"Waiting On" Wednesday: Touchstone by Melanie Rawn

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:



Touchstone by Melanie Rawn:



Cayden Silversun is part Elven, part Fae, part human Wizard—and all rebel. His aristocratic mother would have him follow his father to the Royal Court, to make a high society living off the scraps of kings. But Cade lives and breathes for the theater, and he’s good—very, very good. With his company, he’ll enter the highest reaches of society and power, as an honored artist—or die trying. Cade combines the talents of Merlin, Shakespeare, and John Lennon: a wholly charming character in a remarkably original fantasy world created by a mistress of the art.



Although Touchstone can stand alone, it is the first book of a brilliant, utterly engaging new fantasy series from the author of the bestselling Dragon Prince series. [February 28]



While I didn't care for her urban fantasy series, and felt The Diviner was very uneven, I am very much looking forward to her return to epic fantasy.

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Paperback Review: Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Anathem represents my second encounter with the genius of Neal Stephenson (third, if you count my aborted read of Quicksilver), and I can honestly say that while the reading experience does not get any easier, there is the same sense of satisfaction accomplishment waiting at the end. More dense, less accessible, and somehow not as interesting as Cryptonomicon, it's a book that almost violently defies categorization.



I find it a really difficult book to review. The university-educated, critical reading, spectacle-wearing intellectual who lies deep within me wants to award it five stars for its sheer audacity, limitless depths of esoteric concepts, and laudable efforts to make math interesting. It really is a book to be admired as much for what it sets out to accomplish as for the skill behind it. However, the tired, overworked, long-haired geek in search of entertainment who resides a bit closer to my surface is struggling to award it any more than two stars for the brief, fitful glimpses of story hidden between the concepts. There's a really exciting novella buried here, but it would take an entire concent another millennium to unearth it.



More than anything else, I guess my problem is its all just so boring. Plot developments are so few and far between, it feels like the story never moves ahead. There's a lot of talking, a lot of thinking, a lot of writing, and a lot of calculating going on that, quite honestly, I would have been content to have seen left off the page. Yes, it's interesting and, yes, I can honestly say I learned a few things, but they were hard lessons. By the times the aliens actually appear, I'd honestly forgotten that there were aliens in the book, and by the time we get to the revelations about Fraa Erasmas . . . well, I'd stopped caring.



It took me nearly a year of on again/off again reading to get through it, and it was more a sense of obligation that kept dragging me back than any real desire to get back into the story. The book never really grabbed my attention, and simply didn't offer my any incentive to keep reading. I feel bad, because there's a nagging voice in the back of my head that keeps telling me I should appreciate it more, but appreciation is not the same as enjoyment, and therein lies the rub.

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Monday Morning Musings - Genre News Wrap-up

I tend to read a lot of genre sites over my morning Coke and donuts (yeah, breakfast of champions, I know!), so I thought I'd get in the habit of sharing the more interesting tidbits once a week.

• Over at io9.com we have a story about a new (ahem) tentacle erotica anthology called (ahem) Coming Together, Arm in Arm in Arm (insert groan here), designed to raise money for saving the world's oceans. With a title like that, you have to wonder if their motives are entirely pure and chaste, but I can't argue that it's a worthy cause.


• Also over at io9.com, we find a rather curious article to what would have been Lewis Carroll's 180th birthday, using physics to speculate on What Happens When Alice and Anti-Alice Meet?


• Last week the good folks at Flavorwire offered a peek at the 10 most expensive books in the world. This week Blastr goes on step further, offering us 15 most expensive sci-fi, fantasy and horror books, with Edgar Allan Poe, Lewis Carroll, and J. K. Rowling rounding out the top 3.


• Just for fun, Blastr also has a peek at something that's hardly new to any fanboy (Emma Peel inspired X-Men's Dark Phoenix), but I'll never pass up a chance to celebrate Diana Rigg in arguably her finest Avengers moment.


• Since we're on the topic of classic TV shows, Tor has a great look back at The Prisoner with Patrick McGoohan.


• Lastly, Pat (over at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist) has a reminder that Tad Williams' ebook promotion ends tomorrow, so grab your copy of A Stark and Wormy Knight for only $4.99 right now!

That's it for this morning . . . happy reading!

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Genre Conventions (Southern Ontario) 2012

For those who are interested, and who may be in the Toronto area this year, here's a list of the science fiction, fantasy, horror, and comic book conventions that I've been keeping my eye on. I doubt very much I'll get to them all, but Erie Con, Fan Expo Canada, and World Fantasy Convention are high on my list.





Ad Astra

April 13-15

Holiday Inn Markham Hotel and Suites

http://www.ad-astra.org/

Guests Announced: Harry Turtledove, Lesley Livingston, Joe Jusko, and Shelly Shapiro





Wizard World Toronto Comic Con

April 14-15

Metro Toronto Convention Centre

http://www.wizardworldcomiccon.com/home-toronto.html

Guests Announced: Scott Bakula, Jeri Ryan, Amy Acker, Jeremy Bulloch, Sean Maher, Colin Ferguson, the cast of Being Human, and a ton of comic book artists (including Dale Keown & David Mack)

Erie Con

April 27-29

Days Inn at the Falls (Niagara Falls, New York)

http://www.eeriecon.org/

Guests Announced: Catherine Asaro, Lois Gresh, Anne Bishop, Carolyn Clink, David Clink, Jennifer Crow, David DeGraff, Carl Frederick, Mark Garland, Sèphera Girón, John Harlacher, Marvin Kaye, Mark Leslie, Derwin Mak, Lynna Merrill, Alex Pantaleev, Stephen Pearl, John Allen Price, David Sakmyster, Darrell Schweitzer, and David Stephenson

Niagara Falls Comic-Con

June 9

Scotiabank Convention Centre

http://www.nfcomiccon.com/

Guests Announced: Burt Ward, John A. Russo, Chandler Riggs, Jessie Sulidis, Murtz Jaffer, Dustin Diamond, Cap’n Video, April Mullen, Tim Doiron







Polaris

July 6-8

Sheraton Parkway Toronto North Hotel

http://www.tcon.ca/polaris/modules/tconguests/

Guests Announced: Wil Wheaton and Larry Stewart





Fan Expo Canada

August 23-26

Metro Toronto Convention Centre

http://www.fanexpocanada.com/schedule/

Guests Announced: Patrick Stewart





The Word on the Street

September 23

Queen's Park (Toronto)

http://www.thewordonthestreet.ca/wots/toronto





World Fantasy Convention

November 1-4

Sheraton Parkway Toronto North Hotel, Suites & Conference Centre

http://www.wfc2012.org/

Guests Announced: Elizabeth Hand, John Clute, Richard A. Kirk, Gary K. Wolfe, Charles de Lint, Tanya Huff, Patricia Briggs, Mercedes Lackey, and Larry Dixon





SFContario

November 9-11

Ramada Plaza Hotel (Toronto)

http://2012.sfcontario.ca/

Guests Announced: Jo Walton, Jon Singer, and Christopher J Garcia

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TGIF - Feature & Follow Friday

Feature & Follow Friday is a blog hop that is designed to provide some much-appreciated exposure to the bloggers participating, and to expand their following. Hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read, each of whom feature a chosen blog for the week, it's an interesting way to get to know one another.

Question of the Week: Which book genre do you avoid at all costs and why?



My first thought was Romance (it's fine as an element of a story, but holds no interest to me as a story itself), but I can't say I avoid it at all costs. After all, if my wife really insisted on it, I would give one a read, even if just to have something new to discuss over dinner. Having slept on it, I realized the obvious answer is a genre I originally missed because I do avoid it at all costs - Faith-Based Fiction. Personally, I have no interest in religious dogma, and no absolutely patience for being spoon-fed an author's spirituality. I am quite content to stay out of the shack, and to allow myself to be left behind. :)



Parajunkee also hosts a Social Hop for Facebook and Twitter, which I've taken part in the past two weeks. So, if you're one of those people who aren't on Blogger, or who just don't like Google Friend Connect, it's a great way to keep in touch and follow one another.

αωαωαωαωαωαωαω

TGIF is another blog hop designed to provide much-appreciated exposure to the bloggers participating, and to expand their following. Hosted by GReads, it's an interesting way to recap the week, pose a question, and find some exposure with a different audience.

Question of the Week: Where do your books that you read come from? The bookstore? The library? Do you prefer to own a book, or have it on loan?



I tend to be a bit of a pack-rat and a hoarder when it comes to books - I definitely prefer to own them. I also tend to be a bit obsessive compulsive when I discover a really good book, and feel immediately compelled to add everything he or she has ever written to my library, just in case I want to read them again some day. As a result, libraries and borrowed books don't really work for me, especially when I get that middle-of-the-night urge to read a certain book.

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eBook Review: Draculas by Crouch, Kilborn, Strand, and Wilson

A little light on those insignificant little things like plot or character development, Draculas is still one wild, bat-shit crazy, over-the-top romp through what feels like a B-grade 80s gore-fest. More importantly, as the authors state in their introduction, this novel represents their attempt to reverse the 20+ years of sparkly, bare-chested, sexually ambiguous, romantic nonsense that's been injected into vampires and "make them scary again."



The vampires here are not cunning, seductive, or even dangerously attractive. They are more like bloodthirsty, fast-moving zombies with jaws so full of fangs that their teeth explode through the cheeks and lips in all directions. These are ugly, animalistic, single-minded SOBs who exist to feed, and who want nothing more (or less) than to tear your throat open and guzzle down every ounce of blood in your body.



As for pacing, it's almost frantic, will one intense scene after another tacked together like some sort of sick carnival ride. The authors waste absolutely no time getting into things, opening with the delivery of a million-dollar vampire skull to a dying recluse, and then snapping its jaws around his throat so quickly you're already on your way to the hospital with him before you realize what's happened. There we encounter a very different sort of bite, with a young birthday girl whose braces are caught in the flesh of a sad, suicidal clown.



With that, the set-up is complete, and it's time to open the floodgates on the bites, the blood, the breeding, and the body count. This is not a story of hope and survival; it's not a story full of deep moral lessons; and it's not a story with any redeeming message to offer . . . unless that message is RUN AND HIDE! There's so much carnage here, wonderfully bloody and excessive, but also freakishly inventive. The sad vampire clown with the red nose and shoes that still squeak? Genius! The birthday girl who wants to tear into people and eat up all the red candy inside? Fantastic! The hungry, pregnant vampire with the equally hungry vampire infant exploding from her stomach à la Aliens? Brilliant!



Don't get too attached to any of the characters because, odds are, they aren't going to make it to the end. Those that do, however, are well worth following, especially with a few throwing themselves blindly into last-minute sacrifices. Even more interesting are the characters who fight to retain a semblance of humanity in their vampire transformation, giving the story the edge it needs to be more than just a kill-em-all monster saga. There's a point at which the story completely passes the point of containment or simple resolution, but the explosive Hollywood ending is completely apropos, as is the lingering thread that sets up the inevitable sequel.



As fun as it is frantic, this is well worth a read for anyone sick to death of what people like Anne Rice and Stephanie Meyer have done to the monstrous side of the vampire.

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"Waiting On" Wednesday: Orb Sceptre Throne by Ian C. Esslemont

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:



Orb Sceptre Throne by Ian C. Esslemont:



The epic new chapter in the history of Malaz—the new epic fantasy from Steven Erikson's friend and co-creator of this extraordinary and exciting imagined world.



Darujhistan, city of dreams, city of blue flames, is peaceful at last; its citizens free to return to politicking, bickering, trading and, above all, enjoying the good things in life. Yet there are those who will not allow the past to remain buried. A scholar digging in the plains stumbles across an ancient sealed vault. The merchant Humble Measure schemes to drive out the remaining Malazan invaders. And the surviving agents of a long-lost power are stirring, for they sense change and so, opportunity. While, as ever at the centre of everything, a thief in a red waistcoat and of rotund proportions walks the streets, juggling in one hand custard pastries, and in the other the fate of the city itself.



Far to the south, fragments of the titanic Moon's Spawn have crashed into the Rivan Sea creating a series of isles...and a fortune hunter's dream. A Malazan veteran calling himself 'Red' ventures out to try his luck—and perhaps say goodbye to old friends. But there he finds far more than he'd bargained for as the rush to claim the Spawn's treasures descends into a mad scramble of chaos and bloodshed. For powers from across the world have gathered here, searching for the legendary Throne of Night. The impact of these events are far reaching, it seems. On an unremarkable island off the coast of Genabackis, a people who had turned their backs upon all such strivings now lift their masked faces towards the mainland and recall the ancient prophesy of a return.



And what about the ex-Claw of the Malazan Empire who now walks the uttermost edge of creation? His mission—the success or failure of which the Queen of Dreams saw long ago—is destined to shape far more than anyone could have ever imagined. [February 28]



While I enjoyed Night of Knives, Esslemont's first contribution to the Malazan Empire storyline, it didn't exactly blow me away the same way Gardens of the Moon did. Return of the Crimson Guard was a much better read, and enough to convince me that the empire was in good hands. I haven't caught up with Stonewielder yet (after The Crippled God I just had to walk away from the world for a bit), but I'm like Esslemont's style and I'm glad he's back with a new entry.

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Top Ten Fantasy Sagas of My Youth

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme hosted by Paula over at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week a new Top Ten list is shared, based on suggestions of fellow bloggers, for all to answer.



This week's list is a freebie, so I thought I'd reach back into the dustiest of my bookshelves, push aside the TBR pile, and look at the the Top Ten Fantasy Sagas of My Youth.

1. Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson - this series tends to get a lot of bad reviews, based largely on a horrendous act perpetrated early on by the hero, but you have to take things in context. Overall, a brilliantly chilling slice of imagination.


2. Dark Tower by Stephen King - while I kind of fell out of love with the series after the Wizard of Oz homage in the fourth book, the next more than won me back . . . and, in hindsight, I have a much greater appreciation for how King incorporate pop culture mythology.


3. Dragonlance Chronicles by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman - this was actually the first fantasy saga I ever read, even before Tolkien, and I can still remember being amazed by the thought that not all heroes were good.


4. Dragon Prince by Melanie Rawn - one of the first fantasy sagas to really wow me, and the series that began a long love affair with Ms. Rawn through the Dragon Star and Exiles sagas.


5. Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb - an absolutely brilliant piece of fantasy, complex and layered, well-written, and full of ambiguity. One of the more challenging reads of my youth, but one that I cannot recommend highly enough.


6. Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay - okay, the purists may want lynch me for saying this, but in my humble opinion this is the single greatest fantasy trilogy ever written.


7. Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams - at the time I delved into this saga, these books were some of the thickest door-stoppers I'd ever read (particularly the too-big-for-one-book To Green Angel Tower) but I don't know that anyone has dealt with the maturing of a young hero any better.


8. Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist - okay, what I just said about Tad Williams . . . well, here is the one author who has done a better job with the maturing young hero. While the later sagas strayed a bit too far from the core storyline for my tastes, sacrificing a lot of the magic, the story of Pug and Thomas is a must-read for any fantasy fan.


9. Wayfarer Redemption by Sara Douglass - this was the first fantasy saga to offer me something truly different, to present a fresh take on the epic hero, the quest, and the complex mythology of heavenly gods and earthbound avatars.


10. Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan - I'll admit, I resisted the series for a long time, partially because I didn't like being told I had to read it, and partially because I started the first book a few times and just couldn't get into it. At some point Rand and I clicked . . . and the rest is history.

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Monday Morning Musings - Genre News Wrap-up

I tend to read a lot of genre sites over my morning Coke and donuts (yeah, breakfast of champions, I know!), so I thought I'd get in the habit of sharing the more interesting tidbits once a week.

• First of all, the Clive Barker Info Google+ feed has a quick note from the man himself, referencing some medical issues that have Clive away from his "beloved desk and into the hospital" (yikes!) but also promises he "will be home soon and back to causing trouble" (let's hope so).


• Courtesy of Flavorwire, we get a peek at the 10 most expensive books in the world, including the William Shakespeare's First Folio at $6 million,  Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales at $7.5 million, and Leonardo da Vinci's The Codex Leicester  at a whopping  $30.8 million.


• Over at Blastr, there's an interesting discussion with Sylverster MyCoy on how he'd like to take part in Doctor Who's 50th anniversary . . . as a (wait for it) . . . villain!


• Tor has a great piece on their Wheel of Time celebrations for 2012, complete with a chance to win 1 of 50 copies of The Eye of the World.


• The always fun staff over at Topless Robot have a great piece on Surprising Literary References in video games, including a Ray Bradbury homage in Fallout 3, and the appearance of Titania and MacBeth in the Starfox games. 


• HorrorNews.Net has a great piece on Vintage Screams: Anthology Television that covers the usual suspects like Twilight Zone and Outer Limits; hits some of my favourites with The Hitchhiker, Tales From the Darkside, Amazing Stories, and Tales from the Crypt; and also offers a surprise shout-out to Danger Theatre!


• Finally, the Stephen King Fancast has a piece about a rumoured reboot of Pet Semetary that I hope to Hell is not true, since that is both my favourite King book, my my favourite King movie adaption.

That's it for this morning . . . happy reading!

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