina Leicht (a.k.a. Mrs. Irish Cream)(The Interview)
And now for a real interview, in which we talk with Stina Leicht about And Blue Skies From Pain, the Irish, history, nationalism, and so much more. We hope you enjoy the episode! Note: If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Note 2: This is the second part of our interview with Stina Leicht. You can check out the first part here. Here’s the episode (show notes are below): Episode 94b — Download (MP3) Intro and Discussion (0:00 – 1:05:23) Stina Leicht’s Website Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0). That’s all, folks! Thanks for listening. See you next week.
Episode 94a — An Interview w/ Stina Leicht (a.k.a. Mrs. Irish Cream) (On Urban Fantasy)
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/TheSkiffyAndFantyShow94aseasonThreeEpisode94a–AnInterviewW/Sandf–Episode94a–InterviewWStinaLeichtonUrbanFantasy.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSAs promised, Stina Leicht returns to SandF! In this episode, we discuss her work in relation to the urban fantasy genre, answering some questions we raised in Episode 93. Stina, of course, does something very strange on air, but you’ll have to listen to discover what it is… We hope you enjoy the episode! Note: If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Note 2: This is part one of our interview with Stina Leicht. The proper interview will go up later this week. Here’s the episode (show notes are below): Episode 94a — Download (MP3) Intro and Discussion (0:00 – 21:23) Stina Leicht’s Website Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0). That’s all, folks! Thanks for listening. See you next week.
Guest Post: “Tackling Other Cultures in Fiction” by Stina Leicht
All fantasy authors write about foreign cultures and countries they’ve never visited. When an author makes up an imaginary place, that is what they’re doing. Elizabeth Moon told me that back when I first started writing Of Blood and Honey. She was right, of course, but that didn’t remove the anxiety I (rightfully) felt when tackling Northern Ireland as a setting. There were many reasons why. Shortly after the start of my research, I attended a literary discussion about fantasy and foreign myth appropriation. It was the first time I’d heard the word ‘colonialism’ associated with genre fiction. One of the panelists was an author who worked with an American Indian tribe. She said that everything else had been taken from Native Americans and that disrespectfully stealing their myths made everything worse. She said she felt that fantasy writers had a responsibility to the cultures they borrow from — a responsibility to do thorough, thoughtful research and to be careful and respectful with the borrowed myths. One audience member loudly disagreed. He said that everyone has been perfectly fine with doing whatever they wanted with Irish myth for decades. No one complained. However, that story-mine was now tapped. It was time fantasy writers moved on to other cultures, and they had
