James Enge @ Joe Mallozzi's blog

James Enge, author of Blood of Ambrose,is the latest writer to guest-blog at Stargate writer/producer Joseph Mallozzi's wonderful book club blog. Last night, Mallozzi posted the results of his readers Q&A with Enge. The answers (and the questions) are well worth checking out, as always.

Here's a sample:

Q: I liked the fact that you chose to reveal back-story for these characters and their world throughout the book rather than write a prologue to explain these things at the beginning. What went into this decision?”

A: About prologues… the more of them I read, the less I like them. I think some writers confuse the process they go through (in creating the world, the characters, the backstory) with the process the reader goes through. If the reader feels like he or she is reading “Report on Planet X” or “Fodor’s Guide to Middle Earth” then the writer has blown it somehow. A successful beginning is more like introducing two people. If you want Bob to meet Shlomo, you don’t start by reciting Shlomo’s educational background, vocational aptitudes and credit history. You say, “Bob: meet Shlomo. Which one of you is buying the next round?” (Or something like that. I’m still working on that whole social skills thing.)

James Enge @ Adventueres on SciFi Publishing

James Enge, author of Blood of Ambrose,is the latest guest on the newly-returned Adventures in SciFi Publishing podcast. They discuss "Leiber vs. Tolkien fantasy, massive fantasy epics, and his beef with H.G. Wells."

Host Shaun Farrell reviewed the novel back in June. His verdict then: "James Enge writes Blood of Ambrose with a subtle elegance that disguises his extraordinary narrative skill. The humor is natural and unforced. The characterization rings true, even under the revelation of shocking realities. The horror is never glorified, and it is all the more horrific for it. And the plot grows with organic grace. You won’t find any quests here, nor the usual clichés or trappings of epic fantasy. No, these pages drip the unexpected, and they will make you laugh and scream and cry and thirst for more. Simple put, Blood of Ambrose is a powerful and fun stand alone novel."

Stalked by a Bibliophile

The wonderful Charles Tan has posted an interview with Yours Truly on Bibliophile Stalker. I think it came off rather well, if I do say so myself. Here's a taste:

How has Pyr adapted to the changes in the publishing industry?

More trade paperbacks, fewer hardcovers. We’re getting serious about ebooks.

But I want to give a shout out here to our Director of Publicity, Jill Maxick, who I think was somewhat ahead of the curve on reaching out to online communities and bloggers. These days, that’s a no brainer, but five years ago when we were just starting out, Jill launched us out of the gate with a heavy outreach to bloggers, and treated online review venues with every bit as much respect as traditional print venues. Again, these days, that’s not a big deal, but the climate was different in 2004, and she deserves massive credit for being one of the first to get it. And that was essential when it came to Pyr making the splash it did.

Blood of Ambrose - an excellently crafted tale

Monsters & Critics on James Enge's Blood of Ambrose:

"This excellently crafted tale tells a familiar story in a world filled with magic and all emotional turmoil of a terrified youngster struggling to gain acceptance. Divided into five main chapters, the world building is topnotch while centering on the four main characters. The emotions have a genuine feel and Lathmar’s angst draws sympathy without being overdone."

For Your Viewing Pleasure: A Revised Version of Tom Lloyd's The Grave Thief

The Grave Thief© Tom Lloyd

Cover Illustration © Todd Lockwood
Design by Grace M. Conti-Zilsberger

We do listen to feedback.
A different crop of the art, a new type treatment, and voila!

And the full cover:

Blood of Ambrose @ Joe Mallozzi's Book Club Discussion

This week kicks of a discussion of James Enge's Blood of Ambroseat Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog.Joe kicks it off with his thoughts on the book.

"Enge’s prose is tight and efficient, devoid of the rambling, oft-unendurable meandering descriptive passages that typify the high-fantasy genre. The setting is rich in detail, a masterful creation of world building, while the magic system that runs through the narrative proves ferociously imaginative yet impressive in its consistency. The characters are interesting – particularly Ambrosia and Morlock – yet miss the depth that would have made them truly memorable....Still, a unique and entertaining read with plenty to recommend it in terms of the myriad of inspired elements on hand to facilitate and complicate: flesh golems, mechanical spiders, the living dead, inelegant leaping horses, sorcerers, and mazelike castle passageways to make Mervyn Peake envious. An impressive fantasy debut."

Joe ends the post by soliciting questions for the forthcoming Q&A with James.

Tolkien's Sigurd and Gudrun

How long is my Strange Horizons review of the latest posthumous Tolkien publication? Pretty long.

(Actually it's part of a larger, secret strategy of mine to question the assumptions of SF and F characterisation, which I take to be bound by 'a rather stiffly limitedly consecutive logic of human motivation.' We need a couple more SFF Hamlets, and a couple fewer SFF Luke Skywalkers and Sigurds. Or so I believe ...)

Things to Look Forward To For the Next Year

Because I've just compiled this for Locus, no reason not to share here. (When we get as far out as next summer, things might shift a little bit, might drop another title in, etc... but...)

August 2009:
Mike Resnick, Stalking the Dragon (A Fable of Tonight, 3) - trade paperback, comedic urban fantasy
Justina Robson, Chasing the Dragon (Quantum Gravity 4) - trade paperback, urban fantasy

September 2009:
Tom Lloyd, The Grave Thief (Twilight Reign 3)- trade paperback, epic fantasy
Paul McAuley, The Quiet War - trade paperback, science fiction
James Barclay, Dawnthief (Chronicles of the Raven 1) - trade paperback, epic fantasy

October 2009:
Joel Shepherd, Sasha (A Trial of Blood & Steel,1) - trade paperback, epic fantasy
James Enge, A Crooked Way (2 of 3) - trade paperback, fantasy/swords & sorcery
James Barclay, Noonshade (Chronicles of the Raven 2) - trade paperback, epic fantasy

November 2009:
Mark Chadbourn, The Silver Skull (,The Sword of Albion, 1) - trade paperback, historical fantasy
Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Diving into the Wreck - trade paperback, science fiction/space opera
James Barclay, Nightchild (Chronicles of the Raven 3) - trade paperback, epic fantasy

December 2009:
Mike Resnick, Starship: Flagship (Starship, 5) - hardcover, science fiction

January 2009:
Kay Kenyon, City Without End (Entire and the Rose, 3) - trade paperback, sci-fantasy
Kay Kenyon, Prince of Storms (Entire and the Rose, 4) – hardcover, sci-fantasy

February 2009:
David Louis Edelman, Geosynchron (Jump 225 Vol III) - trade paperback, science fiction

March 2010:
Joel Shepherd, Petrodor (A Trial of Blood & Steel, 2) - trade paperback, epic fantasy
Adrian Tchaikovsky, Empire in Black and Gold (Shadows of the Apt 1) - trade paperback, epic fantasy

April 2010:
George Mann, Ghosts of Manhattan (1 of 2) - trade paperback, steampunk pulp/superhero adventure
Adrian Tchaikovsky, Dragonfly Falling (Shadows of the Apt 2) - trade paperback, epic fantasy

May 2010:
Mark Chadbourn, The Devil in Green (Dark Age Book 1) - trade paperback, urban fantasy
Adrian Tchaikovsky, Blood of the Mantis (Shadows of the Apt 3) - trade paperback, epic fantasy

June 2010:
Mark Chadbourn, The Queen of Sinister (Dark Age Book 2) - trade paperback, urban fantasy
Ian McDonald, The Dervish House - hardcover, science fiction
Matthew Sturges, The Office of Shadow - trade paperback, fantasy

July 2010:
Mark Chadbourn, The Hounds of Avalon (Dark Age Book 3) - trade paperback, urban fantasy

August 2010:
Kay Kenyon, Prince of Storms (The Entire and the Rose, 4) PB after hardcover, sci-fantasy
Jon Sprunk, Shadow’s Son (1 of 3) - trade paperback, fantasy

Excited?

Gardnerspace

Gardner Dozois, in Locus July 2009:

"...although I like a well-crafted dystopian story as well as anyone else, the balance has swung too far in that direction, and nihilism, gloom, and black despair about the future have become so standard in the genre that it's almost become stylized, and almost default setting, with few writers bothering to try to imagine viable human futures that somebody might actually want to live in."

Well?

For Your Viewing Pleasure: Dawnthief (Chronicles of the Raven)

Dawnthief © James Barclay
Cover Illustration © Sam Hadley
Design by Nicole Sommer-Lecht

Coming September 2009:

"Action fantasy at its best. Dawnthief stays fresh, sparky and intelligent (enough) throughout. A great start to what I'm sure will be a memorable series." —SFX

The Raven: six men and an elf, sword for hire in the wars that have torn apart Balaia

For years their loyalty has been only to themselves and their code.

But, that time is over. The Wytch Lords have escaped and The Raven find themselves fighting for the Dark College of magic, searching for the location of Dawnthief. It is a spell created to end the world, and it must be cast if any of them are to survive.

Dawnthief is a fast paced epic about a band of all-too-human heroes.

Ian McDonald's brilliant Mars book, DESOLATION ROAD, finally back in print

Wonderful praise from Cory Doctorow over at Boing Boing for Ian McDonald's Desolation Road. Doctorow calls it "one of my most personally influential novel" and compares the book to Kim Stanley Robinson's famous Mars trilogy, adding, "the two are very good companions, in that McDonald captures almost everything Robinson got (in a third of the number of pages), and adds the poetry and spirituality of Mars in the bargain."

He goes on to say that Desolation Road, "pays homage to David Byrne's Catherine Wheel, to Ray Bradbury's entire canon and to Jack Vance, blending all these disparate creators in a way that surprises, delights, then surprises and delights again. Spanning centuries, the book includes transcendent math, alternate realities, corporate dystopias, travelling carnivals, post-singularity godlike AIs, geoengineering, and mechanical hobos, each integral to the plot."

Yup.