fireflyz

I read Rot and Ruin and the sequel Dust and Decay by Jonathon Maberry this week. Really good stuff here. It's a zombie tale which I'm normally not a fan of. I do like the zombie series by Mira Grant. The main difference between her world and this one is that the zombies nearly won in Maberry's world. It's essentially isolated pockets of humanity living in fear of leaving their fenced in communities. Bounty hunters and traders venture out into the Rot and Ruin as the zombie lands are known. Think Hunger Games without a central government or any government at all. What I really enjoyed about this was that Maberry took a completely different approach and made the reader remember that zombies were once people. They were friends and relatives. Some bounty hunters are "closure" experts who seek out specific zombies for their loved ones and humanely quiet them. The story follows a teenager who is apprenticed to his zombie hunting brother. It changed my perspective a little bit. If Mira Grant's series is Tolkienesque in that the mindless hordes can be killed without compulsion, Rot and Ruin brings some humanity back to the mindless zombie. They are to be pitied, not hated. Like I said, good stuff. I read Mile 81, a short story that was just released by Stephen King. It's good, but if you've read From a Buick 8 you can skip this one. Unless you love his prose as much as I do, in which case it's a must read as always. THere was an excerpt from his novel coming out this fall which is about a man who travels back in time to prevent Lee Harvey Oswald from assassinating President Kennedy. For those familiar with his Dark Tower series, I'm guessing that they will be involved in how the MC goes back in time. I'm definitely looking forward to this. This fall should be a good reading season. Brandon's book will be coming out, another King novel, looking good :-)

You can download a Kindle version from Amazon's website for your PC. I believe it's free?

I liked Marci's character a lot. She was one of those rare people who truly didn't care about popularity or looks, just about the people behind them. That she herself was both popular and beautiful was just happenstance. Dan did a good job developing her character, because it's too easy for someone like that to come off as completely fake. She didn't seem fake, John just seemed lucky. Brooke is alright, but she didn't strike me as being very tough or capable. I understand she had a very traumatic experience, but I felt that her sudden change of character at the end of the last book was a little forced. On the other hand, I might have still been feeling bitter over Marci's death at that point.

Finished up Side Jobs by Jim Butcher over the weekend. Good stuff, he's pretty up front about which stories are rough and which aren't. I especially enjoyed the stories from Thomas and Murphy's POV. The one drawback to 1st person is that you only see the character's through one view lens. Thomas's inner thoughts about his HUNGER really made him into a more sympathetic character. Murphy's POV is found in the novella that takes place in between Changes and Ghost Story. This was also well done. She's a fiercely independent woman who has made her living in a male dominated work place. I loved how she interpreted the world. Butcher did a great job with this. Overall, there's nothing earth shattering to the series in here. It is nice to see Harry's world when it's not on the verge of the apocalypse. If you're a fan of the series and looking for some fast reading then I'd reccomend it. I made a mistake I always say I won't repeat but somehow find myself doing constantly. I picked up Hounded by Kevin Hearne, but because it looked short I bought the second book as well. I should have known better. The first page was excellent, humorous and drew me in. The next couple pages were increasingly tedious. He has a crow fly into the MC's shop and begin a maid and butler dialogue that drags on for pages so he can give us a ton of backstory. The execution was incredibly poor. I put it down. Will I pick it back up? Maybe at some point. After all, it could be that he finds his footing later on and the rest of the book is great. Doubtful, but possible. I am past the stage in my reading life where I will force myself to finish a book. Does give hope to new authors though. Someone (and in publishing it's always more than just one person) found this to be good. To make up for my poor decision, I'm going to dive into Rot and Ruin, the novel that just came out this week from Jonathon Maberry.

Thanks! I think I know what you're referring to. One of the early Writing Excuses focused on conventions. I used a lot of their advice when I went to World Fantasy last year. If you do find it though I'd love to look at it just to compare with the podcast. I agree, Worldcon and World Fantasy have a significantly larger population of agents and editors. Unfortunately, I can't attend any of those conventions this year due to work. I know a few agents last year that went to Comiccon and one advantage is that there appears to be less competition for their time. I do have other motives for wanting to go though. One is that I'm hoping they have some good authors there that I can geek out over and the other is that I think I might be grabbing lunch with one of the agents who has taken an interest in my manuscript. Still very much in the air at this point but we'll see.

Anyone going to NYC Comicon in October? I wanted to go last year to see some agents as well as Brandon, Joe Abercrombie, and Jim Butcher. World Fantasy won out. I'm considering going this year, but I'm not sure what authors will be there (if any). If anyone is going, lemme know. I'm still on the fence, so we'll see.

I've finished up my reread of the Dresden Files. The bad news is my editing took a hit this weekend because I got so caught up in the series that I literally couldn't put it down. I forced myself to slow down so that this week I finished Changes and Ghost Story. So thoughts on second time around? I have a much greater appreciation for what Jim Butcher is doing now that I'm able to read at a slower, more relaxed pace. He does such a great job of throwing Dresden around that when I read Ghost Story last month it was at a breakneck pace. Stepping back and reading carefully allowed me to see how much is left to unveil. Good news for Dresden fans! I've heard that Butcher believes he can write up to 20+ books with Harry. When I heard that I thought, "Meh, not a good idea. He can't keep this up." I've changed my mind. The world is so rich, so beautifully realized that I want more. What I really like is that there are small things mentioned or small actions that occur in a book and then two or three books later that seemingly minor detail turns out to be major. It lessens any Deus Ex Machina and makes the reader try to figure out what hints are being dropped in the current book. My only complaints are that the recapping of everything wizarding related was a little annoying on the reread. I understand wanting to make the books accessible, but by book 6 is anyone going to pick that up for the first time? The other complaint is that I have to wait another year for the next book...sigh. I'll probably read Side Jobs today. I haven't read it yet, from what I've heard it's not his best work, but it's Dresden so I'll settle for it. This weekend into early next week I'll be taking a hiatus from reading as I edit my book for an agent.

Thanks for all the kind words everyone! Looks like a really good community :-) @Hubay Haha, is it sad that one of the first things I looked for was to see if they had a thread for what people are reading? @Chaos Thanks for taking the trouble to shift everything over from TWG. Awesome work that is much appreciated.

Hi all, I've been following Brandon since the first Mistborn book. Right about the time that the WOT announcement came out. I'm a huge fan (obviously) and got to meet him at a signing after TGS was released. I've read all of Dan's books as well. I met him at World Fantasy last year and got to chat with him for awhile. Great guys. I discovered TWG through the comments section of Writing Excuses. That's my main reason for joining, although I do like to keep an eye on the Way of Kings theories. Epic book and I can't wait for the rest to follow. I'm a midtwenties male living in the northeast. I work at a Health Research Center for a non profit health system. I spent six years in the United States Army (Infantry). I'm a voracious reader, reading anywhere from 1-4 books a week. I prefer fantasy and sci-fi but I also like non fiction. I'm an aspiring author. I've written 5 full length books, a few novellas, and dozen of short stories. My 4th book garnered attention from agents, but no offers. My latest book is a YA modern sci-fi thriller. It's being considered by several agents so I've got my fingers crossed. So that's enough about me, I'm definitely looking forward to getting to know everyone on the boards here. It seems like a nice, welcoming forum which is increasingly hard to find these days. Something about the internet tends to bring out the worst in people. I'm glad to see that's not the case here. Cheers!

Hey all, I wanted to put up a section where we could discuss conventions and writing workshops. This was a huge step in my evolution as a writer. World Fantasy gave me a lot of contacts and really opened my eyes to the business side of writing. I'd like to see this as a resource for new authors looking to find conventions near them. Also, we can share experiences, tips, etc. And if anyone's heading to a con they can see if others are going as well. Always nice to know a few people there :-) @Akoebel, I don't know if you saw my post on TWG before it went down in your convention thread. I'm going to Worldcon in Chicago next year so if you do decide to cross the pond let me know.

Hey guys, Thanks for putting this together. I am still really bummed to lose TWG. Yes it was slow, arcane, and nowhere near as cool as this site, but it was still a lot of fun. Good community. I'm glad I got to spend a year there. Definitely looking forward to meeting new people and settling in.