Reading Realms

Amazon Launching Licensed Fan Fiction Publishing: Kindle Worlds

2013-05-22T10:14:00.001-07:00

May 22nd, 2013 by xaraan

Amazon is going to offer a platform to publish fan fiction, though licenses they establish. Some Warner Bros properties have already been picked up and more are on the way. This could end up being a pretty big deal if amazon manages to get licensing for enough of the right properties, but it also has a few hurdles, which I'll get to.

Here is the Press Release:

Get ready for Kindle Worlds, a place for you to publish fan fiction inspired by popular books, shows, movies, comics, music, and games. With Kindle Worlds, you can write new stories based on featured Worlds, engage an audience of readers, and earn royalties. Amazon Publishing has secured licenses from Warner Bros. for Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, and The Vampire Diaries, with licenses for more Worlds on the way.

The Kindle Worlds Self-Service Submission Platform will launch soon and enable you to submit your original works for publication. Can’t wait to start writing? Learn more on our Kindle Worlds for Authors page.

We asked a few authors to try out Kindle Worlds. Here’s what they had to say:

“I loved writing the characters in this world, the dynamics of the friendship between the four girls as they deal with life-threatening situations. I also really enjoy the ongoing mysteries and surprising twists that always keep the reader guessing.” —Barbara Freethy, writing in Pretty Little Liars

“There’s probably not an author/fangirl alive who hasn’t fantasized about being able to write about her favorite show. The fact that you can earn royalties doing so makes it even better.” —Trish Milburn, writing in The Vampire Diaries

“The opportunity to cut loose and play with the wit and voice of a character so unlike those I usually write was a real treat. It pushed me outside my normal comfort zone as a storyteller, and that’s a very valuable experience.” —Joseph Brassey, writing in The Vampire Diaries

“I really enjoyed the short format of this work. I’m a novelist. I’m used to writing books that take me months to complete. Writing something start to finish in such a short time was really rewarding.” —Nancy Naigle, writing in Pretty Little Liars

“Fun from beginning to end! It was freeing to write something about the show’s characters and world.” —Carolyn Hughey, writing in Gossip Girl

“I loved having so many intriguing characters to explore. They’re all unique with so much backstory, yet there’s just enough space to create something new. When I realized I could create my own characters to toy with the others, well, that was icing on the cake.” —A.R. Kahler, writing in The Vampire Diaries

Source: Amazon

It seems like a great idea initially, but I'll be interested to see how this plays out. Offering a chance for fan fic writers to get paid for their work and to have some sort of relationship with the rights-holder to the work is potentially a great thing. Once you start officially putting your work under the umbrella of someone else though, you begin to give away your own rights. Sure, you could never make money off of someone else's concepts by writing fan fic before, but the trade off is that they can now make money off of your idea as well, with no compensation to you.

“Amazon Publishing will acquire all rights to your new stories, including global publication rights, for the term of copyright.”

“We will also give the World Licensor a license to use your new elements and incorporate them into other works without further compensation to you.”

So remember, if you offer up a great concept in your fan fic, you are also offering the rights of that concept to the publisher as well. They could spin off official books and even movies and you wouldn't see a dime from that. If you are content to give up some of your rights in order to get paid a small amount for your fan fic, then by all means go for it. We just hope to make folks aware of the fine print. This is not, legally speaking, a very good deal to sign up for, but if you truly have no worries about your rights with your fan fic, then it may be for you.

Amazon also has guidelines about things such as pornography, which will leave a piece of a very popular segment of fan fic out in the cold, slash fic. Not to mention, it will depend on who they get licensing from going forward. Some authors may never want to have people semi-officially writing in their world. I remember George R.R. Martin saying he wasn't a big on fan fic, preferring people to put all that hard work into something of their own. Crossover fan fic falls outside of the rules as well, so no Castle meets Gossip Girl.

Most of all, remember you will be opening up your work to possibly be judged, not as fan fic, but as any other piece of writing on Amazon. Prepare yourself for criticism in the ratings and comments, or even rejection from Amazon as they do mention basic quality standards.

'Dangerous Women' Anthology from George Martin & Gardner Dozois

2013-05-19T13:03:00.001-07:00

May 19th, 2013 by xaraan

Earlier this week, we posted some news about Martin & Dozois' Rogues Anthology that was heading to the publishers, but Dangerous Women has long been sent in and will be released later this year.

Much like Rogues, and Warriors before it, Dangerous Women has an impressive list of contributors, such as Joe Abercrombie, Sherilynn Kenyon, Jim Butcher, Lev Grossman, Martin himself and many more. We should see the novel on shelves by Christmas of this year.

The cover reveal is after the break, as well as the list of contributors, and as you can see they've stuck with the same cover style they used for Warriors and will probably use again for Rogues. With a list of names like that, you probably don't need fancy art.

Martin had this to say about the book when he first posted the news in his blog:

The Abercrombie is set against his RED COUNTRY backdrop, the Holland gives us Eleanor of Aquitaine, Jim Butcher returns us to Harry Dresden's world, Lev Grossman contributes a tale of life at Brakebills, Steve Stirling revisits his Emberverse, Diana Gabaldon's story features Jamie Fraser of OUTLANDER fame, the Spector is a Wild Cards story featuring Hoodoo Mama and the Amazing Bubbles, and mine own contribution... well, it's some of that fake history I have been writing lo these many months, the true (mostly) story of the origins of the Dance of the Dragons. The stand-alone stories, not part of any series, feature some amazing work as well. For those who like to lose themselves in long stories, the Brandon Sanderson story, the Diana Gabaldon story, the Caroline Spector story, and my "Princess and Queen" are novellas. Huge mothers.

INTRODUCTION, by Gardner Dozois
SOME DESPERADO, by Joe Abercrombie
MY HEART IS EITHER BROKEN, by Megan Abbott
NORA’S SONG, by Cecelia Holland
THE HANDS THAT ARE NOT THERE, by Melinda Snodgrass
BOMBSHELLS, by Jim Butcher
RAISA STEPANOVA, by Carrie Vaughn
WRESTLING JESUS, by Joe R. Lansdale
NEIGHBORS, by Megan Lindholm
I KNOW HOW TO PICK ‘EM, by Lawrence Block
SHADOWS FOR SILENCE IN THE FORESTS OF HELL, by Brandon Sanderson
A QUEEN IN EXILE, by Sharon Kay Penman
THE GIRL IN THE MIRROR, by Lev Grossman
SECOND ARABESQUE, VERY SLOWLY, by Nancy Kress
CITY LAZARUS, by Diana Rowland
VIRGINS, by Diana Gabaldon
HELL HATH NO FURY, by Sherilynn Kenyon
PRONOUNCING DOOM, by S.M. Stirling
NAME THE BEAST, by Sam Sykes
CARETAKERS, by Pat Cadigan
LIES MY MOTHER TOLD ME, by Caroline Spector
THE PRINCESS AND THE QUEEN, by George R.R. Martin

• The 'Rogues' Anthology from George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois
• 'The World of Ice and Fire' Release Delayed
• New 'Winds of Winter' Chapter Released by George R.R. Martin
• REVIEW: 'A Dance with Dragons' by George R.R. Martin

'Words of Radiance' Update from Brandon Sanderson

2013-05-19T08:48:00.001-07:00

May 19th, 2013 by xaraan

Brandon Sanderson released an update on his progress on the second volume of The Stormlight Archive: Words of Radiance, the sequel to Way of Kings.

Apparently the work on this series has simply been more difficult than most of the other books he churns out due to the various plots going on and it tends to take more rewrites. He is close to finishing though, at 260,000 words of his 300,000 word goal and is still hoping to finish by August and hit the November release date, but admits he could miss and end up in the first quarter of 2014. Judging by the amount of work Sanderson turns out, I think it's safe to say if there is a delay, it is a necessary one.

You can read his full update after the break...

WORDS OF RADIANCE UPDATE

And now, as many of you have been hoping to read, some news about
WORDS OF RADIANCE, the sequel to THE WAY OF KINGS.

The book is progressing well. But it's also going slowly. Big epics
just take so much TIME. It's not simply the wordcount; the longer
and more complex the book gets, the more time it takes to produce
each page. A weaving of a half dozen characters and plots is a
difficult thing to juggle. I love it, but boy is it hard.

I'm at 260,000 words as of this writing. (The target is 300,000
words, or about the length of THE GATHERING STORM.) Awesome things
are happening in the book, but I worry that it feels too
fragmented, with everyone doing their "own thing" and without a
stronger narrative to hold the book together. This was an issue
with the first book, but the powerful Bridge Four sequence served
as a backbone for the entire book and held it together.

This book needs more of an eye toward the entirety, and that's my
main focus right now as I finish up the last chapters and turn
toward revisions. I wanted passionately to have it out by November
of this year, but that's growing more and more difficult. I know
you all would rather have a better book later, and I'm not going to
force anything.

At this point, we still have a "soft" release date of November, as
listed on Amazon. However, we haven't committed to retailers for
that date, and we haven't bought marketing space for it. (Which are
the two big things that lock in a publication date.)

THE WAY OF KINGS was turned in in May 2010 and came out in
August/September 2010, and TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT was turned in in
August/September 2010 and came out in November 2010. So there is
still plenty of time, but I can't promise anything. It could come
out anywhere between November 2013 and May 2014. (Though it's
highly unlikely to be later than that, considering how much I have
done, and how well the writing is going.)

If you haven't been aware, I uploaded a series of YouTube videos of
me writing a new interlude for the book. This may help tide you
over. You can see the high-speed version here.

source: Email Update

2012 Nebula Award Winners

2013-05-18T22:28:00.004-07:00

May 18th, 2013 by xaraan

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (that's SFWA to make it easier on all of us) announced the winners for the 2012 Nebula Awards tonight, along with the Ray Bradbury Award, and Andre Norton Award. It's like the Emmys of speculative fiction, with all the good and bad that comes with a statement like that.

Solstice Awards were awarded to editor Ginjer Buchanan and astronomer and entertainer Carl Sagan, the latter of which was accepted by his son Nick Sagan. The Kevin O'Donnell Jr. Service Award was awarded to Michael Payne. Check out the full list of nominees and winners after the break...

Novel:

Winner: 2312, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

Other nominees:

Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed (DAW; Gollancz ’13)
Ironskin, Tina Connolly (Tor)
The Killing Moon, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
The Drowning Girl, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Roc)
Glamour in Glass, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)

Novella:

Winner: After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall, Nancy Kress (Tachyon)

Other nominees:

On a Red Station, Drifting, Aliette de Bodard (Immersion Press)
The Stars Do Not Lie, Jay Lake (Asimov’s 10-11/12)
All the Flavors, Ken Liu (GigaNotoSaurus 2/1/12)
Katabasis, Robert Reed (F&SF 11-12/12)
Barry’s Tale, Lawrence M. Schoen (Buffalito Buffet)

Novelette:

Winner: Close Encounters, Andy Duncan (The Pottawatomie Giant & Other Stories)

Other nominees:

The Pyre of New Day,” Catherine Asaro (The Mammoth Books of SF Wars)
The Waves,” Ken Liu (Asimov’s 12/12)
The Finite Canvas,” Brit Mandelo (Tor.com 12/5/12)
Swift, Brutal Retaliation,” Meghan McCarron (Tor.com 1/4/12)
Portrait of Lisane da Patagnia,” Rachel Swirsky (Tor.com 8/22/12)
Fade to White,” Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld 8/12)

Short Story:

Winner: Immersion, Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld 6/12)

Other nominees:

“Robot,” Helena Bell (Clarkesworld 9/12)
“Fragmentation, or Ten Thousand Goodbyes,” Tom Crosshill (Clarkesworld 4/12)
“Nanny’s Day,” Leah Cypess (Asimov’s 3/12)
“Give Her Honey When You Hear Her Scream,” Maria Dahvana Headley (Lightspeed 7/12)
“The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species,” Ken Liu (Lightspeed 8/12)
“Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain,” Cat Rambo (Near + Far)

Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation:

Winner: Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin (director), Benh Zeitlin and Lucy Abilar
(writers), (Journeyman/Cinereach/Court 13/Fox Searchlight)

Other nominees:

The Avengers, Joss Whedon (director) and Joss Whedon and Zak Penn (writers), (Marvel/Disney)
The Cabin in the Woods, Drew Goddard (director), Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard (writers) (Mutant Enemy/Lionsgate)
The Hunger Games, Gary Ross (director), Gary Ross, Suzanne Collins, and Billy Ray (writers), (Lionsgate)
John Carter, Andrew Stanton (director), Michael Chabon, Mark Andrews, and Andrew Stanton (writers), (Disney)
Looper, Rian Johnson (director), Rian Johnson (writer), (FilmDistrict/TriStar)

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Book:

Winner: Fair Coin, E.C. Myers (Pyr)

Other nominees:

Iron Hearted Violet, Kelly Barnhill (Little, Brown)
Black Heart, Holly Black (McElderry; Gollancz)
Above, Leah Bobet (Levine)
The Diviners, Libba Bray (Little, Brown; Atom)
Vessel, Sarah Beth Durst (S&S/McElderry)
Seraphina, Rachel Hartman (Random House; Doubleday UK)
Enchanted, Alethea Kontis (Harcourt)
Every Day, David Levithan (Knopf)
Summer of the Mariposas, Guadalupe Garcia McCall (Tu Books)
Railsea, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan)
Above World, Jenn Reese (Candlewick)

First Look at Brandon Sanderson's 'Steelheart'

2013-05-16T20:55:00.001-07:00

May 16, 2013 by xaraan

The first novel of Sanderson’s new series, Steelheart, follows David—a teenager in the city that was once called Chicago—as he searches for the extraordinarily powerful Epic named Steelheart, who killed his father. Steelheart possesses the strength of ten men and can control the elements. It is said no bullet can harm him, no sword can split his skin, no explosion can burn him. Nobody fights back… nobody but the Reckoners.

A shadowy group of ordinary humans, the Reckoners spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then taking them out. For the death of his father, David wants to be there for the kill. For years, like the Reckoners, David has been studying, and planning, and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience. He’s seen Steelheart bleed.

Steelheart takes an action-heavy plot, layers in complexity, and delivers twists and a breathtaking conclusion, as David and the Reckoners try to undo the dystopia the Epics have created. According to Sanderson’s agent Eddie Schneider, Steelheart has entered preliminary negotiations for a major Hollywood deal.

An Excerpt:

I’ve seen Steelheart bleed.

It happened ten years ago; I was eight. My father and I were at the First Union Bank on Adams Street. We used the old street names back then, before the Annexation.

The bank was enormous. A single open chamber with white pillars surrounding a tile mosaic floor, broad doors at the back that led deeper into the building. Two large revolving doors opened onto the
street, with a set of conventional doors to the sides. Men and women streamed in and out, as if the room were the heart of some enormous beast, pulsing with a lifeblood of people and cash.

I knelt backward on a chair that was too big for me, watching the flow of people. I liked to watch people. The different shapes of faces, the hairstyles, the clothing, the expressions. Everyone showed so much variety back then. It was exciting.

“David, turn around, please,” my father said. He had a soft voice. I’d never heard it raised, save for that one time at my mother’s funeral. Thinking of his agony on that day still makes me shiver.

I turned around, sullen. We were to the side of the main bank chamber in one of the cubicles where the mortgage men worked. Our cubicle had glass sides, which made it less confining, but it still felt fake. There were little wood- framed pictures of family members on the walls, a cup of cheap candy with a glass lid on the desk, and a vase with faded plastic flowers on the filing cabinet.

It was an imitation of a comfortable home. Much like the man in front of us wore an imitation of a smile.

“If we had more collateral . . . ,” the mortgage man said, showing teeth.

“Everything I own is on there,” my father said, indicating the paper on the desk in front of us. His hands were thick with calluses, his skin tan from days spent working in the sun. My mother would have winced if she’d seen him go to a fancy appointment like this wearing his work jeans and an old T- shirt with a comic book character on it.

At least he’d combed his hair, though it was starting to thin. He didn’t care about that as much as other men seemed to. “Just means fewer haircuts, Dave,” he’d tell me, laughing as he ran his fingers through his wispy hair. I didn’t point out that he was wrong. He would still have to get the same number of haircuts, at least until all of his hair fell out.

“I just don’t think I can do anything about this,” the mortgage man said. “You’ve been told before.”

“The other man said it would be enough,” my father replied, his large hands clasped before him. He looked concerned. Very concerned.

The mortgage man just continued to smile. He tapped the stack of papers on his desk. “The world is a much more dangerous place now, Mr. Charleston. The bank has decided against taking risks.”

“Dangerous?” my father asked.

“Well, you know, the Epics . . .”

>> Read the full prologue at AVClub <<

Steelheart hits shelves September 24, 2013

For those that might not have seen Sanderson's Reddit Interview, he had this to say about the book during the Q&A:

I first started talking about Steelheart a number of years ago. (Five, maybe six?) It was one of the projects I’d been planning to do in 2007 when The Wheel of Time came along and kind of distracted me.

Unable to work on it for years, I instead did up a proposal and started shopping it in Hollywood. I got interest, but everyone said “We’d be more comfortable if the book were done.” So, over the years, I slowly pieced together an outline in my spare time and did chapters when I could. (I think a reading I did of the prologue of this last year is floating around on-line somewhere.)

One of the problems with working on The Wheel of Time is that it’s so time-consuming, I basically can’t work on any other big project while writing it. I stay creative by changing to new ideas and new concepts whenever I start feeling burned out–I work on them for a short time, then get my groove back and turn to the larger project.

That’s why you see all kinds of little projects popping out here and there from me. I can’t do Stormlight 2 at the same time as WoT. Two big series are just too much to do at once; one would suffer. Yet, I still need artistic liberation now and then to try something new and refresh myself.

The two novellas I’m releasing this year (Legion, The Emperor’s Soul) and the short Mistborn novel last year (Alloy of Law) are things that came out of these side deviations. Steelheart is another. Shouldn’t affect Stormlight 2 very much. I always like to have one large project and a handful of smaller ones running at the same time.

It may seem like a lot to have on my plate, but if you add Alloy of Law, Steelheart, and the two novellas together they are combined around half the length of The Way of Kings. (And took about 1/10the brain space…)

I don’t want to make excuses for not doing Stormlight 2, but this might give a little insight as to why you keep seeing all of these other projects popping up.

Overzealous Fans and Charlaine Harris

2013-05-15T10:48:00.000-07:00

May 15, 2013 by xaraan

Fans threatening the writer over her final novel? Hopefully many of the remarks out there are people purposefully going over the top and not seirous, but in today's world it's hard to tell and just unnecessary.

"After that ending, who wants to egg Harris's house with me?"

I'm a pretty geeky guy and have my share of obsessions. I grew up in love with Star Wars and was heartbroken by the prequels. I was addicted to D&D and was let down by their failed attempts to bring the franchise to the big screen. I'm a long time comic reader and there is often so much to stress over in that genre that one's head might explode. So I understand really getting into something, loving the world and characters, but I also realize that taking a step back is a valuable approach, one that more fans need to learn how to master.

"...if Sookie doesn't end up with Eric, I'm going to kill myself."

Charlaine Harris' final Sookie Stackhouse novel, known to many as the True Blood TV series now, has stirred up a little too much negative passion in fans after an early copy was leaked online in Europe. Thousands of negative comments and reviews have been posted around the internet about Sookie's final romantic choice in the novel, many with various threats added into the mix. I'm all for complaining, hopefully constructively, about work you don't like, especially when you've invested time and emotion into something. But when you start to take it personally, you need to take that step back.

We are readers, enjoying a world and vision not our own, no matter how much we invest into a story. Things are not always going to turn out the way we want and in the end, even if you have a hundred people agreeing with you, your views are just an opinion. Write them down, be constructive, help other readers that might have a similar view on books find good opinions and avoid the rants, raves and most of all, the threats.

"I wrote the best book I could, and I'm confident I stayed true to the characters I'd been writing for so many years. It's disappointing to have people impugn my character in such a personal way, but I hope on the whole that many people are entertained by the book and find it a satisfying end to Sookie's adventures," Harris wrote on Facebook.

It also seems to me, and this may be a poor assumption on my part, that many times this overzealous reaction happens to fans that don't read a huge variety of novels. Not to say that all readers of Harris' work do not, but perhaps those that are taking it so personally to make threats are so over-invested because they are focused just on that one story. I'm not just talking about reading one or two other series, but about exposing yourself to as many different stories as possible.

As a reader of George Martin's Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire series) I am used to falling in love with characters only to have things not turn out the way I might have wanted. Again... and again... and- sorry, I digress. There are hundreds of other stories every year I'm apart of, so in the end, if Martin's story doesn't go the way I want, I don't feel a personal rage toward him. Harris entertained readers for 13 years and no matter how vocal the haters are, they often don't notice they are still the minority. Calm down, take a step back, and go read more books.

source: The Guardian

The 'Rogues' Anthology from George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois

2013-05-13T23:53:00.002-07:00

May 13th, 2013 by xaraan

George R.R. Martin announced on his blog today that the manuscript for his next Anthology collection Rogues is complete and has been sent in to the editor. Similar to the Warriors Anthologies in prior years, this novel is packed with great work. Check out the list of contributors after the break.

George R.R. Martin “Everybody Loves a Rogue” (Introduction)
Joe Abercrombie “Tough Times All Over”
Gillian Flynn “What Do You Do?”
Matthew Hughes “The Inn of the Seven Blessings”
Joe R. Lansdale “Bent Twig”
Michael Swanwick “Tawny Petticoats”
David Ball “Provenance”
Carrie Vaughn “The Roaring Twenties”
Scott Lynch “A Year and a Day in Old Theradane”
Bradley Denton “Bad Brass”
Cherie Priest “Heavy Metal”
Daniel Abraham “The Meaning of Love”
Paul Cornell “A Better Way to Die”
Steven Saylor “Ill Seen in Tyre”
Garth Nix “A Cargo of Ivories”
Walter Jon Williams “Diamonds From Tequila”
Phyllis Eisenstein “The Caravan to Nowhere”
Lisa Tuttle “The Curious Affair of the Dead Wives”
Neil Gaiman “How the Marquis Got His Coat Back”
Connie Willis “Now Showing”
Patrick Rothfuss “The Lightning Tree”

Quite the list: Abercrombie, Rothfuss, Gaiman, Abraham, Priest, Nix, Cornell, well... all of them really. Martin promises something for everyone in the collection with sci-fi, mystery, fantasy, crime, historical fiction and more. Bantam hasn't announced a publication date yet, but Martin seems to think a 2014 release is likely.

source: GRRM's Not a Blog

'Dungeons & Dragons' The Movie... Again

2013-05-11T00:04:00.000-07:00

May 11th, 2013 by xaraan

Not really news in the world of books, but there is plenty of crossover for me and possibly many other fans. D&D pulled me into the world of fantasy and reading as a kid and will always have a special place in my heart. Studios are looking to bring the franchise to the big screen again, but will it fare better than last time?

If you don't remember the first time Dungeons & Dragons came to theaters, count yourself lucky. When many of us were waiting for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies in 2000, New Line rushed out D&D to financial and critical failure. I've been told a couple straight to video releases followed, but since I try to block this movie from my mind as much as possible, I refuse to investigate.

Fast forward thirteen years and it looks like Warner Brothers is ready to take another crack at the franchise. With Harry Potter in the past, they are looking for another fantasy franchise, and D&D offers good opportunity. Can they make the most of it?

David Leslie Johnson, the writer behind Wrath of the Titans and Red Riding Hood, is writing the script based on Chainmail, an earlier script of his that was itself based on a different fantasy game and being reworked for D&D. One of the producers is Courtney Solomon, who directed the D&D film in 2000. Neither of these folks give me much confidence in the project, but it will supposedly be a 'big priority' for the studio.

Hasbro however has stepped forward claiming that they own the intellectual property rights to Dungeons & Dragons after purchasing Wizards of the Coast (the publisher of the game) in 1998. They have started a project with Universal Studios to be directed by Chris Morgan, the writer behind The Fast and the Furious and 47 Ronin. They apparently have done this dance before however, in 2000, when Courtney Solomon was found to hold the underlying rights for the movie.

What does this mean for the movie? Chances are the same results will come out of a legal battle, but that doesn't mean it won't still happen and could cause a delay in this 'high priority' project for WB.

What does this mean for fans? Granted, this is just one man's opinion, but nobody from either side of this fight gives me much confidence in the project. Dungeons & Dragons has unlimited potential for building a successful movie franchise, but due to the fact that it's not known for one major story like other successful fantasy franchises, it also has unlimited potential for being completely mishandled. Need I mention the movie in 2000 again?

Dungeons & Dragons is certainly a name with a built-in fanbase, but so are many of the novels set in the various gameworlds. The R.A. Salvatore novels based on the Drizzt Do'Urden character have a big following, Dragonlance Chronicles by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman would fit a typical fantasy story and serve as a good introduction, but most of all they have stories that have already been shaped and tested. When every name mentioned so far working on this project is known for putting out forgettable popcorn movies, not epic fantasy stories, it makes it hard to get ones hopes up.

Unfortunate for a game with such a special place in the hearts of many fantasy fans.

source: Deadline

'The World of Ice and Fire' Release Delayed

2013-05-10T08:06:00.002-07:00

May 19th, 2013 by xaraan

Fans of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series are used to waiting and now it won't just be for the next novel in his story. A companion book about the world he has created is now being delayed, originally planned for release in November of 2013, it will see stores now until the following year.

Due to more ambitious plans for the content of the book, the publisher could not guarantee a 2013 release date, so it has been pushed back to 2014. Combined with the fact that books of this type typically sell best during the holidays, it's probably going to be held from release until late 2014, delaying the book by nearly a year.

According to co-auther Elio Garcia of westeros.org:

Yes, it won't be out this year... but that's because it's becoming rather cooler. More pages, more new history and details, more art. Like the story of the fall of the Tarbecks and the Reynes, the surprising person from whom the Lannisters are descended, more history of the Vale and the arrival of the Andals, and a good deal more. We're working quick as we can, but there's also more art to commission and that means it'd be safest to aim for next year.

Not the best of news for fans hoping to get their fix while waiting for book six of Martin's series, Winds of Winter. The only good thing is that it looks like the book will be worth the wait. Full color, packed with original art, new stories and a large amount of new history brought to light.

Cover Art and Synopsis for Brian McClellan's 'The Crimson Campaign'

2013-05-08T08:07:00.000-07:00

May 8th, 2013 by Xaraan

'The hounds at our heels will soon know we are lions'

Tamas's invasion of Kez ends in disaster when a Kez counter-offensive leaves him cut off behind enemy lines with only a fraction of his army, no supplies, and no hope of reinforcements. Drastically outnumbered and pursued by the enemy's best, he must lead his men on a reckless march through northern Kez to safety, and back over the mountains so that he can defend his country from an angry god.

In Adro, Inspector Adamat only wants to rescue his wife. To do so he must track down and confront the evil Lord Vetas. He has questions for Vetas concerning his enigmatic master, but the answers might come too quickly.

With Tamas and his powder cabal presumed dead, Taniel Two-shot finds himself alongside the god-chef Mihali as the last line of defence against Kresimir's advancing army. Tamas's generals bicker among themselves, the brigades lose ground every day beneath the Kez onslaught, and Kresimir wants the head of the man who shot him in the eye.

A Couple maps of McClellan's "Powder Mage" world:

Check out our review for book one of McClellan's Powder Mage Trilogy: Promise of Blood. The Crimson Campaign is due out February of 2014.

REVIEW: 'Promise of Blood' by Brian McClellan

2013-05-07T10:32:00.001-07:00

May 7th, 2013 by Xaraan

The Age of Kings is dead . . . and I have killed it.

It's a bloody business overthrowing a king...

Field Marshal Tamas' coup against his king sent corrupt aristocrats to the guillotine and brought bread to the starving. But it also provoked war with the Nine Nations, internal attacks by royalist fanatics, and the greedy to scramble for money and power by Tamas's supposed allies: the Church, workers unions, and mercenary forces.

It's up to a few...

Stretched to his limit, Tamas is relying heavily on his few remaining powder mages, including the embittered Taniel, a brilliant marksman who also happens to be his estranged son, and Adamat, a retired police inspector whose loyalty is being tested by blackmail.

But when gods are involved...
Now, as attacks batter them from within and without, the credulous are whispering about omens of death and destruction. Just old peasant legends about the gods waking to walk the earth. No modern educated man believes that sort of thing. But they should...

REVIEW:

Promise of Blood focuses mainly on three point-of-views throughout the story. Tamas, the field marshal of the 'Powder Mages' you see pictured on the cover, his son Taniel, a skilled powder mage under his command but with a tense relationship with his father, and Adamat, an investigator hired by Tamas. There is one additional POV that gets a much smaller part of the story, Nila, a laundress that watched over one of the heirs of the former king, but her story
seems like it is only just getting started and I'd expect to see more of her in the following novels. Taniel's former lover, Vlora, another powder mage, seems fit for a major role as well, despite not getting much time in the book and overall, McClellan has no shortage of interesting characters.

From the cover, you might assume the story is about Tamas overthrowing a kingdom, but it actually begins after he has already taken over. This puts him in a much more challenging role as a warrior trying to govern a city instead of just trying to fight someone, though he finds out there is no shortage of people willing to bring a battle to him. The novel gradually builds, focusing at first on Tamas' challenges with the city after taking over, dealing with rebels and a tense population at first, but more and more of the larger picture is revealed to Tamas and the reader as the story progresses. Though I try to avoid spoilers when possible, so won't offer many specifics, it should be said that as that focus shifts, the tone of the story shifts with it. From that more grounded story, to one that focuses on old legends, magic and gods. The story isn't just about a new age as guns and industry grow in the world, as is it about the legends of a world of ancient fantasy not being so easily dismissed.

Adamat, his investigator, offers a different perspective on the story than what we get from Tamas and his son Taniel. Adamat, a much weaker character than many of the other players in the story, relies more on his experience and intelligence than on power and is one of the more relatable characters of the story, but Taniel is probably the main 'heroic adventurer' of the novel. If Adamat is Tamas' investigator, Taniel is his hunter, sent to kill some of the traditional royal mages that escaped his purge at the beginning of the novel. As Tamas and Adamat slowly discover more and more of what is really going on in the world, Taniel is thrust into it head first as powerful magic and old gods take over the plot and he is forced to fight against powers beyond anything he imagined possible.

Various forms of magic play a major role in the story. Powder Mages, or Marked, can magically control the black powder used to fire flintlock weapons, setting it off with their own power, taking some into their own bodies to enhance their strength and senses, and more. This puts them at odds with the more traditional mages, Privileged, who use their own gifts and rune covered gloves to control the 'Else', the source of magic. The relationship between Marked and Privileged plays a major role in the dynamic of the world. Lesser magically gifted characters also exist, with simple abilities like perfect memories, the ability to go without sleep, etc., referred to as Knacked. As the story gets deeper, more powerful sorcerers of an older age are also revealed. With old gods and ancient mages at the forefront by the end, the worry could be losing the story in the sometimes outlandish aspects of fantasy and high magic, but in Promise, McClellan manages to keep it grounded, mostly thanks to his excellent work with the characters.

BOTTOM LINE:

Due to McClellan being a student of Brandon Sanderson, the desire to compare their work is there, and though the quality of his work is comparable, I found it more similar in feel to work from Brent Weeks myself. From the other flintlock fantasy stories I've read, this also rates among the best, and probably does such a good job of mixing the more modern flintlock age with fantasy that it barely feels like it should be labeled as a sub-genre. His character work shines through whatever category the book might fall in and makes this one of the best debuts in recent years, as well as places it among the best novels this year.

Comic Reading Log - April

2013-04-25T11:12:00.000-07:00

April 25th, 2013 by xaraan

Welcome to the new feature I plan on doing at as each month wraps. Aside from books, I also read comics and though I write for a comic book website, I don't do a ton of reviews because it always seemed odd to have thousand-word reviews on a twenty page comic book. Instead I plan to keep a monthly log of the books I read and my thoughts on the recent issue/storyline.

I've read comics since I was a wee boy and I've felt pushed away a couple of times, once in the 90's and again a few years ago. Both times was because I felt I was wasting my money on stale, cookie cutter and often badly written stories. Though I will probably always have an interest in some of the superhero staples that first hooked me, independent comics are what's keeping my interest these days and if you are interested in reading good stories (I'm assuming you are since you are reading this on a book review blog) then you should definitely check out some of the comics listed here.

Mind MGMT #10 ★★★★★

This title has consistently been one of the best each month and with the first trade having just come out and the series only being ten issues deep so far, it won't be hard for you to catch up on it. Matt Kindt, the writer and artist, has a finite story to tell here that will run for a certain number of issues and this is one of the things that's drawn me to non-mainstream books. I get burned out on the serialized, cookie-cutter aspect of corporate comics, where nothing ever really happens.

    Mind MGMT is about a writer, Meru, as she searches for the truth behind a mysterious memory wipe and digs her way into a world of secret government agents with various psychic abilities. In the first arc you follow her through that journey and once she teams up with Lyme, an ex-agent hoping to take down Mind Management the story really kicks into gear. By issue ten, we're several issues into that team-up and they've been at work trying to recruit former agents before the agency re-recruits them. I especially enjoyed this issue due to the abilities of the agent they were approaching this time and watching them deal with how best to get to him.

   Another great thing about this series is the bonus material.   Kindt adds mini-stories to the front and back flaps of each comic about agents from the past, often has a couple pages at the end of each story about agents as they were recruited that you may see in future issues, plus small snippets of side stories in the margins. The design and his art all make for a very good fit when reading about a secret psychic government agency.

   Also, check out our interview with Matt Kindt from the recent WonderCon event.

Saga #12 ★★★★☆

   I don't know if you caught all the hubbub about this in the comic news this week, but a couple of explicit scenes of gay sex caused comixology (a digital comic app) to temporarily ban it because they thought Apple and Android would object to its sale. Apple initially took all the crap for the ban and comixology seemed content to let them take the heat until everyone noticed the book wasn't for sale on Android devices either. After a day or two of drama, they admitted to what had happened and made the book available for sale. Hopefully the press helped the book's sales because it deserves it, though the two scenes in question point to my biggest ongoing issue with this book.

    The two scenes are in a flashback, as one of the characters "Prince Robot IV" - a character from a race with TVs for a head, is wounded in battle and as he lays there possibly dying, gay sex scenes pop up on the TV screen. Now, author Bryan K. Vaughan has said everything happens for a reason, and in this particular scene, I could see that. Perhaps 'Robot' is in the closet and as he lay dying his true feelings surfaced, but so often in this book weird stuff just happens (giants with huge sagging-to-the-ground nutsacks that fight naked, robots with TVs for heads, etc.). If not for the drama about this issue, I'd have never given a second thought to the weird scene and just dismissed it as more random weird stuff that means nothing. So in my mind, the attention was actually helpful and made me actually register the scene to see if he plays out later.

   Ignoring the weird-for the sake of being weird- stuff, the story itself is great. From the start, the two stars of the book have been on the run for their illegal hook-up, members from either side of a race war have fallen in love and produced an off-spring, turning them into some of the most hunted beings in the universe. This issue focuses mostly on Prince TV-head's attempt to catch them as he deals with the people pressuring him and gets tough on someone he thinks has information he needs.

The Sixth Gun #30 ★★★☆☆

   After hearing nothing but good things about this series, I decided to dive into it last month. #29 was probably not the best jumping on point, being the end of a story arc, but this month's issue kicks off a new story. Either way, there seems to be a bit of catching up to do and I may go back for old issues or trades to catch up as the story seems more than worth it.

    The new arc addresses the after-effects of the last arc and the 'story so far' breakdown on the front flap of the issue is enough to catch up on the basics. The Sixth Gun is about six mystical guns, the sixth being of particular interest as it's tied to the end of teh world (or at least the world as we know it). Becky, the wielder of the gun, used it last issue to confront her enemy spiritually, leaving her weakened and her spirit partially trapped in the spirit world. Issue 30 begins a spirit quest of sorts for her to regain her strength, but of course by the end, isn't going quite as planned. It's easy enough to follow the story without having read every issue, but there is a lot of character tension and interaction that doesn't seem to hit me the way it should if I'd read the series from the start.

The Black Beetle #3 ★★★★☆

   A four issue arc that I hope continues in some form after it wraps*. I picked up the first issue because of the art and the promise of pulp fiction, both reasons have delivered in spades. Francesco Francavilla's art couldn't be more perfect for the pulp noir feel of the book. Set in what feels like an early 1900's era, we follow the Black Beetle as he starts off on a pretty standard mission that turns itself into a deeper and deeper mystery. By the third issue, we now have a sense of what's really happening as the Beetle makes a few discoveries and has a run-in with a masked villain that nearly kills him. The story itself isn't going to blow anyone's doors off, though it's good, it's the style of the book that makes the biggest impact. I think one of my favorite things about the book has been that we really don't see the alter ego of the Black Beetle, the story stays focused on the masked hero who remains as much a mystery to the reader as to the citizens of Colt City.

*Edit: I want to add that Mr. Francavilla responded to a question of mine on twitter and answered about the length of his series: It will a series of several five issue mini-series, each mini being self-contained.

The Walking Dead #109 ★★☆☆☆

    The Walking Dead used to be my favorite comic, getting me through times when I was normally fed up with every other mainstream comic. Lately though it's been quite the opposite. The last several issues have felt like a mirror image to the last half of season three on AMC - You know a fight is coming, but every moment is being dragged out as long as possible to keep people waiting for that battle. I don't have a problem with build up, but it passed that point several issues ago and now just feels like one things happens in an issue that the rest is just filler to make it take up the entire issue. I definitely think this will be better read as a trade and if the final battle isn't better than what we got on the tv show last season, then it might not be worth it at all.

The First Law #1 ★★★☆☆

This is a comic adaptation of Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy that he launched this month. The great thing about the series is that he is offering it for free if you are willing to be patient and read each issue in parts, or you can download entire issues as they come out from comixology. You can find out more info on the book here, at our article on the launch.

    The issue starts off just as you'd imagine if you've read the books, introducing us to Logen Ninefingers and Inquisitor Glokta. Although it's been a few years since I read the First Law trilogy, the scenes immediately came back to mind as I worked my way through the issue. Story-wise, no complaints, Chuck Dixon does a great job adapting Abercrombie's story to comic book form, however the art is another story. Don't get me wrong, the art is beautiful, but that's part of the problem. Anyone familiar with Abercrombie's work knows all-to-well the gritty style of the world and the clean art is almost too pretty a fit for it. It doesn't ruin the story, but can be initially jarring. Hopefully this will improve as the series goes on.

Conan The Barbarian #15 ★★★☆☆

As a fantasy reader, Conan has always had a place in my heart and I was happy to hear about Brian Wood on this comic a while back. Issue fifteen is part three of an arc, so not exactly the best jumping on point, though you can probably still find the prior two issues at your local comic shop. Like all of Conan so far, it reads like you are being told of a story of legend, even if the adventure itself doesn't quite reach that epic feel. It's a solid story about a woman Conan loves and his attempt to reunite with her. The art is good, I don't love it as much as the early Conan relaunch where it was digital paint over pencil, but it's not bad. The best thing about the series is that Dark Horse gets the trades out regularly once the monthly stories have wrapped, so this series is a great one to pick up in trade form as it often reads best in one sitting.


Dresden Files - Ghoul Goblin #3 ★★★☆☆

   Any Harry Dresden fan would be remiss not to check out the original Dresden comics that have come out. The current mini-series, which will eventually be collected into a trade once the story wraps, fits in between two of his early novels: Full Moon and Grave Peril. It's been nice to revisit early Dresden as the story now is much heavier lately, and so far they've done a great job in the comic with the world of Harry Dresden. You don't have to have read his books to follow and enjoy the story, but if you have read them, you definitely get a sense of the time period in Harry's life. So far they've done a good job mixing in the various aspects of his wizardry as he leaves Chicago to investigate a small town supernatural murder. There has been more to the mystery than meets the eye of course and by issue three, the half way point of the series, he has started to scratch the surface of what's really happening, all the while digging himself into deeper troubles in his own Harry Dresden sort of way.

VALIANT

   Valiant has relaunched their line of books from the 90s and having never read their old stuff, I was quick to look past their comics. Fortunately, one of the other writers on the site I work at kept talking about them and I finally decided to dive in, playing catch up on several of their series. I'm glad I did, much of their line has become some of the comics I look most forward to each month.

Harbinger Wars #1 ★★★★☆

   Valiant's Harbinger and Bloodshot comics have been building from the start into this clash. All of Valiant's comics have been great since their relaunch last year, but Harbinger has not only been one of my favorites from them, but one of my favorite comics period. I'm finding more and more quality storytelling outside of the big two publishers than ever before.

   Harbinger Wars doesn't feel like something shoehorned into the line to create an event, it feels like a natural continuation of parts of the story from both Harbinger and Bloodshot. You don't need to have read them to understand this series, but it will add to the depth and enjoyment. The two books both feature groups: Rising Spirit Securities and Harada Global Conglomerates, both having delved into the super-people business and neither having it work out quite as smoothly as they hoped. Peter Stancheck and his group of renegades star in the Harbinger book and are on the run from Harada, where Bloodshot has spent the last couple issues of his comic rescuing children from the Rising Spirit program. Rising Spirit and Harada are more mixed up than anyone realized though and by the end of the issue we see Bloodshot ready to face off against Toyo Harada (leader of HGC) after rescuing another group of kids.

Harbinger #11 ★★★★☆

Where Harbinger Wars offered pieces of every side of the conflict, Harbinger goes deeper by keeping focus on Harada and Peter Stancheck and his people. I loved the overlap between this book 'Wars, seeing a few of the same scenes more fleshed out. By keeping the focus small and the story deep, Valiant is putting on a clinic on how to do a crossover event. The characters in Harbinger are some of my favorites, probably due to how flawed Stancheck and his group is. You can easily catch up on this by picking up this issue and 'Wars this month using the "previously" section in the beginning of the issue.

Bloodshot #10 ★★★☆☆

   Much like this month's Harbinger, Bloodshot is a tie-in to Harbinger Wars #1 and expands on Bloodshot's side of the story. Neither jump ahead of Harbinger Wars, but instead bring you up to the end of that book by fleshing out everything that's happened with the characters that you didn't see in HW #1. It works well, fans can follow the story of any of the three books without having to pick up all of them to make sense of the others. Though you should, because they are that good and Valiant is keeping the crossover small, as is best.   Bloodshot spends most of the book trying to get the super powered children he rescued to safety, fighting off a threat, dealing with having to be responsible for all these kids and leading up the moment that ties into the end of Harbinger Wars. It probably won't matter what order the books are read in, but I'd recommend reading Harbinger Wars #1 first, since it was published first and then either this or Harbinger #11 since they serve to flesh out what you will know from HW.

Archer & Armstrong #9 ★★★★☆

   This issue wraps up the current arc, so the next issue may be the best jumping on point. But with the "story so far" on the front flap, it's really not hard to jump in now and even better, with only nine issues out, it's worth going back and catching up on the story yourself.

   They've teamed up (sort of) with Armstrong's estranged brother, the Eternal Warrior, to fight a common enemy: The Null, which hopes to destroy the earth. They've unleashed an entity known as The Last Enemy that is supposed to herald the end and it possesses Archer and turns on the others. They work at foiling the Null's plot, all while trying to survive against Archer, hoping not to have to kill their friend, as Archer fights against him from the inside.

DC

When DC relaunched their entire universe with "the new 52" I was probably reading between a third and half of their line. Between interest in what they were doing with this relaunch and the creative teams put on various books my interest was high, but slowly DC seems to have drifted back to the same stale stories they've always produced (to me, anyway). Many of the creative teams that at first stirred up interest have sense moved on to other projects and DC has returned to a very generic format in the stories where nothing interesting happens and re-introducing old characters, made new again by the relaunch, is the biggest thing happening. So now I'm down to just a few DC books and I'm only up-to-date on one of them: Scott Synder's Batman.

Batman #19 ★★★☆☆

Scott Snyder has to be one of the best writers to touch Batman in years. I've enjoyed arcs or mini-series from Batman, but I've never been able to get into his monthly books. Something always seemed stale about them. Snyder changed all that when he relaunched Batman with the Court of Owls, and though I was less impressed with the big 'Death in the Family' Joker arc that followed, it was still a good read. Issue nineteen kicks off a new arc and focuses on a new villain - Clayface.

It's not really much of a spoiler, anyone familiar with Batman should put it together when you see Bruce Wayne robbing a bank at the beginning of the issue before time gets pushed a few days backwards to show how he ended up there. As those prior days pass, we get to see Batman doing detective work (something often overlooked by writers) as he stumbles onto Clayface's scheme and discovers his ability to mimic has gone to a whole new level. Before he gets a chance to prepare to face him, Clayface finds him as Bruce Wayne at his office and leaves us with a cliff-hanger. As for the art, Greg Capullo is perfect for the comic.

The mini-story that follows, by Snyder student, James Tynion IV is a story following Batman and Superman as they investigate a series of strange phenomenon in Gotham and the supernatural nature of the problem creates issues for Superman. I haven't always found these little stories interesting, but I quite enjoyed this one.

MARVEL

   Marvel is almost in the same boat as DC for me, but a few writers are keeping me interested in a few books, my favorites would have to be Daredevil and Thor.

Thor, God of Thunder #7 ★★★★☆

    I've never been able to get into Thor, something about the idea of an ancient god running around like a superhero always seemed weird to me, and the flowery language didn't help. Between Thor in the first run of Ultimates and now the movies, the idea doesn't seem as odd anymore. I still never saw myself reading a monthly comic, but Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic changed all that. This story hasn't been about Thor being a superhero, this is about Thor being a god. As a reader that loves fantasy, this comic sits nicely right beside Conan every month.

   This issue isn't a jumping on point unfortunately, but the series is worth picking up if you can find the issues. If not, don't pass up on the trade. The story follows three versions of Thor as he encounters the same powerful god-killer at three points in his life. First as a young boisterous warrior god, not yet worthy to wield Mjolnir and instead carrying a pretty sweet axe around; second, the modern day Thor we are familiar with from the comics and movies; and third, an elderly Thor who seems to be the last God standing and now ruling Asgard as the all-father. We are to the point now where the three versions of Thor are coming together into one story as they move to face the god-killer and we get a look at just what the villain has been working on.

Daredevil #25 ★★★★☆

   One of the best comics Marvel is putting out right now, from issue one Waid has really returned Daredevil to the superhero we all know and love. This issue can be a decent jumping on point for new readers with a new plot starting and most importantly a new, a fairly interesting, villain introduced. I was a little knocked out of the story at one point when they show young Matt Murdock training and he falls from a high ledge several stories and bounces off a slanted roof with a fancy flip to land alright. I realize Daredevil is a superhero and practically a "ninja" for whatever it's worth, but he doesn't really have super strength. Outside of his senses, he is just a well trained person and I don't know too many people the fall several stories to roll off a metal corrugated roof and be ok with "ninja" training, so it sometimes stuff like that ruins my suspension of disbelief, even for a comic book.

All New X-Men #10 ★★★☆☆

    This book has really surprised me. The concept was that Beast used some technology to pull the original X-Men team of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Angel and Beast into the present day with the hope that they would see what has happened with modern day Cyclops and be able to prevent the future downfall. When I first saw the preview for this series I rolled my eyes a bit, but it is probably my favorite X-Book each month. This is one of the many books Brian Michael Bendis is writing and aside from Ultimate Spider-man, he seems to have a good grasp for the mutants. Stuart Immonen's art is, as usual, top notch.

    So far the original X-Men have decided to stay in the present day, with Cyclops taking particular interest in why his modern self is making the choices he is. Much of the story so far has been made up of the interactions of the old and new X-Men, but this issue the villains begin to take a bigger piece of the story. Mystique has assembled a team of mutants and begun a little crime spree, using Lady Mastermind to make them appear as the original X-Men team. With all the mutant hatred in the world after AvX, it only adds to the complications for the X-Men right now. In the meantime, modern Cyclops has showed up at the school to announce his plans for his own school and to invite any mutants that wish to attend. This mirrors the very similar situation we had a year ago when the X-Men split into two groups, one led by Cyclops and the other by Wolverine, so hopefully they have a new path planned for the idea this time. The one bad thing I'd have to say, which isn't really due to this book, but the editorial direction for the character in recent years is Wolverine. He's gone from someone I used to root for, to an annoying character I hope to watch fail.

Avengers #9 ★★★☆☆

    This book has been both good and confusing at the same time. It's feels like someone trying to write like Warren Ellis on Authority/Planetary but not quite reaching the goal of having all the weird meta-stuff going on also make sense to the reader. To be fair, all of Hickman's work I've read has felt like this and maybe that's just his style. I don't' think he's trying to duplicate anything, just trying to convey a nagging feeling I get when I read his stuff.   I've understood only parts of this story, especially at the first several issues, but by now you pretty much know what's going on enough to follow. As with most cosmic stuff, it's pretty out there. God-like people are doing crazy things with Earths from all the different dimensions, the Avengers are doing something about it, though I'm not sure what. Most of this issue follows two new characters created Nightmask and Starbrand as they encounter Nihil and then a sentient Earth, it concludes with a big throw down as the Avengers decide to capture Starbrand and Nightmask before their power gets away from them more than it already has. For readers that love the cosmic stuff, this book is pretty popular, but for me it would probably read better as a trade in one sitting.

Avengers #10 ★★★☆☆

    A bi-weekly book, you'll get two helpings of Hickman's Avengers every month (and that's not counting his New Avengers series as well). I'm still in the arena of not quite getting everything Hickman throws at me. He seems to continually create questions and mysteries, yet hasn't solved quite enough of them yet for my taste. The smaller self-contained story of this issue though, did entertain me more than most of his recent work, I just hope that what's going on behind the scenes plays out as the arc continues. Ten issues into this story and I'm still not exactly sure of the main plot connecting all the smaller arcs.

Age of Ultron #4,5,6 ★☆☆☆☆

   I'm not a big fan of these mega-events Marvel has been doing the last few years, but I often feel obligated to read them since I write for a website that covers comic book news. Don't get me wrong, I love huge stories, but for years now these haven't developed organically and are instead created through "writer's summits" where the goal is to create an event each year. Often the goal of these events isn't to tell a great story, but to produce some end result in the marvel-verse. We saw this with the AvX event last year, the story itself was pretty bad, yet it offered up some interesting stories in the Avenger and X-Men books since.

    Age of Ultron hasn't been as bad as AvX and has been getting more interesting with each issue. The first few issues felt very decompressed, with the same thing happening in each issue, just with a different set of characters. When you realize you've spent twelve dollars for those first few issues, it can get hard to ignore a story being stretched out. Bryan Hitch's art, normally a high point for any book he touches has been week throughout the series so far. Whether it's because he is rushed (normally known as a pretty slow artist) and perhaps the inker isn't a good match for his style. Whatever the reason, it pains me to not be able to enjoy art from one of my favorite comic artists.

   It's unfortunate that fans had to drop so much money on these issues to get to a point where something is happening, but at least by issues five and six, things are starting to move. What's left of the heroes have gathered to figure out how to stop Ultron, who isn't in this time period, by traveling to the future to fight him. After some of them leave on that mission, Wolverine (and Sue Storm who snuck along) use the time travel machine to travel back in time to the point where Hank Pym was creating Ultron and kill him. Wolverine tracks him down and begins to tear into him, but Sue momentarily stops him, not sure of wanting to cross a line. She concedes however and let's Wolverine kill Pym.

   I would not be reading this series if I didn't write for a site that covers comic stuff, so my recommendation is a pass on this and maybe.... MAYBE if it has a decent ending it will be worth picking up in trade.

This reading log is probably a bit longer than future versions will be due to me offering bigger descriptions of titles for the first edition of the column. Hopefully I can catch up on a few comics I'm still behind on and add more titles to the column next month. Some of the other books I'm working on are The Massive, Uncanny X-Men, Wonder Woman, Fatale, 47 Ronin, The Manhatten Projects, and a few more.

Feel free to add your own thoughts below, whether on some of the comics I've read and reviewed here, or completely different comics, especially if you have any recommendations for books to try out. (You can use either Facebook commenting, or the standard blog commenting form below.)

'The World of Ice and Fire' Release Date and Info

2013-04-21T12:15:00.001-07:00

April 21st, 2013 by xaraan

A companion volume to the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Bantam released new information on The World of Ice and Fire today. Initially thought to be coming in October this year, it's now been given an official release date of November 5th. Check out the cover art and release after the break... (Updated)

It's written by Elio Garcia and Linda Antonsson, with George R.R. Martin consulting. Garcia and Antonsson run the largest A Song of Ice and Fire online community and Martin himself has said he often uses their website to double-check information when he's away from his notes.

The book will open with a historical overview of the setting, have a guide to the characters, a large amount of heraldry including the Targaryen family tree, and more:

Update: The World of Ice and Fire has been delayed nearly a year.

Brandon Sanderson Reddit AMA

2013-04-17T10:40:00.000-07:00

Brandon Sanderson dedicated quite a bit of time to answer reader submitted questions the other day on social news website: Reddit. The Q&A's reddit hosts are called AMA's - "Ask Me Anything". Here are the highlights and link to the entire AMA...

April 17th, 2013 by xaraan

Q: Hey Brandon, You've got a reputation for pumping out tons of content. How much time do you spend writing every day? Do you have any tricks for keeping yourself on task?

Brandon: I write about 2,500 words a day, writing at around 500 words an hour. My production is more about being consistent than about being fast. I do tend to write around ten hours a day. Don't know if I have any tips other than to perhaps turn off the internet or go outside and write for a while.

Q: If you had to pick one of your worlds to live on, which would it be and why?

Brandon: Probably Scadrial. Allomancy would be my chosen magic, and the technological progress appeals to me.

Q: The initial plan for Mistborn was three trilogies, with Alloy of Law being a spin off. With Alloy getting a sequel, has the Waxillium portion become the second trilogy?

Brandon: No. The second trilogy will still happen. (As will more Wax books.)

Q: Hey Brandon! Any news/updates on the Mistborn movie? Can't wait for Stormlight 2!

Brandon: Mistborn Movie is still rolling along. We've had some great interest from a few studios and production companies lately. So our fingers are crossed. But I still think we're kind of a long shot.

Q: Given how George R.R. Martin got Game of Thrones to come out on a TV Format, if you had to choose one of your series to receive a similar exposure to television, which would you choose and why?

Brandon: I would most certainly pick the Wheel of Time. I've been very straightforward with Universal in stating my preference that WoT be adapted for television, as opposed to the big screen. Both could be awesome, but I think the long form of a season would be better for the books.

After WoT, I'd pick Legion, which I envisioned as a show even as I wrote it.

Q: Do you have any regrets about the Wheel of Time?

Brandon: I do wish I'd managed to either get it all into one book, or managed the split between TGS/TofM better. Also, I might have tried to work Fain in more if I'd had more time. Also, there are some little continuity errors here and there that I wish I would have caught.

It's hard to say. For example, would I have written Mat differently in TGS if I'd had the time? Perhaps. But it was writing Mat the way I did that helped me understand him, so perhaps not. There are mistakes in the books I did, as there are in all the books I've done, but I'm not sure if the right thing to do is change them. Otherwise, we get into a Lucas-style revision-fest.

Q: I have a technical question here re: gemstones in The Stormlight Archive. How are the lines drawn between different types of gem? Emerald and Heliodor are both varieties of the mineral beryl. Emerald can get its color from trace amounts of chromium, vanadium and/or iron. Heliodor gets its color from iron combined with microscopic crystal defects. So, is the line between these two defined by color? If so, would a heliodor lose its usefulness if it were heated (which would turn it colorless or pale blue). Is it defined by trace elements--in which case, how do you deal with emeralds, or with aquamarine (the blue variety of beryl, which can also contain chromium or vanadium in small quantities and is mostly colored by iron). Sorry for getting so technical, but this gem nerd needs to know!

Brandon: I actually spent a long time working on this while building the world. You'd probably be amused by how long I spent on it. Chemically, many of them are actually very similar, as you pointed out. I tried doing the book originally with them all being different, not using any that were basically the same crystal with different colors, but it didn't work out. There weren't enough, and so I had to stretch to make it all work.

So, I went back to the original, and decided that color was enough to differentiate them. Just as steel and iron are very similar in the mistborn world, Emerald and Heliodor can be very similar--but produce different effects. The idea here is that the physical items (like the metals or the crystals) provide a key by which magical interaction occurs.

So, in a long winded answer, a gemstone with an impure color would be considered like a bad alloy in the Mistborn magic--it either wouldn't work at all, or would work very poorly. The chemical and color signature needs to be of a specific variety to provide the proper key to accessing the power of transformation.

Q: What fantasy or science fiction authors do you consider underrated? Got any recommendations for us?

Brandon: Wow. Lots. I doubt many of these are truly underrated on a place like /r/fantasy, but they sometimes don't get the sales I feel they deserve.

- Guy Gavrial Kay is one of these. (He has a new book out, and did an AMA recently.) You're probably familiar with him, but I would put him and Pratchett as the best two things in fantasy right now.

- Melanie Rawn's sunrunner books are some of my classic favorites, and not as well known by many modern readers.

- The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and its sequels are just plain awesome.

- Daniel Abraham's works are very good. He's more well known now than he once was.

Q: I've always wondered this, what is the best way to support you as an author? Do you make more money if we buy an ebook, off of amazon, or at Barnes & Nobles? As a fan of yours I want to make sure you're receiving as much of the money as I can give.

How do you feel about those of us that buy your hardcover, then go and pirate the ebook?

Brandon: I get this question on occasion, and always feel the best thing for me to do is emphasize that I prefer you to buy the format that makes you the most happy. That way, you are encouraged to keep reading, and that is really what is best for me.

Most authors makes something around the following:
Hardcover, 15% of cover. (Regardless of store, unless it's a bargain book.)
Paperback, 8% of cover. (Regardless of venue.)
Ebook, 17.5% of the list price. (Unless they are self-published, and then it's usually 65-70% of list price.)

So, the best way to get money to an author is to buy the hardcover, preferably during launch week. (That influences how high the book gets on bestseller lists and how much in-store support it gets.)
However, I don't think that is something a reader needs to worry too much about. To be honest, rather than thinking about this, I think most authors would say that the best thing you can do for us is just read the books. Second best is to loan your copies to a friend so they can enjoy the books too.

I've got no problem with [buying HC and pirating e-book]. I wish I could actively give away the ebook to everyone who bought the hardcover. I can actually do this on books like Legion and the Emperor's Soul, where I retain rights to the ebook. (So I do.)

I'm not encouraging this, mind you. But I'm also not going to complain or make anyone feel guilty. If you've paid for the content once, I feel you should have access to it into the future, whenever you want, in any format you want. (With the exception being audiobook, where the voice actors deserve to be paid for their work above and beyond me getting paid for the writing.)

Q: Now that you're done with the Wheel of Time series, could you update us on your writing plans going forward? I know about the three books coming out this year, but it would be great to see what your thoughts are on the multi-year plan, including the scifi Mistborn trilogy. Are there any plans for sequels to Rithmatist or Steelheart?

Brandon: Current plans are as follows:

2013: Rithmatist, Steelheart, Words of Radiance 2014: Shadows of Self, Steelheart 2 2015: Stormlight 3, Rithmatist 2

Usually, in the past, I've done one smaller book and one larger book a year. This is what I'd like to get back to doing. (As opposed to last year and this year--where last year had no novels, and this year has four, including AMOL.)

This is only a portion of the huge AMA that covered a variety of specifics in his various books (including spoilers) and more. So check out the reddit AMA for all the details.

REVIEW: 'The Tattered Banner' by Duncan M. Hamilton

2013-04-16T12:06:00.000-07:00

April 16th, 2013 by xaraan

Unique talent always attracts attention…

In a world where magic is outlawed, ability with a sword is prized above all else. For Soren this means the chance to live out his dreams.

Plucked from a life of privation, he is given a coveted place at Ostenheim’s Academy of Swordsmanship, an opportunity beyond belief.

Opportunity is not always what it seems however, and gifts rarely come without conditions. Soren becomes an unwitting pawn in a game of intrigue and treachery that could cost him not just his dreams, but also his life.

REVIEW:

   The book follows one character, Soren, through a pivotal slice of his life as he is plucked off the streets by a nobleman hoping to pull a diamond out of the rough. Though the book is in third person, for the most part, you experience the world from Soren out, with Hamilton's world growing as Soren becomes more worldly. This writing style offered readers the experience you can get from reading urban fantasy, but with a more classic fantasy feel. It fit well with the fast paced tale. We follow Soren from the streets, into the academy where he begins to learn swordsmanship, and then into a variety of adventures of ups and downs.

   Soren's story in this first volume takes years to play out, so the pace stays brisk covering both major
moments and character growth well. Where a story might normally take chapters, if not a whole book, to play out a battle or small war, The Tattered Banner often takes you directly to the heart of the matter, instead, finding it's suspense elsewhere. This works well to keep the reader on his or her toes, breaking up the usual manner a story flows and offering small surprises as one adventure wraps and another begins. It is not in the battles, the schooling, or other unique moments of his life that the plot is built on, but instead of the schemes going on behind the scenes that Soren is often oblivious to at his young age. It's not a great mystery to the reader, as I would suspect most would put together what is happening far before Soren's revelation. There is a certain knowing sadness as you watch Soren used as little more than a tool without realizing it until it's too late.

   Soren, although physically powerful as he grows into his role, is a flawed young man. His decisions are almost always understandable given his lack of experience with the world and his own concerns. You feel a bond with the character that books told in first person narrative offer, without having to be told every single thought running through his mind, allowing you to figure that out simply because you know and understand the character.

As for the world the story is set in, it slowly grows with the character. Initially you know only the city, or even just a piece of the city and learn more about the neighboring kingdoms and conflicts as the story moves along. Magic is rare in the book, outright outlawed in the city of Ostenheim where much of the story takes place. Soren, however, possesses something called the Gift, an ability he barely understands even by the end of the book. This Gift is something that the swordsmen who used to work for the now-extinct mages generations ago possessed, giving them greater strength and speed when needed, but at a cost. Much like the hints you get of the world outside of Soren's knowledge, the history of magic and his abilities will probably continue to develop as the saga unfolds, but offers you a glimpse that there is a much more fleshed out world beyond what Soren knows and the reader initially sees.

   As you begin to reach the end of this first volume, it hardly seems like there is enough book left to give you everything you want. Much of the bigger pieces of the plot and world will, of course, play out in future volumes, but Hamilton's jumps from one moment to the next offer much more story than the last handful of pages would make it seem. The tone the book ends on my be surprising compared to what we often see at the end of a first book, but it definitely leaves the reader hungry for more, while wrapping up an era of Soren's life. I look forward to the next volume and hope that Hamilton's story-telling style continues into the future of his Society of the Sword saga.

BOTTOM LINE:

A reader looking for a good, fast-paced fantasy story should definitely pick this up, as well as anyone that reads urban fantasy that may be looking to stick their foot into more traditional fantasy novels. If you've read and enjoyed Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick or Brent Weeks' Night Angel trilogy, you should definitely give The Tattered Banner a try.

The Tattered Banner was released March 2nd, and is out now in paperback and ebook.

Visit DuncanMHamilton.com for more info and updates.

INTERVIEW: 'Yi Soon Shin' writer: Onrie Kompan

2013-04-16T10:19:00.000-07:00

April 16th, 2013 by Angela

Onrie Kompan on the historically based comic book series Yi Soon Shin. The comic touches on a place many of us have yet to experience, Korea during the late 1500's when Japan started to take on the world. Admiral Yi Soon Shin of the Korean navy showed during a time of little hope what conviction and ingenuity could do to fight off Japan's unstoppable forces.

Transcript of video after the break.

Angela:   For listeners not familiar with the comic, can you tell us a bit about the book?

Onrie: Absolutely. The book's about a Korean Admiral who fought the Japanese in the 1500's. He was outnumbered 10-to-1 and beat them 23 times in a row without losing. It's all based on a true story.

   Our first trade, Warrior and Defender, collects the first four chapters of the story arc. We'll have a total of twelve issues, with three seperate story arcs creating a trilogy.

Angela:   What a lot of people won't realize is how intense this is. There are so many shows out there highlighting history right now and it's so fascinating to see how history can be just as action packed and even more brutal than invented stories. Now have you ever thought about turning this into a cinematic or novel form?

Onrie: I've always seen this as a film and would love to see it as a film one day. For now though, I think it's important that we get the comic book done and we do that right. For our audience, that's what's most important. We want to build our readership, show them we can finish this series, rather than jump ship and move on to different things at the same time. We want to put all of our focus on the book and do the best job we can.

Angela:   You have such a fabulous creative team here, but the big issue is that they are from all around the world. How do you work with that?

Onrie: Well, I've been doing this for five years now and have gotten used to it. But really it's not bad at all. It's nice to go to sleep and night and when you wake up in the morning see pages done and being able to move forward.

Our artist is based out of Italy, his name is Giovanni Timpano, he basically is working while it's nighttime here in Chicago. Addrianna De Los Santos, our colorist, she works from Argentina, I think the time difference there is only three hours, which isn't so bad. And our letterer Joel Saavadra, he works from there too, so they are on the same time zone. My editor and co-writer David Kraft is based out of Georgia, which is only an hour difference, so we manage to make it work. It's not so bad.

Angela:   With the second volume coming in, I know you said the first issue comes out in a couple of weeks (April 26th), we've been left with so many feelings built from the first book, but can you tell us what to expect with the next?

Onrie: The arc will be called Yi Soon Shin: Fallen Avenger and the first issue comes out in a couple weeks. The arc takes place five years after the events that unfolded in Warrior and Defender, but we left Warrior and Defender on such a cliffhanger that we decided to use this issue to say goodbye to the past and wrap up all of the unanswered questions we left open. The first three pages will answer a major question that's been on everyone's mind, and I won't give it away, but after that we'll jump forward in time.

Yi Soon Shin has been going through a lot of hardships, five years after the war, we'll see him a lot older, grumpier, more pissed off, and in a lot of trouble. Basically we'll be jumping back and forth through time throughout this issue. We have a lot of awesome stuff in it, it's going to be a huge action packed issue. We have a Jack Kirby inspired fight scene, with the classic haymakers-- it's going to be a great issue, we just got all the coloring done tonight and working on the letters now. As soon as I'm done with this interview I'm going to hop back on the computer and start working with my team to get this done.

Angela: Anyone who has read the book is aware of the small details that make this book so awesome. Who did you work with to research this story?

Onrie: (laughs) well... a lot of people, I wish there was just one person I could have talked to get all the answers I needed. It started out with just my curiosity for the character growing, reading about him in books. I was advised by my aunt, who, at the time, was the editor at the Miami Herald, to contact the Korean consulate. It turned out the consulate had contacts in Korea who worked at an institute devoted to Yi Soon Shin. We developed a relationship and he introduced me to people in the Korean army and navy who were able to give me even more information. So when I was out there, I was touring all of South Korea, taking pictures, reading stuff, it was amazing.

Angela: That's what comes across in the book, a great sense of that time period. I think you guys did a lovely job with that. I can't wait to see what's coming up next!

Onrie: Thank you very much. It's going to be awesome, this next arc is going to be amazing. It's really the arc I've wanted to do since starting this book. We'll be killing off a ton of cast members, there will be some incredible battles taking place. I just can't wait until we finally get to issue four, that will be the big one.

Angela:   For people who haven't read the book, if you were to pick a western character to compare him with, who would you choose?

Onrie: I would say Batman. It just makes the most sense. Yi Soon Shin is a master tactician and warrior, where Batman is a detective and martial artist, so there are a lot of similarities there. Batman has his batmobile and Yi Soon Shin has his turtle ship. I actually think the turtle ship is even more bad-ass than the batmobile. The batmobile wasn't designed to kill people, where the turtle ship, that's what it was designed to do. I actually got to walk on a replica turtle ship and see how it was designed, it's really cool

Angela:   Thank you so much for joining me, where can we see you next?

Onrie: I'll be in Boston for the comic-con this weekend, and I'll be in Chicago for C2E2 the following weekend. I'll be making an appearance in Phoenix, Philadelphia, San Deigo, Baltimore, New York, Austin, Ohio, I'll be everywhere this year. I'll be stationed in artists alley at most conventions, at C2E2 I'll have my own booth.
I also want to mention for people interested, at our website YiSoonShin.com, if you decide you want to buy our book from our site, I'll sign it and ship it to you directly. It doesn't matter where you're from, we ship all over the world. You can also let your local retailer know if you want the book, we do direct distribution as well.

If you want to connect with Onrie:

@OKampan on twitter

Yi Soon Shin Comic Book on Facebook

& at www.YiSoonShin.com

George R.R. Martin's 'Skin Trade' Novella to Comics

2013-04-12T07:54:00.001-07:00

April 12, 2013 by xaraan

Avatar Press is adapting George RR Martin‘s story, Skin Trade, as a comic book series. Skin Trade first appeared as a werewolf story in the 1989 Dark Visions collection of horror work by Martin, Stephen King and Daniel Simmons. It won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novella in 1989. The first issue will be out in July, Here are the details...

George RR Martin’s The Skin Trade

(W) George R. R. Martin, Daniel Abraham (A/CA) Mike Wolfer
GEORGE RR MARTIN returns to comics with Skin Trade, the World Fantasy Award winning story that combines Martin’s unique creative voice into a powerful vision of horror! Private investigator, Randi Wade sees the ravaged remains of innocent victims that have been savagely murdered and skinned. As the mysterious secrets of the Blackstone Manor begin to be uncovered, she gets ever closer to the monstrous truth…werewolves are real! George RR Martin combines his unmatched creative vision with the visceral illustrations of horror master Mike Wolfer to create something intensely unsettling. The first chapter of a new horror masterpiece is unveiled with Regular, Wraparound, Grisly and Skinned Retailer Incentive covers by series artist Mike Wolfer.

Source: Bleeding Cool

Joe Abercrombie's 'The First Law' Graphic Novel

2013-04-10T13:47:00.001-07:00

April 10th, 2013 by xaraan

Today, Abercrombie announced via his blog the project he has been teasing over the last few days, The First Law graphic novel. I have to say, I'm a bit surprised that it didn't get more pre-promotion aside from a few days of teases, but as you'll see from my review of the first issue, it's worth picking up.

They are making it very easy for fans to get their hands on this book, in fact you can read the first twelve pages free at firstlawcomic.com. New pages will be added every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. And if you are dying to get your hands on the whole twenty four page issue right this second, you can buy it on Comixology for only 99 cents. Following the debut issue, the price there will rise to the more standard comic price of $2.99. After four issues are out, they will be collected into a hardcover graphic novel with bonus material for fans that like to hold their books in their hands.

More on the comic project and a short review of the first issue after the break...

Blind Ferret is producing the comic, with Chuck Dixon doing the adaption and Andie Yong on art. Some fans have already addressed their own issues with the art, which Abercrombie addressed on his blog:

When you work with an artist, my feeling is you’ve got to give them the leeway to draw it as they see it. I’ve had an awful lot of input at every stage. Full editorial control, indeed, though I’ve generally gone for a fearsomely firm yet lovingly gentle touch. But, in a sense, this is Andie Tong’s vision of the material, given extra verve and variety by Pete’s colours. It’s one possible interpretation. One that’s evolved as we’ve worked on it, and no doubt will continue to evolve. But it’s one that I fully endorse, and am very proud of.

Abercrombie's work has always been easy for me to picture as a movie, and when a movie can't do, I find a comic is often the next best thing. Best of all, it costs you nothing to find out, check it out today! I had to try the whole thing myself, and as a fan of the books, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised...

Usually when I see an adaptation of a book, most often in movie form, I never go back to read the book again before experiencing the adaptation. The big moments are what hangs in my memory from a story and I feel if an adaptation hits those big moments, then worrying over every minor detail is fruitless.

I followed the same routine here. It's been several years since I read the First Law trilogy, but upon diving into the graphic novel I was immediately snapped back into those first moments I met Logen Ninefingers and Inquisitor Glokta (the two main characters the first issue focuses on). The introductions to both of these characters were handled perfectly. The one drawback for me was, in a way, the art. The reason I qualify that is because the art, first of all, looks great, which is also part of the problem. As I touched on above in the announcement, the characters of Logen and Glokta are almost too pretty for what I pictured from Abercrombie's gritty world. Don't let that stop you from trying out the book though, because as I went on into the story, I adjusted to it and by the end wasn't bothered by it at all.

Overall, a great first issue, Chuck Dixon does a great job working the novel into a comic book issue and I can't wait to get my hands on the next one. If you are a fan of fantasy and enjoy comics, I highly recommend trying the book out, especially with how easy Abercrombie makes it for readers to pick up.

WONDERCON INTERVIEW: Matt Kindt, creator of Mind MGMT

2013-04-09T08:11:00.000-07:00

April 9th, 2013 by Angela

We got a chance to sit down with Matt Kindt at Wondercon. Matt is the creator of the hit independent comic from Dark Horse: Mind MGMT. The comic focuses on Meru, a writer searching for the truth behind a mysterious airline flight and discovers a secret government agency of spies with psychic abilities.

Reading Realms: Mind MGMT is scheduled to have 36 issues released initially. Now that 20 th Century Fox has picked up the rights to make a movie, does that mean we’re going to see more than the scheduled 36 issues?

Matt Kindt: I have 36 issues outlined, I’m writing them, and that’s all I really want to do with the main story. That’s regardless of movie or no movie. In the process, I already had come up with Mind MGMT in the 20’s, Mind MGMT in the 50’s, and 60’s, and doing limited series of what Mind MGMT was like in different eras. I still might do that, but it all depends. It’s two years away, so if I’m burned out I won’t do it, and if I’m still excited I will. The movie doesn’t really have any bearing on the 36 issues because I haven’t thought it ends with the 36th issue.

RR: Now are you going to be involved with the movie when Mind MGMT goes into production?

Matt: Yah, I’ve already talked to them a few times and I’ve given them an outline for the whole series. They hired a couple of screen writers last week, so I talked to them on the phone. I’m the consultant – loosely on the consultant – so they can still take it and do whatever they want to it and really make it awesome. Right now they like what I have given them, but if anything I’m telling them it’s a movie, change it and have some fun with it. It’s taken from a comic, if some of it translates, great, but if you want to switch it to make a good movie, make a good movie. It’s fine.

RR: So with the many hardcore fans out there, you are saying the screen writers have your permission to not make the movie true to the comic?

Matt: Yah! The last thing I want to see is a faithful adaption of the first 6 issues. They can read the comic. The perfect example is when I was talking to the producers; I was saying how Blade Runner was a perfect example of a great movie that was totally different from the book. They took some things from the book, but they made it into something else and it was equally as good. I love the book and I love the movie, but they aren’t at all the same. Ideally it will be something like that. And as I was telling them (producers) this, I’m like, oh yah, Ridley Scott made Blade Runner, so they should know that. But that’s the example I always use, and I just so happened to use it with them, so I’m like whatever!

RR: The monthly issues always come with great stories on the front and back pages, as well as codes as clues on the back cover. I know it’s been said by you that no extras will be in the hardcover, but are you sure a little something won’t be thrown in?

Matt: No! No! I won’t do it! Honestly, it’s all I can do to not do it! I didn’t know if it was going to be successful enough to be a monthly series. So part of my idea was to go all out and make this a monthly book first. I wanted to be able to sustain it as a monthly first. I had never done one, and I had no idea how many I had to sell. Then I figured out that I wouldn’t know how well it was selling until about issue 3. So for 3 or 4 months I’m like, please, please, please let it do well enough because I don’t know how I’m going to wrap up 36 issues in 6. So I feel like I’m putting this extra stuff in there to incentive people to get back to your comic shop.

   If you don’t read monthly books, at least start with one, get back into the routine of going to the shops again, have fun, and learn to love comics once again like we used to when we would go in every week. I want to reward those readers that keep with it and reading it in real time. The book will be there for the people who don’t have time, or they can’t find it. Ideally I want a big audience thinking about it every 30 days. And it’s fun to interact with the fans when they are guessing who’s who and ‘is he her father’. Then it’s fun for me to know the all the answers and see what people are talking about. Secretly, it’s kind of awesome to watch that happening.

   If you’re waiting for a book, you don’t get that as much. So I’m trying to get more people to read monthlies. I’m having more fun than I’ve ever had writing them: I get the covers, I get all the little extra bits, and the ads on the back like you normally can’t do with a book.

RR: With how much story you are able to convey in few pages, how do you feel about decompression of stories in modern comics?

Matt: Yah, I don’t like it! Honestly when I pitched Mind MGMT to Dark Horse, I pitched 56 issues, and I have enough to make 56 issues. They said hold up, what are the chances, but then they approved it. Then when I went back and started scripting, I knew I could fill 56 issues no problem, but it would be filling it. So with 36 issues, it’s like clockwork; everything is fitting together the way it should be and there is no wasted space. I’m not doing 20 page fight scenes just because I need to fill that issue.

   I read some manga, and I feel like that's the biggest perpetrator of them all. It's 800 pages to tell the story when you can tell it in a hundred. But it's not that it's bad, it's just a different storytelling experience. When I read them, I'm flipping through the pages, barely looking at the art, or just looking at it long enough to get thorugh the whole book. It takes me a long time to do a page, so I want you to spend a long time - well it will never be as long as I take to do it - but I want you to slow down a little bit and enjoy it.

RR: Last question - Anything you can tell us about the Home Maker? (Issue #13 coming out in July)

Matt: She's awesome. Yea, she's awesome and that's all I'm going to say. I will say, I'm starting to tell more of the stories of agents who were sort of forgotten, or are out in the real world. She's one of the forgotten agents and she's really cool. And if you look back to issue five or four, well in one of the first six, she is in a panel where I'm describing this magician sort of character. She is one of five Home Makers, and it's her story that is going to come out.

Amazon buys Goodreads

2013-03-28T13:49:00.000-07:00

March 28th, 2013 by xaraan

Amazon gets social, buys reading and consumer review site: Goodreads.

Announced today and closing by the end of the second quarter, Amazon announced the acquisition of social reading site, Goodreads.

Goodreads currently has over sixteen million members and a catalogue of over 360 million books, growing at 22 million books a month.
From Russ Grandinetti, Amazon Kindle VP:

Amazon and Goodreads share a passion for reinventing reading. Goodreads has helped change how we discover and discuss books and, with Kindle, Amazon has helped expand reading around the world. In addition, both Amazon and Goodreads have helped thousands of authors reach a wider audience and make a better living at their craft. Together we intend to build many new ways to delight readers and authors alike.

From Otis Chanlder, Goodreads CEO and co-founder:

Books – and the stories and ideas captured inside them – are part of our social fabric. People love to talk about ideas and share their passion for the stories they read. I’m incredibly excited about the opportunity to partner with Amazon and Kindle. We’re now going to be able to move faster in bringing the Goodreads experience to millions of readers around the world. We’re looking forward to inspiring greater literary discussion and helping more readers find great books, whether they read in print or digitally.

The acquistion should give Amazon a social advantage over competitors such as Apple and a social network built about the sale of digital goods is something any seller is desperate for.

source: Yahoo Finance

Michael J. Sullivan's 'Hollow World' Kickstarter

2013-03-18T13:28:00.000-07:00

March 18th, 2013 by xaraan

Author Michael J. Sullivan is no stranger to the site. I've reviewed his Riyria Revelations series (Theft of Swords, Rise of Empire & Heir of Novron) and marked it as one of my favorite reads last year. He continues to publish both under publishers and by himself, his latest self-publishing project is Hollow World. We spoke to him about his kickstarter recently.

Though his Kickstarter has already achieved its fundraising goals and still has 17 days to go, it was hard to overlook the chance to offer readers an opportunity to make a pledge and not only get a signed book at a lower price than you usually can in stores, plus a freebie or two thrown in, but also get the book six months earlier than market. Sullivan is on the short-list of writers whose work I pick up because of their name and not the cover blurb now, so I was honored to get a little bit of his time today:

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

My name is Michael J. Sullivan and I’ve been published in just about every way there is: small press, self, and traditional. In the past I’ve always been exclusive to one type or another, but I think the “hybrid” author (one who simultaneously publishes through both self and traditional) can have the best of both worlds. I’m Kickstarting my novel Hollow World so I have the funds to produce a high quality project, just as if it were released from New York.

What is Hollow World About?

Technically Hollow World is a science fiction novel, but it also is the classic hero’s journey found in many fantasies. It even has a dash of political intrigue and a murder to solve as well. It tells the story of Ellis Rogers, who decides to time travel in the hopes of finding a cure to his terminal disease. What he discovers, is a world very unlike our own. Some might consider it a utopia, others just the opposite, but the heart of the story is Ellis and what he discovers about himself.

What have you written before and where can readers find it?

Hollow World is my twenty-third novel. The twelve were what are called “trunk novels” which aren’t meant to see the light of day. These are the “practice pieces” used to find your voice and learn the craft of writing. Malcom Gladwell has his 10,000 Hour Rule (the amount of time you to spend to get great at something) and Stephen King belives your first 1,000,000 word are “practice” that is what those first twelve novels were to me.
Of the remaining eleven they break down as follows:

Six books in The Riyria Revelations currently published through Orbit [ED: as a trilogy collecting two books each] (fantasy imprint of big-six publisher Hachette)
Two books in The Riyria Chronicles coming out from Orbit in Aug and Sep of this year
Antithesis & A Burden to the Earth - which will need more editing before they are released
And Hollow World which officially goes on sale January 20, 2014, but kickstarter backers will get the book in June or July 2013

Are there any books out there on the market Hollow World could be compared to?

You know, that’s one of the things I have to do research on before the book is released to the general public. I don’t write books aimed at a particular audience or “market segment.” I write stories that I want to read and hope that the rest takes care of itself. That being said, I recently read Wool by Hugh Howey, and I can see similarities between the two.

Why self-publish instead of following the traditional route?

I know firsthand the income potential of self, and I love the freedom of being in control of absolutely everything. I’ve been looking for a project so I could go “hybrid” and Hollow World is a perfect choice because it doesn’t align along easily defined lines. Genre-bending books are nearly impossible to get traditionally published because the accounting department can’t create a reliable P&L (profit and loss) analysis which is necessary to green light a project. My editor at Orbit said she loved the book, but the only science fiction selling right now is space opera, and she thought Hollow World would fall through the cracks. I think if I shopped it around to other publishers, someone would have taken a chance on it, but I didn’t even try. Once Orbit passed, I leapt at the opportunity to bring it out myself.

What does the money you raise go toward when you’re self-publishing?

I wanted to launch Hollow World just like any book coming out from New York, so the Kickstarter is paying for industry professionals (the same ones that New York uses) for cover design, structural editing, copy editing, layout, and production. My original goal was picked to cover just my production costs, but since I have exceeded that, I will also get an advance, just as if the book had been signed. The only difference is that my readers are providing the advance rather than my publishers, and by cutting out that middle man more of their money goes directly to me. I’m hoping that this project’s success will help convince other authors that shelving a book that isn’t picked up, is the wrong thing to do. I want to prove that we can operate without New York and the readers and the author will be mutually benefited.

Why should readers check out your book over all others out there?

Right now there seems to be two choices for readers: cookie cutter clones of popular books that sell (put out by traditional publishers) or really innovative self-published works that unfortunately can suffer because of poor editing and inferior packaging (cover design and layout). For me, everything starts with the story, and if people look at the ranking and reviews of my other work, they’ll see I have a natural talent for storytelling. But even a good story can be ruined by poor production, and by using the same talent as New York, Hollow World won’t fall into that trap. A good story, professionally produced…what’s not to love?

Book-lovers should head over to the Hollow World Kickstarter page and offer their support if interested. Pledges vary from $1-$250, but if you are looking at this as a 'very advanced' pre-order to get the story six months earlier than anyone else, you can get started with a $10 pledge for a DRM-free ebook, $25 for a trade paperback PLUS ebook, and the bonuses go up from there. Most of all, I think Kickstarter projects like this are a chance for consumers to show corporations that not every product needs to fit into a certain mold in order for us to buy it.

The Stormlight Archive, Book 2 Gets a Title

2013-03-01T09:31:00.002-08:00

Brandon Sanderson has revealed the title to the second volume is his epic Stormlight Archives series: Words of Radiance. After the break, Brandon talks about how he chose the title and what readers can look forward to.

"One of my goals for the Stormlight Archive, which you may have heard me discuss, is to focus each book on a specific character through a series of flashbacks. In a large series like this (the Stormlight Archive is two five-book sequences), it can be difficult to give each volume its own identity. By devoting a sequence of flashbacks in each book to a specific character, I can better separate the volumes in my mind—and therefore make them more distinctive to readers.

(By the way, the fact that Book Three will be Szeth’s book and Book Five Dalinar’s should not lead you to relax and take for granted that they will survive until those books. They might indeed; but I decided early on in the plotting that I was fine with having a flashback sequence at any point for a character who had died in a previous book. Just saying...)

The Way of Kings was Kaladin’s book. He will have a lot to do in Book Two, of course, and you can expect some great sequences within his viewpoint. However, the flashback sequences in Book Two belong to Shallan. In my notes for the series, I had planned for Shallan’s book to be named after the tome she is given at the end of the first novel: The Book of Endless Pages. On Roshar, that is a book of knowledge that can never be completed—because people should always be learning, studying, and adding what they’ve learned to it.

I don’t always think out book titles with marketing in mind, and a title isn’t set until the book is finished. In this case, once I mentioned the prospective title to my editor, he grinned and said, “Uh, are you sure you want to name a very long, very thick fantasy book The Book of Endless Pages?”

I hadn’t seen it, but as soon as Moshe mentioned it, I found myself chuckling. That’s not a good reaction to a book title. Now, if I’d still been in love with the title, I’d have kept it no matter what—and let the reviewers have their fun. However, the more I thought about the title, the less I liked it. It didn’t quite capture what the book was about.

And so, the search for a new title began. Naming books can be really, really hard. Some do pop out immediately (The Way of Kings, for example), but finding others can be as productive as beating your head against a wall. The more you work on the book, the more it takes on a distinctive identity to you—and the harder it is to name it, since you have a “feel” for the book in your head and need a name that truly fits that.

Lots of people weighed in with their feelings on Stormlight Two. For a while, I toyed with titles that still had “book” in them, as I liked how that fit with Shallan’s scholarly nature. The Book of Lies was one of these, as was The Book of Dusk and Dawn. (As a side note, being a fan of Magic: The Gathering makes naming things harder sometimes, since the creative team over at Wizards has named A LOT of cards—and the titles I think of sometimes sound too much like things they’ve done. That’s why Book of Fact and Fiction was dead the moment it occurred to me.)

Moshe suggested Lightweaver as a title. It was thematically important (as a hint, one of the orders of the Knights Radiant was the Lightweavers) and hence appropriate. However, having just been involved in a book called A Memory of Light, I wanted to avoid having “light” in this title.

In the last few months, the title that has really been sticking with me is Words of Radiance. (Admittedly, “radiance” is a synonym for “light,” but at least it’s a step away.) With “words,” it still has a slight tie to my original desire to have “book” in the title, and I believe it’s significantly meaningful for people who have read the first novel. It also works very well for reasons that I can’t tell you now without spoiling the story.

So there we are! Words of Radiance. The book finally has a title. Now if I can just get back to writing the thing, life will be groovy. (And for future reference, I don’t expect this will be the only entry in the series to change names from its working title to its real title. Stones Unhallowed, Szeth’s book, might change. Highprince of War, Dalinar’s book, most certainly will.)"

source: Tor.com

Harry Potter gets New Covers for Anniversary

2013-02-13T12:45:00.001-08:00

Yes, you are that old. At least I know I am. Seems like this series isn't that old, but the 15th Anniversary of the Sorcerer's Stone is coming up and Harry is getting new cover art in honor of the big day.

The new covers will be illustrated by Kazu Kibuishi, creator of Copper, Daisy Kutter and Amulet. The Sorcerer's Stone won't be alone as all seven will get new covers from Kibuishi and each cover will depict a memorable moment from the respective book. Kibuishi, a long time Harry Potter fan had this to say about the project:

The Harry Potter covers by Mary GrandPré are so fantastic and iconic. When I was asked to submit samples, I initially hesitated because I didn’t want to see them reinterpreted! However, I felt that if I were to handle the project, I could bring something to it that many other designers and illustrators probably couldn’t, and that was that I was also a writer of my own series of middle grade fiction. As an author myself, I tried to answer the question, ‘If I were the author of the books — and they were like my own children — how would I want them to be seen years from now?’ When illustrating the covers, I tried to think of classic perennial paperback editions of famous novels and how those illustrations tend to feel. In a way, the project became a tribute to both Harry Potter and the literary classics

The collection will be released as a boxed set in September.

source: Robot6

New 'Winds of Winter' Chapter Released by George R.R. Martin

2013-01-09T15:08:00.001-08:00

January 9th, 2013 by xaraan

George R.R. Martin offered fans "a somewhat belated xmas/New Year's gift" on his blog by posting a sample chapter from his eagerly awaited sixth book 'Winds of Winter' in his 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series.

Martin had previously released a chapter from the upcoming novel last year, told from the perspective of Theon Greyjoy. Unfortunately for fans, the chapter Martin released yesterday will not be an additional chapter to the novel, but instead a replacement for the Theon's chapter. Told from the perspective of Arianne Martell, Princess of Dorne.

Read the excerpt on Martin's blog, here.

The cover to the upcoming novel.

Martin has also recently made several blog posts about how much he is currently toiling away at the next book, so fans may not have as long of a wait as they did between books four and five. I'm sure the looming hit television show catching up to his books each year adds additional pressure.

'Ender's Game' Movie Synopsis

2012-11-19T08:23:00.000-08:00

November 19, 2012 by xaraan

Orson Scott Card's 'Ender's Game' has traveled through development hell and is on track to actually becoming a movie finally. Starring Ben Kingsley, Harrison Ford, Hailee Steinfild and Asa Butterfield playing Ender Wiggin. Although the movie is still a good bit away from release, so nothing too juicy to release about it yet, the synopsis of the movie adaption is out.

In the near future, a hostile alien race (called the Formics) have attacked Earth. If not for the legendary heroics of International Fleet Commander, Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley), all would have been lost. In preparation for the next attack, the highly esteemed Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) and the International Military are training only the best young children to find the future Mazer. Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a shy, but strategically brilliant boy is pulled out of his school to join the elite.

Arriving at Battle School, Ender quickly and easily masters increasingly difficult war games, distinguishing himself and winning respect amongst his peers. Ender is soon ordained by Graff as the military’s next great hope, resulting in his promotion to Command School. Once there, he’s trained by Mazer Rackham, himself, to lead his fellow soldiers into an epic battle that will determine the future of Earth and save the human race.

Update: May 7th, 2013 - Trailer Released

Reading Realms

Amazon Launching Licensed Fan Fiction Publishing: Kindle Worlds

'Dangerous Women' Anthology from George Martin & Gardner Dozois

• The 'Rogues' Anthology from George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois• 'The World of Ice and Fire' Release Delayed• New 'Winds of Winter' Chapter Released by George R.R. Martin• REVIEW: 'A Dance with Dragons' by George R.R. Martin

'Words of Radiance' Update from Brandon Sanderson

2012 Nebula Award Winners

First Look at Brandon Sanderson's 'Steelheart'

Overzealous Fans and Charlaine Harris

The 'Rogues' Anthology from George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois

'Dungeons & Dragons' The Movie... Again

'The World of Ice and Fire' Release Delayed

Cover Art and Synopsis for Brian McClellan's 'The Crimson Campaign'

REVIEW: 'Promise of Blood' by Brian McClellan

Comic Reading Log - April

'The World of Ice and Fire' Release Date and Info

Brandon Sanderson Reddit AMA

REVIEW: 'The Tattered Banner' by Duncan M. Hamilton

INTERVIEW: 'Yi Soon Shin' writer: Onrie Kompan

George R.R. Martin's 'Skin Trade' Novella to Comics

Joe Abercrombie's 'The First Law' Graphic Novel

WONDERCON INTERVIEW: Matt Kindt, creator of Mind MGMT

Amazon buys Goodreads

Michael J. Sullivan's 'Hollow World' Kickstarter

The Stormlight Archive, Book 2 Gets a Title

Harry Potter gets New Covers for Anniversary

New 'Winds of Winter' Chapter Released by George R.R. Martin

'Ender's Game' Movie Synopsis

• The 'Rogues' Anthology from George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois
• 'The World of Ice and Fire' Release Delayed
• New 'Winds of Winter' Chapter Released by George R.R. Martin
• REVIEW: 'A Dance with Dragons' by George R.R. Martin