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It all started when I woke up with horns...

2011-12-15T20:10:00.008+11:00

...is what the main character in HORNS (by Joe Hill) experiences.

It's been a rough year for Ignatius Parrish. The love of his life has been murdered a year before and everyone thinks it was him. Generally his life sucks and then... HORNS. Just little ones, but horns nonetheless. What's worse is, they're still poking out of his head after the hangover fades and people suddenly tell him awful, awful things.

The parade of awful continues until someone blurts out (uncontrollably) who REALLY killed Ig's girlfriend- at which point Joe Hill dons a cloak and proceeds to write his hands off to a fantastic end. I personally binge read it in a four-hour window of compulsive page-turning and I'm pretty sure most people would do the same.

Worse still, it made me cry. Like a weenie. Ig and dead girlfriend had a lot of unfinished business, which gets solved for him at long last near the end. This was written so earnestly, so tenderly, that my girl-brain couldn't take it and I bawled as I read it.

When I finished it I couldn't help but sing its praise to everyone I could and now I find myself thrusting the book enthusiastically at EVERYONE- even people who wandered over to Galaxy looking for German Books.

So READ it- Sure it's horror - but with good horror there's an awful darkness that comes out of the characters, more than the situation. Hill (King Junior) seems to know as well as his father does that people make their own hell- and for Ig the horns help it surface. Also, Hill is a witty guy who has a knack for adding a dash of humour here and there- just to remind us that there are skeletons in everyone's closet.

Up Close with Michael J Sullivan

2011-11-18T11:41:00.001+11:00

Theft of Swords
Riyria Revelations 1
by Michael J Sullivan

THEY KILLED THE KING. THEY PINNED IT ON TWO MEN. THEY CHOSE POORLY.
Royce Melborn, a skilled thief, and his mercenary partner, Hadrian Blackwater, make a profitable living carrying out dangerous assignments for conspiring nobles--until they are hired to pilfer a famed sword. What appears to be just a simple job finds them framed for the murder of the king and trapped in a conspiracy that uncovers a plot far greater than the mere overthrow of a tiny kingdom.

Can a self-serving thief and an idealistic swordsman survive long enough to unravel the first part of an ancient mystery that has toppled kings and destroyed empires in order to keep a secret too terrible for the world to know?

And so begins the first tale of treachery and adventure, sword fighting and magic, myth and legend.

When author Michael J. Sullivan self-published the first books of his Riyria Revelations, they rapidly became ebook bestsellers. Now, Orbit is pleased to present the complete series for the first time in bookstores everywhere.

1. What started you writing, and is it the same thing that still inspires you today?

I probably shouldn’t say this, but I have to be honest and say I wasn’t a big reader as a kid. I spent a whole summer on my sister’s farm struggling to finish a book and it felt like more of a chore then mucking out the horse’s stalls. Then one day I found a copy of the Hobbit that my brother had bought years before. I devoured it. So THIS is what a book could be like? I immediately went through all of Tolkien’s books, then C.S. Lewis, and a few others only to find…that’s all there was (It was the late 60’s early 70’s). This made me thoroughly depressed so I started writing a book myself. To try to create that same lightning in a bottle that got me so excited to read.

As to what inspires me today…it’s the same thing with slight variation. Today there’s a ton of great books to read…probably more than I could ever get through in a lifetime, but I sometimes find myself disappointed. It’s hard to explain but once you start writing, you can’t ever read, or watch a movie/tv show, without “rewriting” it. I think of all the ways I would have taken the story…what improvements I could have made. So today I still write to give myself something to read, something tailor made to how I would like them to come out. The only difference is it appears that there are more than a few people that seem to share my particular tastes.

2. How many novels did you write before you got published?

I finished thirteen full length novels, not sure how many I started and abandoned because in the early days I didn’t outline and I wrote myself into a corner more often than I care to admit. Since then I’ve realized that it’s a lot more efficient to have an idea where you are going before starting. For years I felt like a loser for having so many “throw away” books—novels I was unable to publish. But now I realize they were the practice I needed.

3. What was the first thing you did when you found out Orbit wanted to print your work?

I had lunch.

That’s probably not what you were expecting. At the time I was walking with a friend to a nearby Ruby Tuesday for lunch, and while waiting at an intersection for the light, my cell phone rang. It was my agent who was all giddy with the news. I did a lot of “uh-huhs,” and then hung up. My friend and I continued our conversation and I never mentioned what I had just learned. It was a little too good to be true, so I wasn’t jinxing it. After we ordered, I called my wife, and as I told her what had just happened, I watched my friend’s mouth drop.

4. What books, or authors, would you say have most influenced you in the type of writer you've become?

Another thing I shouldn’t admit to, but I’ve had no “formal” training in writing. I didn’t go to college for it, nor have I ever attended a writing seminar or workshop. I never even read a book on how to write a novel. I “taught myself” by reading other authors and dissecting what they did and how. From Steinbeck I learned the transporting value of vivid setting descriptions. From Updike I found an appreciation for indirect prose that could more aptly describe something by not describing it. From Hemmingway I discovered economy, and from King, his ability to get viscerally into the minds of his characters. I mentioned the thirteen books I wrote before The Riyria Revelations, they were my training ground where I took a nugget from one of these authors and applied what I learned from them to my stories that were constantly bubbling up in my head.

5. Your latest release THEFT OF SWORDS is part of the RIYRIA REVELATIONS series, can you tell us a bit about the story and how you came up with it?

Going back to the thirteen books I wrote, I spent an incredible amount of time writing and finally produced a book I was truly proud of called, A Burden to the Earth. It is/was beautifully crafted and I painstakingly polished it to a fine sheen. I spent several years trying to get an agent for it and ultimately came to the conclusion that all my years of effort were just a waste a time. I vowed to never write creatively again. I discovered that “never” is a long, long time.

About ten years later I was trying to help my daughter who is dyslexic to get interested in reading. At the time, Rowlings had published her third or fourth Harry Potter book and so I picked up the first one thinking Sarah would like it. I ended up reading it and had the same revelation as I did as when I came across the Hobbit. So this is what a book can be like? I was whisked away and couldn’t put the book down as it was just so much fun to read. It used the oldest clichés that existed (an ultimate evil bent on total destruction and an orphan boy destined for greatness ) and yet it seemed fresh and vibrant. That made me think that maybe I could do something similar…write individual books that were part of a larger story arc, and returning to the type of books I loved so much from my youth. Years and years ago I created two characters I named Royce and Hadrian who were like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in medieval times. They were fun to write about, and as it turned out apparently fun to read about as well.

6. Do you consciously chose themes to explore in your work or does it 'just happen'?

Yes…and yes. In the book I’m currently writing I’m very consciously exploring the age old conflict between good and evil, what those definitions mean, and how they exist in a symbiotic relationship. In the Riyria Revelations however, a theme of redemption evolved, growing naturally out of the events and the characters due to who they are and what happens to them.

7. What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general?

It probably won’t make me too many friends in the writing world to say that I really don’t find writing a challenge. That’s like asking me, “What do you think is the most challenging part of watching football, or having fruity drinks on a beach at a Mexican resort, or playing volleyball with friends?” Writing is my way of having fun. I love the whole creation process. I get thrilled by writing. I’ve never experienced “writers block” nor had to “force myself to put my butt in the chair”. I hear writers talk about these thing and I’m baffled. Writing is a way of “playing god” to create something from nothing and make it exactly the way you want it to be…what can be more fun than that?

8. You mentioned that you use an outline when you write, so you aren’t a discovery writer?

No, not anymore. Part of the fun of writing was to see where the story would go. If I already knew, it stole some of the fun. The problem arose when I got stuck and realized that to fix what I screwed up, I would have to cut sections—pages and pages of stuff I loved. What a waste of time. What a waste of good writing. In most cases I saw that if I had just given a little forethought to the future I could have avoided the whole mess. So when I started seriously looking at writing as a career, I knew I had to approach writing like a construction project rather than a weekend hobby. You might build a tree-house on a lark, randomly nailing up boards and seeing where it leads, but when you’re building a home for your family to live in, you’re going to want to put in a little more planning. The cost in time and money for tearing up a foundation after it has been laid and dried is awfully prohibitive.

I also found that if I didn’t outline it was easy to build up great suspense for an ending that was lackluster. I find this tends to be a frequent problem for discovery writers, where the beginnings are great, but when it comes time to make sense of it all they are forced to settle for something that makes as much sense as it can when all the ends don’t exactly line up just right. This isn’t to say that I create detailed write-ups in advance. My outlines are pretty sketchy and evolve with the writing, but I always know where I am going before I start and as the story changes I keep a line-of-sight to that goal.

9. How much research do you do, and is it before or during the writing process?

Okay, another guilty admission. One of the reasons why I like writing fantasy is it cuts down on the amount and type of research I have to do. Elan is a fictional world and I can determine the constructs of it. If I were to write a thriller based in a hospital, I’d have to do tremendous research to “get it right.” There are doctors, nurses, and administrators that KNOW the ins and outs of working there and if I got anything wrong they would be all over me. But in Elan I’m the only expert on how things work there. Yes they ride horses and use swords and bows, but they speak with what most would describe as “modern speech.” Why? Because I say they do—there’s actually more of a reason for that, but I’ll try and stay on topic. The point is I wrote fantasy because, for me, it was easier.

Now that being said, I did do research for ideas, and I did a lot of research to learn how to write the sailing scenes in Emerald Storm, but the vast majority of what I research never enters the books—at least the Riyria books. My new one is very different. I don’t feel the need to force information in just to show people all the cool things I learned while doing research. Sometimes I’ll sneak in something I found interesting but I try to do it in a way that is consistent with the story and the characters.

10. Do you ever base your characters on people you know or have known?

Not in the way that I suspect you think. Royce and Hadrian are both based on me, the different sides of my own personality (which is kind of schizophrenic because they are two very different people.) Arista, Amilia, and Gwen, are all variations of my wife. All the others are just pure imagination.

There are other books, like the Burden to the Earth, where those that know me well might recognize certain characters. The truth is they are really fictionalization of people I’ve met. The funny thing is there are sometimes when people will say…that’s so unrealistic no one would ever think/behave/act like that. They tell me I need to rewrite something that they see as being too “over the top” to believe. But the reality is that I actually toned down something that actually happened. The old adage that truth is stranger than fiction certainly applies.

11. What is your work schedule like when you're in writers mode?

I know a lot of writers strive to maximize their word count per hour/day/whatever. I can actually write pretty fast, but I chose not to. Writing is part of my life, not the reason for it. I like to have my world balanced—everything in moderation. Not having a boss looking over my shoulder allows for that.

In the morning I read various blogs and newspapers while I’m waking up with a cup of coffee. Once I start formalizing arguments in rebuttal to whatever I’m reading I know my brain is awake enough to write. I write until lunch, and then might put in another few hours after that if I have some stuff running around in my head that I want to get down on paper. Then I generally do something physical like bike riding or workout. Then I have dinner with my family and catch up on what’s going on in the world by watching John Stewart or Steven Colbert which was recorded on the DVR. In the evenings, I either edit what I’ve written, or reread, or work on blog posts or emails to fans. In the summer I’ll throw in some painting – I do one a year. In the winter the painting is replaced with reading (generally nonfiction) on topics such as history or even physics. I love learning “something new” and will have my own little college courses by reading text books.

12. What do you do to relax, when you're not in 'writer's mode? (are you ever not in writer's mode?)

Ideas hit me all the time. As I said, I can’t watch a movie or TV show without reworking the plot. So in that respect I’m always in “writer mode”. In addition to that new stories come to me constantly and I know I’ll never live long enough to get them all on paper. As to relaxing…well I’m never stressed so I don’t have to do anything to “unwind”. Most writers have a day job, or rely on their spouses for support. My writing is now producing an income such that my wife was able to quit her job. I’m making a living doing something I love. I have a wonderful, intelligent wife who works tirelessly to help make me a success. My children are grown, responsible, and well adjusted. What in the world do I have to be stressed about? In many ways I feel like Dudley Moore in the movie Arthur when he says, “I race cars, play tennis, and fondle women, BUT! I have weekends off, and I am my own boss.”

13. When you look back on writing career to date, is there anything you would've done differently? If so, what and why?

I literally laughed out loud at this question. The reason is the thought of me having a “writing career” is just too absurd to even wrap my head around. I’ve written a few books. They’ve been “out in the world” for only a few years. That hardly constitutes a “career”. On the other hand, I have been working at this for over thirty years so you would think I would have a lot of regrets. I’m not a huge believer in focusing on disappointments (such things would suggest I am capable of making mistakes, and I’ve been trying very hard to convince my wife that this is just not possible.) The fact of the matter is that publishing was different in 1980’s and I hadn’t practiced enough to really write well. There’s not a whole lot I could have done differently. Self publishing really wasn’t viable at that time. My lack of success was a byproduct of the publishing environment at that time and the level of skill I possessed. The good news is that I didn’t stay in retirement. I decided to give it another shot. If I hadn’t done that, then I might have had some regrets so no, I don’t think there was anything I could have done differently.

14. How do you balance what you're reading against what you're writing?

I’m in a somewhat unique situation because my wife runs a publishing company and I mentor a bunch of writers and participate in a Writer’s Critique group. As such, much of my reading time is taken up reading fairly raw work by new and usually struggling authors. So in that respect my reading is not really for “enjoyment”. Part of my problem is I’m exceedingly picky. I can count on my fingers the books that I loved enough to read multiple times. Remember the whole, rewriting movies and TV? I encounter the same frustration when reading books. After all they are not “tailor made” for me and what I enjoy. This is probably why most of my leisure reading is in textbooks or nonfiction.

15. And finally, what future novels/ideas do you have in the works? What can your readers expect next?

Wow, did I happen to mention I have more ideas for books then I’ll ever be able to write in a lifetime? Rather than going through all of them I’ll concentrate on the immediate projects. I’m currently writing a book called Antithesis. It is set in modern times but contains elements of magic where evil and good fight a never ending battle. I also want to get Burden to the Earth published. This is much different than Riyria – which is a light, fun, fast-paced romp. Burden is almost the “anti-Riyria” as it concentrates on the beauty of the writing and the complexity of the character and has a MUCH slower plot. I suspect most of my fans won’t like it for this reason but I still think it deserves to find its own audience.

I’ve also started outlining a “prequel” to The Riyria Revelations that goes back thousands of years to the time of Novron (the God of men in the book). I’d like to tell his story as it actually happened as opposed to the myths and propaganda that those in modern Elan are aware of. This would be a huge undertaking – probably a trilogy with multiple years to produce so I’m toying with the idea of writing another Royce and Hadrian book first (much to the delight of my wife when she heard this.) The series was carefully designed to end where it does so this would not be a sequel to that. I’m thinking something like taking one of their prior “missions” that is only briefly touched upon in the series and telling the whole story. Also based on requests from my wife (and many fans) I’m thinking of doing a Royce and Hadrian the early years where I explore what their lives were like before they got together and formed Riyria and going into detail about the first “job” they did together. This last group of books only makes sense if Riyria continues to be a success. Knowing what no one else does, which is how the last book plays out, I think this will be the case, but if not I have plenty of other ideas to turn to. I am a writer after all.

Up Close with Jo Anderton

2011-11-04T10:11:00.000+11:00

Debris
Veiled Worlds #1
by Jo Anderton

Tanyana is among the highest ranking in her far-future society – a skilled pionner, able to use a mixture of ritual and innate talent to manipulate the particles that hold all matter together. But an accident brings her life crashing down around her ears. She is cast down amongst the lowest of the low, little more than a garbage collector. But who did this to her, and for what sinister purpose? Her quest to find out will take her to parts of the city she never knew existed, and open the door to a world she could never have imagined.

1. What started you writing, and is it the same thing that still inspires you today?

I've always loved stories. From books, to tv shows, to video games, if it's got a good story and interesting characters (and preferably something to do with speculative fiction!) then I just HAVE to know what happens next. Even as a kid I was making up my own -- in my head at first, and then I started writing them down. It's the same today. My brain creates stories, it's addicted to them, so I write them down because that's slightly less crazy than keeping them in my head.

2. How many novels did you write before you got published?

Hmm, let's see. I make it four and a half. I reckon a couple have still got life in them. One is a total mess... though it did involve demonic tattoos and giant monsters, so at least it's a fun mess!

3. What was the first thing you did when you found out a publisher wanted to print your work?

Ah, well I was at work at the time. So I was very calm and sensible and even able to maintain a conversation, until I managed to excuse myself, get outside, call my husband and unleash the OMG! on him. Poor man.

4. What books, or authors, would you say have most influenced you in the type of writer you've become?
This is always a hard question for me to answer! I feel like every book I've loved has become a part of me, and must have influenced the stories I tell and the words I write. But I would like to mention Sara Douglass, and in particular her book Threshold. I love all of Sara's books, but the world-building and the magic system in Threshold really made me look at fantasy, and what fantasy can be, in a different way.

5. Your debut is DEBRIS, can you tell us a bit about the story and how you came up with it?

Debris is set in a world where almost everyone can manipulate semi-sentient sub-atomic particles called pions. At the beginning of the book Tanyana is very skilled at this, and she earns a lot of money by doing so. However, she is involved in a terrible accident that scars her body, and strips her of her abilities. She is forced to the lowest rung of society, collecting debris -- the garbage created by all that manipulation of sub-atomic particles. But nothing is quite what it seems. Was her accident really so accidental? Is debris more than the waste product everyone else thinks it is? As Tanyana fights to learn the truth, she discovers a world she could never have imagined.

Debris was inspired by a strange combination of things, from anime, to quantum physics (kind of), to video games, to real life. It started with a question, "what would an industrial revolution look like in a world where magic was real?" and grew from there.

6. Do you consciously chose themes to explore in your work or does it 'just happen'?

I don't consciously chose themes to explore, and I'm always surprised when they start to appear. In Debris, for example, I think there's an undercurrent of environmentalism and sustainability that I had no idea I was writing about. Something about the consequences of industrialisation -- even though the industry in this world is rooted in magic, rather than the burning of fossil fuels!

7. What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general?

All the sitting at a desk. I have a cranky back and it really doesn't like sitting down for long. So writing has to involve conscious 'how am I sitting?' 'how long have I been sitting?' and 'time to get up and stretch' thoughts.

8. Do you use an outline when you write, or are you more of a discovery writer?

I'm a little bit of both. Too much of an outline and I get bored with the story and never finish it -- what's the point if I already know what happens? But I also need a vague idea of where I'm going. So I usually do a very, very broad outline that includes the beginning, a few points in the middle, and the end. Then I flesh it out as I go. The outline usually changes as the flesh goes on, but that's a good thing.

9. How much research do you do, and is it before or during the writing process?

It's always a little bit of both. I definitely research before I start writing. For Debris I read up on a range of interesting and diverse subjects, from quantum physics to Russian architecture. While it doesn't all go into the book, it does mush together into a creative compost for my brain! Invariably, I'll discover things I've missed as I write, and will have to go back and look into them -- in this case, I did a lot of post-first-draft research into food. Food is always fun!

10. Do you ever base your characters on people you know or have known?

Not on purpose!

11. What is your work schedule like when you're in writers mode?

It's squeezed in around my day job. I'm definitely a night-owl, so most of my writing happens in the evening. After a long day at work I'll come home, do something different for a while -- dog walking, cooking -- then settle in at the desk. I usually wake up again about 9pm anyway, so this works well!

12. What do you do to relax, when you're not in 'writer's mode? (are you ever not in writer's mode?)

I think writer's mode is always running in the background, gathering ideas, processing plot problems, creating characters. Sometimes letting it run in the backbrain like that is the best thing for it! For me, relaxing involves getting away from the computer. Anything outside is best. I'm a terrible gardener, but I like to try. I love bushwalking, or just taking the dog for a run.

13. When you look back on your writing career to date, is there anything you would've done differently? If so, what and why?

I would have put a lot more importance on keeping up my strength and general fitness! (see comment above about the bad back...)

14. Do you ever regret being 'self employed' (self motivating) and look longingly at people with 'normal' jobs - or you still hold down a 'day job'?

I have a day job, don't know that I would call it 'normal' though! I work in marketing for an Australian book distributor. That's right, more books, more sitting at a desk! Balance? What is this balance of which you speak?

15. How do you balance what you're reading against what you're writing?

They don't really seem to interfere with each other, although I will often read for research as well as fun!

16. And finally, what future novels/ideas do you have in the works? What can your readers expect next?

Well, book two in the Veiled Worlds series, Suited, is coming out next year! So that's exciting. I'm also working on something completely different -- it's a post-apocalyptic romantic comedy, set in Sydney in the not-too-distant-future, with ghosts. And aliens. It's heaps of fun!

Black Prism - Book Trailer

2011-09-06T09:29:00.000+10:00

Up Close with M J Scott

2011-09-03T08:54:00.003+10:00

Shadow Kin
Half Light City #01
by M. J. Scott

On one side, the Night World, ruled by the Blood Lords and the Beast Kind. On the other, the elusive Fae and the humans, protected by their steadfast mages.

Born a wraith, Lily is a shadow who slips between worlds. Brought up by a Blood Lord and raised to be his assassin, she is little more than a slave.

But when Lily meets her match in target Simon DuCaine, the unlikely bond that develops between them threatens to disrupt an already stretched peace in a city on the verge of being torn apart.

1. What started you writing, and is it the same thing that still inspires you today?

I started writing as a kid because there were stories in my head. That’s pretty much the same reason I write today, I need to know what happens to the people who show up in my head and starting talking to me.

2. How many novels did you write before you got published?

It’s probably about ten finished and a few more in pieces. There was a genre switch in there but it took me about nine years of serious writing to sell.

3. What was the first thing you did when you found out a publisher wanted to print your work?

Stifled a scream of joy and tried to walk nonchalantly to a meeting room so I could call my parents (I was at work when I got my agent’s email about the first offer…and knew I couldn’t tell everyone yet so no public snoopy dancing was allowed). I replied to my agent’s email in there somewhere too. It’s all a bit of a blur.

4. What books, or authors, would you say have most influenced you in the type of writer you've become?

Many! My parents were both teachers who encouraged my brother and I to read and, within reason, to read what we wanted. There was always a lot of science fiction and fantasy in our house plus my grandmothers gave me the classics like Anne of Green Gables and Pride and Prejudice. I discovered romance later but I read many different things. To pick a few favourite authors out…Tolkien, Diana Wynne Jones, Jane Austen, Robin McKinley, Guy Gavriel Kay, Jennifer Crusie, Georgette Heyer, Terry Pratchett, Lois McMaster Bujold and Jacqueline Carey.

5. Your debut is SHADOW KIN, can you tell us a bit about the story and how you came up with it?

Shadow Kin is one of those books where the main character just showed up in my head late one night and started talking loudly enough I had to get up and start writing her down. By the time I’d written the first fifteen pages or so that night, I had the bones of the world and her dilemma.

As to the story, well, it’s about a half-Fae assassin who thinks she knows how the world works and what her place in it is, until she botches her latest assignment and everything starts to fall apart.

6. Do you consciously chose themes to explore in your work or does it 'just happen'?

I don’t think about them in the first draft. Generally by the time I come to revise I have a clearer idea of what a particular book is about in the broader sense and will play with that a bit but I focus on the story and figure my themes are going to come out in my work no matter what I do.

7. What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general?

Apart from the slog of writing 100 000 plus words, the hardest part is convincing myself it will all work out in the end and, like most writers, that what I’m working on isn’t the worst book written in the history of the universe. I’m like both sides of the conversation in those lines from Shakespeare In Love:
“Strangely enough, it all turns out well.”
“How?”
“I don’t know. It’s a mystery.”

8. Do you use an outline when you write, or are you more of a discovery writer?

I don’t outline unless forced to. I do it sometimes when I’m stuck, kind of brain dumping what I know about the story onto the page so I can talk it through with my critique partners, but otherwise I’m a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants writer. If I have to write it down in advance, I tend to get bored with the story and think it sounds terrible.

9. How much research do you do, and is it before or during the writing process?

I don’t do huge amounts of deliberate research. I research as I need to when writing a book. But I do read a lot and read widely and generally find that I know a snippet about something that gives me a diving off point to research more deeply when I need to.

10. Do you ever base your characters on people you know or have known?

No, not really. I might use a characteristic from someone but each character becomes more and more themselves as you write them. I will ‘cast’ a character at the beginning of my process using an actor or someone as a reference but usually that’s more about an attitude or an emotion the pictures give me than the character looking exactly like that person.

11. What is your work schedule like when you're in writers mode?

That largely depends on how the book is going and whether or not it’s a day job day or not. I write better in the afternoon and evenings and if things are just chugging along or going badly I aim for a page goal and stop after that. But when a book is flowing or I’m near the end, I pretty much write for as long as I can until I have to stop or fall asleep at the keyboard.

12. What do you do to relax, when you're not in 'writer's mode? (are you ever not in writer's mode?)

I like to read : ) And watch TV or movies which is just another form of story fix for me. I love to knit and am learning to spin and I sew a bit. I don’t know if I’m ever not in writer mode, there’s always that writer bit of the brain mulling things over or noticing something new and shiny to incorporate into the work.

13. When you look back on writing career to date, is there anything you would've done differently? If so, what and why?

Get published faster! No. Seriously, I think everyone has their path as a writer. If I’d sold my first book I’d be writing a different genre. I’ve had time to learn and (hopefully) grow as a writer though the learning curve changes again once you sell. Maybe switching genres faster but I loved writing those other books too.

14. How do you balance what you're reading against what you're writing?

I don’t generally have a problem with reading the same genre I’m writing. My story is my story and usually it’s strong enough in my head that reading other stories won’t influence it. I know some writers can't read while they're working but for me, reading is such an ingrained habit that I have to be really ill for me to not, at a bare minimum, read a few pages before I go to sleep. That said, when a book is really flowing I end up reading less due to lack of time and also tend to re-read old favourites…something about the repetition soothes my brain after a day of making up words.

15. And finally, what future novels/ideas do you have in the works? What can readers expect next?

Book two in the Half-Light City series is due out in June 2012 and book three is nearly done…after that, we’ll see!

Up Close with Daniel Polansky

2011-08-23T09:11:00.004+10:00

The Straight Razor Cure
Low Town 1
by Daniel Polansky

In the forgotten back alleys and flophouses that lie in the shadows of Rigus, the finest city of the Thirteen Lands, you will find Low Town. It is an ugly place, and its champion is an ugly man. Disgraced intelligence agent. Forgotten war hero. Independent drug dealer. After a fall from grace five years ago, a man known as the Warden leads a life of crime, addicted to cheap violence and expensive drugs. Every day is a constant hustle to find new customers and protect his turf from low-life competition like Tancred the Harelip and Ling Chi, the enigmatic crime lord of the heathens.

The Warden’s life of drugged iniquity is shaken by his discovery of a murdered child down a dead-end street . . . setting him on a collision course with the life he left behind. As a former agent with Black House—the secret police—he knows better than anyone that murder in Low Town is an everyday thing, the kind of crime that doesn’t get investigated. To protect his home, he will take part in a dangerous game of deception between underworld bosses and the psychotic head of Black House, but the truth is far darker than he imagines. In Low Town, no one can be trusted.

1. What started you writing, and is it the same thing that still inspires you today?

I started writing seriously because I felt unfulfilled by what I was doing at that point in my life. I guess as I’ve been writing more, I’ve become inspired by sheer love for the craft, and a desire to get better.

2. How many novels did you write before you got published?

Low Town: The Straight Razor Cure is my first novel. It’s actually the first work of fiction I’ve ever written, or at least as far back as I can remember.

3. What was the first thing you did when you found out a publisher wanted to print your work?

I was on my lunch break, at the time. I pretty much just walked around in a happy daze for forty-five minutes.

4. What books, or authors, would you say have most influenced you in the type of writer you've become?

I would say that my intellectual debt regarding The Straight Razor Cure is owed to Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, first and foremost.

5. Your debut is The Straight Razor Cure, can you tell us a bit about the story and how you came up with it?

The Straight Razor Cure is classic noir set in a dystopian fantasy setting. It primarily concerns the misadventures of The Warden, a small time drug lord whose iniquities are interrupted upon discovering the body of a murdered child. In a bout of ill-considered self-righteousness, he decides to hunt down the killer. Trouble ensues.

6. Do you consciously chose themes to explore in your work or does it 'just happen'?

A bit of both, I suppose.

7. What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general?

For me, personally, the revising process can grow pretty exhausting. After about the tenth time I edited The Straight Razor Cure, I began to have elaborate fantasies abut tossing the manuscript into the fire, or its 21st century equivalent, wiping my hard drive.

8. Do you use an outline when you write, or are you more of a discovery writer?

The Straight Razor Cure was my first novel, as I mentioned, and I just kind of struck off in a general direction narratively speaking. With subsequent works I’ve wised up some, and hammer out an outline before I get moving on the text itself.

9. How much research do you do, and is it before or during the writing process?

It depends on how you look at it. I read history pretty compulsively, and a lot of that ultimately makes its way into what I’m writing. I try and keep my eyes open all the time for things I might later fit into a book, so it’s sort of an abstract form of research.

10. Do you ever base your characters on people you know or have known?

Some of them, yeah. It’s a lot of fun when you can steal things from the real world.

11. What is your work schedule like when you're in writers mode?

It really depends. I move around a lot, so I don’t really have a set schedule. When I’m in full on writing mode I tend to just make time to get out what’s in my head.

12. What do you do to relax, when you're not in 'writer's mode? (are you ever not in writer's mode?)

I travel, I listen to music, I read, I play chess.

13. How do you balance what you're reading against what you're writing?

I sort of feel like half my job is to be constantly reading things, and my selection is pretty varied. One thing you sometimes have to be careful of is making sure that whatever you’ve picked up doesn’t bleed too much into your work. A curious example -- while working on the sequel to The Straight Razor Cure I was reading Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust, which is this extraordinarily written, unimaginably long navel gazing sort of novel. At some point I went back and looked at what I had been writing and realized I had unintentionally (and without great success) started copying Proust’s style, which is about as far from the clipped, fast-paced prose style of classic noir as you could imagine. Needless to say, rewrites were in order.

14. And finally, what future novels/ideas do you have in the works? What can your readers expect next?

At the moment I am working on the sequel to The Straight Razor Cure, which doesn’t have a name yet, because names are hard as hell. It should be winging its way toward you guys sometime in 2012, and I highly recommend you purchase it in great quantities.

Visit my website, DanielPolansky.com, and leave a comment using the Facebook plugin on the lower left of the page so I know who you are. The first 7 chapters are on the website, along with two book trailers, a contest...all kinds of fun stuff. I’m on Facebook, Twitter (@DanielPolansky), Google+ (+DanielPolansky), and GoodReads, so there are lots of ways to connect!

Dragon Fiction

2011-08-04T12:10:00.033+10:00

Dragons: Those magnificent, legendary creatures (typically displaying serpentine or otherwise reptilian features) found in the myths and folklore of many cultures. This list is arranged by author. The titles listed directly below have dragons as major or minor characters. For novels written from the perscpectives and lives of the dragons themselves – see the blog section titled ‘Dragon Eye-View Fiction’. For books involving Dragon shapeshifters (to human) and romance – see the blog section titled ‘Dragon Shapeshifter Romance Fiction’. See also sections titled ‘Dragon Game World Novels’, ‘Dragon Information & Care Handbooks’ and ‘Dragon Art & Drawings’ by clicking the label link ‘Dragons’.

How to Slay a Dragon by Bill Allen (2011).

Gold Magic Eggling by Lady Li Andre (2010). Dursdan would rather be a farmer and have nothing to do with the magical beasts that protect the Valley, but his father is a Dragon Lord. When his father risks his life to obtain a rare golden egg, Dursdan is forced to carry it.

The Xanth series by Piers Anthony.
1) A Spell for Chameleon (1977)
4) Centaur Aisle (1981)
5) Ogre, Ogre (1982)
6) Night Mare (1982)
7) Dragon on a Pedestal (1983)
The Continuing Xanth Saga Omnibus (Books 4-6) (1997)

The Agent Cormac series by Neal Asher. The entity Dragon.
1) Gridlinked (2001)

The Dragon Fire trilogy by Charles Ashton.
1) Jet Smoke and Dragon Fire (1991)
2) Into the Spiral (1992)
3) The Shining Bridge (1993)
Dragon Fire Omnibus (2003)

The Brothers of the Dragon series by Robin Wayne Bailey.
1) Brothers of the Dragon (1992)
2) Flames of the Dragon (1993)
3) Triumph of the Dragon (1995)
4) The Palace of Souls (1995)

The Chronicles of the Raven trilogy by James Barclay
1) Dawnthief (1999)
2) Noonshade (2000)
3) Nightchild (2001)

The Merlin series by T. A. Barron.
3) The Fires of Merlin (1998) aka The Raging Fires
4) The Mirror of Merlin (1999) aka The Mirror of Fate
5) The Wings of Merlin (2000) aka A Wizard’s Wings
6) Merlin's Dragon (2008) aka The Dragon of Avalon
7) Doomraga's Revenge (2009)
8) Ultimate Magic (2010)
9) Child of the Dark Prophecy (2004) aka Great Tree of Avalon
10) Shadows on the Stars (2005)
11) The Eternal Flame (2006)

The Havemercy series by Danielle Bennett and Jaida Jones.
1) Havemercy (2008)
2) Shadow Magic (2009)
3) Dragon Soul (2010)
4) Steelhands (2011)

The Black Jewels trilogy by Anne Bishop. Lorn, Prince of Dragons and Keeper of the Knowledge of the Blood, Race that created the Race of the Blood and Bestower of the Blood Jewels.
1) Daughter of the Blood (1998)
2) Heir to the Shadows (1999)
3) Queen of the Darkness (1999)

The Dragon Queen by Alice Borchardt (2003).

The Hurog series by Patricia Briggs.
1) Dragon Bones (2002)
2) Dragon Blood (2002)

The Magic Kingdom of Landover series by Terry Brooks. (Not part of the Shannara series). Look for Strabo the dragon.
1) Magic Kingdom For Sale -- SOLD! (1986)
2) The Black Unicorn (1987)
3) Wizard at Large (1988)
4) The Tangle Box (1994)
5) Witches' Brew (1995)
6) A Princess of Landover (2009)
Magic Kingdom of Landover Omnibus (Books 1-3) (2009)

The Pigs Don't Fly series by Mary Brown.
1) The Unlikely Ones (1986)
2) Pigs Don't Fly: But Dragons do... (1994)
3) Master of Many Treasures (1995)
4) Dragonne's Eg (1999)
5) Here There Be Dragonnes (omnibus) (2003)

The Unexpected Dragon by Mary Brown (1998).

The Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust. Contain jheregs, tiny dragon-like creatures, and dragons, huge reptiles that cannot breathe fire but have tentacles that pick up psychic impressions.
1) Jhereg (1983) (5th novel chronologically)
2) Yendi (1984) (3rd novel chronologically)
3) Teckla (1987) (6th novel chronologically)
4) Taltos (1988) (1st novel chronologically)
5) Phoenix (1990) (7th novel chronologically)
6) Athyra (1993) (9th novel chronologically)
7) Orca (1996) (10th novel chronologically)
8) Dragon (1998) (2nd novel chronologically)
9) Issola (2001) (11th novel chronologically)
10) Dzur (2006) (12th novel chronologically)
11) Jhegaala (2008) (8th novel chronologically)
12) Iorich (2010) (14th novel chronologically)
13) Tiassa (2011) (Three Parts: 4th & 13th & 15th novel chronologically)
Omnibus Editions:
1) The Book of Jhereg (contains Jhereg, Yendi and Teckla) (1999)
2) The Book of Taltos (contains Taltos and Phoenix) (2002)
3) The Book of Athyra (contains Athyra and Orca) (2003)
4) The Book of Dragon (contains Dragon and Issola) (2011)
5) The Book of Dzur (contains Dzur and Jhegaala) (2011)

To Reign in Hell by Steven Brust (1984). Belial, one of the Firstborn angels, takes the form of a colossal, insane dragon living beneath a volcanic mountain range.

Brokedown Palace by Steven Brust (1986). Once upon a time there were four brothers--and a goddess, a wizard, an enigmatic talking stallion, a very hungry dragon--and a crumbling, broken-down palace with hungry jhereg circling overhead.

The Dragonmaster trilogy by Chris Bunch.
1) Storm of Wings (aka Dragonmaster) (2002)
2) Knighthood of the Dragon (2003)
3) The Last Battle (2004)
Dragonmaster Omnibus (2007)

The Dragon series by Don Callander.
1) Dragon Companion (1994)
2) Dragon Rescue (1995)
3) Dragon Tempest (1998)

Malpas the Dragon by Ann Cattanach and Michael Renouf (2007).

Blue Dragon (Dark Heavens #3) by Kylie Chan (2008).

Quillblade (Voyages of the Flying Dragon #1) by Ben Chandler (2011).

The Dragon and the Unicorn by Lynne Cherry (1998). The daughter of medieval King Valerio is visited by a unicorn and dragon who plead to have the forests of the realm preserved. Great for children aged 3-7.

Fortress of Dragons (Tristan #4) by C.J. Cherryh (2000).

The Shadow War trilogy by Chris Claremont and George Lucas.
1) Shadow Moon (1995)
2) Shadow Dawn (1996)
3) Shadow Star (1999)

The Devan Chronicles trilogy by Mark E. Cooper. Boldizar and other dragons.
1) The God Decrees (2001)
2) The Power That Binds (2002)
3) The Warrior Within (2003)

The Magic Shop series by Bruce Coville. A 12 year old boy is given a baby dragon (Tiamat) to raise.
1) Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher (1992)

The Unicorn Chronicles series by Bruce Coville. Ebillan and Firethroat are dragons.
1) Into the Land of the Unicorns (1994)
2) The Song of the Wanderer (1999)
3) Dark Whispers (2008)
4) The Last Hunt (2010)

The Last Dragon by Silvana DeMari (2006).

The Flight of Dragons by Peter Dickinson (1979).
Merlin Dreams by Peter Dickinson (1988).

The Spiderwick Chronicles series by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black.
5) The Wrath of Mulgarath (2004). The snake-like poisonous dragons raised by the ogre Mulgarath as his weapons of mass destruction.

The Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles series by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black.
3) The Wyrm King (2009). A Hydra, a dragon or snake-like creature with multiple heads and gills appears, called the Wyrm King.

Kenny and the Dragon by Tony DiTerlizzi (2008).

The Last Dragon Chronicles series by Chris d'Lacey. Gadzooks, G'reth, Gretel, Gawain, and other dragons. These dragons are made of clay and brought to life by the fire essence, known as the "auma", of one of Earth's last true Dragons, called Gawain. It is possible that Gawain's line might rise to full draconicity as a result of the actions taken by the student David Rain, his girlfriend the sibyl Zanna, the clayworkers Liz and Lucy Pennykettle, scientist Anders Bergstrom, and the witch Gwillanna.
1) The Fire Within (2001)
2) Icefire (2003)
3) Fire Star (2005)
4) The Fire Eternal (2007)
5) Dark Fire (2009)
6) Fire World (2011)
Rain and Fire: A Guide to the Last Dragon Chronicles (2010) (with Jay d'Lacey).

The Dragon Book by Gardner Dozois and Jack Dann (2009).

Dragon Guard (Magickers #03) by Emily Drake (2003).

The Neverending Story by Michael Ende (1979). Falkor (Fuchur in the original German version) the luckdragon and Smerg, an evil dragon.

The Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson. Various dragons make small appearances throughout the series. Soletaken and Warren-ruling dragons.
1) Gardens of the Moon (1999)
2) Deadhouse Gates (2000)
3) Memories of Ice (2001)
4) House of Chains (2002)
5) Midnight Tides (2004)
6) The Bonehunters (2005)
7) Reaper's Gale (2007)
8) Toll the Hounds (2008)
9) Dust of Dreams (2009)
10) The Crippled God (2010)

Dragonverse by Doug Farren (2010).

Quest for the Dragon's Eye (Swordquest #2) by Bill Fawcett (1985).

The Riftwar trilogy by Raymond E Feist. Dragons Rhuagh, Ryath, Shuruga and others.
1) Magician (1982)
2) Silverthorn (1985)
3) A Darkness at Sethanon (1986)

The Last Dragonslayer series by Jasper Fforde.
1) The Last Dragonslayer (2010)
2) Practical Magic (2011)

The Dragon Chronicles series by Susan Fletcher. Byrn, Pyro, Embyr, Synge and others.
1) Dragon's Milk (1989)
2) Flight of the Dragon Kyn (1993)
3) Sign of the Dove (1996)
4) Ancient, Strange and Lovely (coming in 2011)

The Dragon Done It edited by Eric Flint and Mike Resnick (2008). Best-selling authors Eric Flint and Mike Resnick present a generous selection of stories from the intersection of mystery and magic by popular writers Neil Gaiman, Gene Wolf, David Drake, Harry Turtledove, Esther M. Friesner, and more, including Flint and Resnick themselves. The Dragon Done It is an exciting cross-genre volume that both mystery fans and fantasy fans will enjoy. And so will dragons.

The Osserian Saga series by David Forbes. Dragon in book three.
1) The Amber Wizard (2006)
2) The Words of Making (2007)
3) The Commanding Stone (2009)

The Witches of Eileanan series by Kate Forsyth
1) Dragonclaw (aka The Witches of Eileanan) (1997)
2) The Pool of Two Moons (1998)
3) The Cursed Towers (2000)
4) The Forbidden Land (2000)
5) The Skull of the World (2001)
6) The Fathomless Caves (2002)

The Spellsinger series by Alan Dean Foster. Contains Falameezar-aziz-Sulmonmee, a friendly Marxist dragon.
1) Spellsinger (1983)
2) The Hour of the Gate (1984)
3) The Day of the Dissonance (1984)
4) The Moment of the Magician (1984)
5) The Paths of the Perambulator (1985)
6) The Time of the Transference (1986)
7) Son of Spellsinger (1993)
8) Chorus Skating (1994)

The Moshui series by Daniel Fox.
1) Dragon in Chains (2009)
2) Jade Man's Skin (2010)
3) Hidden Cities (2011)

The Floramonde by Pamela Freeman.
1) The Willow Tree's Daughter (1996)
2) Windrider (1996)
3) Victor's Quest (1996)
4) The Centre of Magic (1998)
5) Victor's Challenge (2009)

The Time for Dragons series by Gary Gentile.
1) A Time for Dragons (1989)
2) Dragons Past (1990)
3) No Future for Dragons (1990)
The Time Dragons Trilogy Omnibus (2008) (contains all three)

The Dragon Slippers series by Jessica Day George.
1) Dragon Slippers (2007) (aka Dragonskin Slippers)
2) Dragon Flight (2008)
3) Dragon Spear (2009)

Strangewood by Christopher Golden (1999). Fiddlestick, a small musically emotive dragon.

Dragon Secrets (Outcast #02) by Christopher Golden (2004).

The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. Scarlet and Gregory, Scarlet's hatchling that Richard saves.
1) Wizard's First Rule (1994)
2) Stone of Tears (1995)
3) Blood of the Fold (1996)

The Eon series by Alison Goodman.
1) The Two Pearls of Wisdom (aka Dragoneye Reborn / Rise of the Dragoneye) (2008)
2) Eona: The Last Dragoneye (aka The Necklace of the Gods) (2010)
3) Eona: Return of the Dragoneye (2011)

The Binding of the Blade series by L. B. Graham.
4) Father of Dragons (2007)

The Band of Four series by Ed Greenwood.
1) The Kingless Land (2000)
2) The Vacant Throne (2001)
3) A Dragon's Ascension (2002)
4) The Dragon's Doom (2002)

The Falconfar Saga series by Ed Greenwood.
1) Dark Lord (2007)
2) Arch Wizard (2008)
3) Falconfar (2010)

We Three Dragons: A Trio of Dragon Tales for the Holiday Season by Ed Greenwood, Jeff Grubb and James M Ward (2005).

The Book of Dragons by Michael Hague (2005). Seventeen short selections that will appeal to lovers of dragons, fantasy, and folktales, providing readers with something fresh in each tale. Excerpts from classic novels such as J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, C.S. Lewis's Voyage of the Dawn Treader and short stories such as Kenneth Grahame's "The Reluctant Dragon" are included. There are folktales from China, Italy and Germany as well.

The Dragon Whisperer by Lucinda Hare.
1) The Dragon Whisperer (2009)
2) Flight to Dragon Isle (2010)

The Symphony of Ages series by Elizabeth Haydon.
1) Rhapsody: Child of Blood (1999)
2) Prophecy: Child of Earth (2000)
3) Destiny: Child of the Sky (2001)
4) Requiem for the Sun (2002)
5) Elegy for a Lost Star (2004)
6) The Assassin King (2005)
Symphony of Ages (omnibus) (2006)

The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme series by Elizabeth Haydon.
1) The Floating Island (2006)
2) The Thief Queen's Daughter (2007)
3) The Dragon's Lair (2008)

Between Planets by Robert A. Heinlein (1951). The sentient inhabitants of Venus are huge flightless dragons described as highly intelligent with an enormous aptitude for scientific research and are very warm and friendly to humans. Since humans can't prononce their real names, they habitually take the name of a prominent past human scientist. The main dragon protagonist calls himself "Sir Isaac Newton".

Central Park Knight by C. J. Henderson (2011).

The Dragon Codices series by R.D. Henham.
1) Red Dragon Codex (2008)
2) Bronze Dragon Codex (2008)
3) Black Dragon Codex (2008)
4) Brass Dragon Codex (2009)
5) Green Dragon Codex (2009)
6) Silver Dragon Codex (2009)
7) Gold Dragon Codex (2010)

The Gardone trilogy by Warren R Henke and Judy Schmidt.
1) Mandala's Catalyst (2010)

The Annals of Drakis series by Tracy Hickman.
1) Song of the Dragon (2010) (with Laura Hickman)
2) Citadels of the Lost (coming in 2011)

The Simon St George series by Jason Hightman.
1) The Saint of Dragons (2004)
2) Samurai (2006)

Fireball and the Hero by Douglas Hill (1995).
The Dragon Charmer by Douglas Hill (1997).

Danny's Dragon: A Story of Wartime Loss by Janet Muirhead Hill (2006).

The Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb.
3) Assassin's Quest (1997)

The Fanuilh series by Daniel Hood. Features Fanuilh, a miniature dragon and familiar.
1) Fanuilh (1994)
2) Wizard's Heir (1995)
3) Beggar's Banquet (1997)
4) Scales of Justice (1998)
5) King's Cure (2000)
A Familiar Dragon Omnibus (1997)

The Pelmen the Powershaper series by Robert Don Hughes. Has Vicia-Heinox the two-headed dragon.
1) The Prophet of Lamath (1979)
2) The Wizard in Waiting (1982)
3) The Power and the Prophet (1985)

The Wormling series by Jerry B. Jenkins and Chris Fabry.
4) Minions of Time (2008)
5) The Author's Blood (2008)

The Eidolon Chronicles trilogy by Jane Johnson.
1) The Secret Country (2005)
2) The Shadow World (2006)
3) Dragon's Fire (2007)
Legends of the Shadow World Omnibus (2010)

Charmed Life (Chrestomanci #1) by Diana Wynne Jones (1977). Chrestomanci's pet dragon (rescued from poachers who killed its mother).

Fantasy Stories edited by Diana Wynne Jones (1994). Here are 18 imaginative stories (some dragons) from such accomplished writers as C.S. Lewis, Joan Aiken, L. Frank Baum, Isaac Asimov and Rudyard Kipling.

Hunting of the Last Dragon by Sherryl Jordan (2002).

Chasing the Dragon by Nicholas Kaufmann (2009). Centuries ago, St. George fought and killed a dragon-or so the legend goes. The truth is somewhat different. George failed in his mission, and the Dragon still walks the Earth, protected by an undead army, hiding in the shadows and slaughtering men, women, and children for its prey. Each of George's descendants through time has been tasked with killing the Dragon, and each has failed. Twenty-five-year-old Georgia Quincey is the last of the line. But Georgia is also an addict, driven there by the weight of her responsibility and the loss of everything and everyone she has ever loved.

The Dragon Quartet series by Marjorie B Kellogg.
1) The Book of Earth (1995)
2) The Book of Water (1997)
3) The Book of Fire (2000)
4) The Book of Air (2003)
Dragon Quartet Volume 1 Omnibus (2005)
Dragon Quartet Volume 2 Omnibus (2006)

The Deverry series by Katharine Kerr.
1) Daggerspell (1986)
2) Darkspell (1987)
3) The Bristling Wood (Dawnspell: The Bristling Wood) (1989)
4) The Dragon Revenant (Dragonspell: The Southern Sea) (1990)

The Deverry: The Westlands series by Katharine Kerr.
1) A Time of Exile (1991)
2) A Time of Omens (1992)
3) Days of Blood and Fire (aka A Time of War) (1993)
4) Days of Air and Darkness (aka A Time of Justice) (1994)

The Deverry: The Dragon Mage series by Katharine Kerr.
1) The Red Wyvern (1997)
2) The Black Raven (1998)
3) The Fire Dragon (2000)

The Deverry: The Silver Wyrm series by Katharine Kerr.
1) The Gold Falcon (2006)
2) The Spirit Stone (2007)
3) The Shadow Isle (2008)
4) The Silver Mage (2009)

The Dragonrealm series by Richard A. Knaak.
1) Firedrake (1989)
2) Ice Dragon (1989)
3) Wolfhelm (1990)
4) Shadow Steed (1990)
5) The Crystal Dragon (1993)
6) The Dragon Crown (1994)
7) The Horse King (1997)

The Dragonrealm: Origin of Dragonrealm series by Richard A. Knaak.
1) The Shrouded Realm (1991)
2) Children of the Drake (1991)
3) Dragon Tome (1992)

Legends of the Dragonrealm Volume I by Richard A. Knaak (2009)
Legends of the Dragonrealm, Volume II by Richard A. Knaak (2010)

The Dragon of Trelian by Michelle Knudsen (2009).

The Dragonling series by Jackie French Koller. Zantor and various other dragons.
1) The Dragonling (1991)
2) A Dragon in the Family (1993)
3) Dragon Quest (1997)
4) Dragons of Krad (1997)
5) Dragon Trouble (1997)
6) Dragons Kings (1998)
The Dragonling Collector's Edition Volume 1 (2000)
The Dragonling Collector's Edition Volume 2 (2001)

The Novel of the Nine Kingdoms series by Lynn Kurland.
1) Star of the Morning (2006)
2) The Mage's Daughter (2008)
3) Princess of the Sword (2009)
4) A Tapestry of Spells (2010)
5) Spellweaver (2011)

LIZARDS and WIZARDS by Gary Kuyper (2011). A novella telling the tale of how the very first dragon came to be.

The Dragon Jousters series by Mercedes Lackey. Avatre and several others.
1) Joust (2003)
2) Alta (2004)
3) Sanctuary (2005)
4) Aerie (2006)

The Obsidian trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory. Ancalader, the dragon bonded to Jermayan.
1) The Outstretched Shadow (2003)
2) To Light a Candle (2004)
3) When Darkness Falls (2006)

The Enduring Flame trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory. Wild Mage Bisochim bonds with the dragon Saravasse.
1) The Phoenix Unchained (2007)
2) The Phoenix Endangered (2008)
3) The Phoenix Transformed (2009)

The Darkest Age series by A. J. Lake.
1) The Coming of Dragons (2006)
2) The Book of the Sword (2007)
3) The Circle of Stone (2007)

Dragon's Tear by Sue Lawson (2002). Life in his country town would be better if Cam could make a friend. But a moody, mythical creature with bad breath and an egg about to hatch is not what he bargained for.

The Dragon Sword Histories series by Duncan Lay.
1) The Wounded Guardian (2010)
2) The Risen Queen (2010)
3) The Radiant Child (2010)

In the Earthsea fantasy series by Ursula Le Guin. The portrayal of dragons undergoes significant changes from book to book. In the original, they possess unbounded greed for hoards of precious jewelry; later, they grow in stature and nobility, to become virtual demi-gods. Later still, it is revealed that some rare humans (always women) can change into dragons at will (or they may be considered as dragons who can take human form at will).
1) A Wizard of Earthsea (1968). Yevaud the dragon. – Lewis Carroll Shelf Award winner (1979).
2) The Tombs of Atuan (1971) – Newbery Medal winner.
3) The Farthest Shore (1973). Kalessin the creator. – National Book Award winner.
4) Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea (1990) – Nebula Award winner (1990) & Locus Fantasy Award winner (1991).
5) Tales from Earthsea (2001) (Short Stories).
6) The Other Wind (2001) – World Fantasy Award winner (2002).
The Earthsea Quartet Omnibus (1993)

The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis.
3) The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)

Eye of the Dragon by Ian Livingstone (2005). Role-playing book where you seek the Golden Dragon.

The Sunset Warrior series by Eric Lustbader.
5) Dragons on the Sea of Night (1997)

The Pearl Saga series by Eric Lustbader.
1) The Ring of Five Dragons (2001)
2) The Veil of a Thousand Tears (2002)
3) The Cage of Nine Banestones (aka Mistress of the Pearl) (2003)

In the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey. The fantastic dragon series about the magestic dragons of Pern! Highly recommended for lovers of dragons. Life on Pern resembles a pre-industrial society with lords, holds, harpers and dragons. The Pernese use intelligent firebreathing dragons and their riders to fight the deadly falling Thread. The riders have a telepathic bond with their dragons, formed by Impression at the dragon's hatching. Later books deal with the initial colonization of Pern and the creation of the dragons themselves.
1) Dragonflight (1968)
2) Dragonquest (1971)
3) Dragonsong (1976)
4) Dragonsinger (1977)
5) The White Dragon (1978)
6) Dragondrums (1979)
7) Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern (1983)
8) Nerilka's Story (1986)
9) The Girl Who Heard Dragons (1986 – Short story novella)
10) Dragonsdawn (1988)
11) The Renegades of Pern (1989)
12) All the Weyrs of Pern (1991)
13) The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall (1993). Contains stories ‘The Survey: P.E.R.N.’, ‘The Dolphins' Bell’, ‘The Ford of Red Hanrahan’, ‘The Second Weyr’ and ‘Rescue Run’.
The Dolphins of Pern (1994)
14) Red Star Rising: Second Chronicles of Pern (1996). (Called Dragonseye for U.S. release).
15) Masterharper of Pern (1998)
16) The Skies of Pern (2001)
17) A Gift of Dragons (2002). Contains stories ‘The Smallest Dragonboy’, ‘The Girl Who Heard Dragons’, ‘Runner of Pern’ and ‘Ever the Twain’.
Co-authored by her son Todd McCaffrey.
1) Dragon's Kin (2003)
2) Dragon's Fire (2006)
3) Dragon Harper (2007)
4) Dragonrider (2011)
Written by her son Todd McCaffrey.
1) Dragonsblood (2005)
2) Dragonheart (2008)
3) Dragongirl (2010)
4) Dragons Time TBC
The Dragon Lover's Guide to Pern by Jody Lynn Nye (1997).
Anne McCaffrey: A Life with Dragons by Robin Roberts (2007).

The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley (1984). Numerous small dragons, which cannot speak, and the huge, sentient dragon Maur, which is a malevolent force even after death.
Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley (2007). Jake Mendoza lives at the Makepeace Institute of Integrated Dragon Studies in Smokehill National Park. Smokehill is home to about two hundred of the few remaining draco australiensis, which is extinct in the wild. Keeping a preserve for dragons is controversial: detractors say dragons are extremely dangerous and unjustifiably expensive to keep and should be destroyed.

The Dragon's Apprentice series by Linda McNabb.
1) The Dragon's Apprentice (2002)
2) Dragon's Bane (2008)

The Dragon Charmers series Linda McNabb.
1) Mountains of Fire (2006)
2) Valley of Silver (2007)

The Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin. Drogon, Viserion, and Rhaegal, the dragons hatched by Daenerys Targaryen. Also, Balerion the Black Dread, Meraxes and Vhaghar, ridden by Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters in the conquest of Westeros.
1) A Game of Thrones (1996)
2) A Clash of Kings (1998)
3) A Storm of Swords (2000)
4) A Feast for Crows (2005)
5) A Dance with Dragons (2008)
Dreamsongs: A Retrospective Volume I by George R. R. Martin (2003).
Dreamsongs: A Retrospective Volume II by George R. R. Martin (2008).

The Ice Dragon by George R. R. Martin (2006). Novella: The ice dragon was a creature of legend and fear, for no man had ever tamed one.When it flew overhead, it left in its wake desolate cold and frozen land. But Adara was not afraid. For Adara was a winter child, born during the worst freeze that anyone, even the Old Ones, could remember.

The Dragon Quintet by Elizabeth Moon (2004). Five authors of fantasy genre explore the fantastical world of dragons in an anthology of fantasy novellas, including "In the Dragon's House" by Orson Scott Card, Mercedes Lackey's "Joust," "Love in a Time of Dragons" by Tanith Lee, Elizabeth Moon's "Judgment," and Michael Swanwick's "King Dragon."

The Dragon Path by Kenneth Morris (1995).

The Book of the Years series by Peter Morwood.
3) The Dragon Lord (1986)
4) The Warlord's Domain (1989)
The Book of Years Volume 2 Omnibus (2005)

The Book of Dragons by Edith Nesbit (2002). First published in 1900! Has various dragons present, such as a red dragon that comes to life out of a magical Book of Beasts.
The Book of Dragons by Edith Nesbit, Ali Nicholls and Dee Dreslough (2010).

Dragon Prophecy by Melanie Nilles (2008).

The Halfblood Chronicles trilogy by Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey.
1) Elvenbane (1991)
2) Elvenblood (1995)
3) Elvenborn (2002)

The Cycle of Oak, Yew, Ash and Rowan series by Andre Norton and Sasha Miller.
4) Dragon Blade (2005)

Dragon Magic by Andre Norton (1985).
Dragon Mage: A Sequel to Dragon Magic by Andre Norton and Jean Rabe (2008).

The Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. Temeraire and the other dragons of the Napoleonic Wars.
1) Temeraire (2006) aka His Majesty's Dragon
2) The Throne of Jade (2006)
3) Black Powder War (2006)
4) Empire of Ivory (2007)
5) Victory of Eagles (2008)
6) Tongues of Serpents (2010)
In the Service of the King Omnibus (2006)
In His Majesty's Service Omnibus (2009)

Cross-Eyed Dragon Troubles by Gloria Oliver (2008).

The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica series by James A. Owen. Samaranth, an Eastern-type dragon who offers guidance to the main characters. Also various other dragons.
1) Here, There Be Dragons (2006)
2) The Search for the Red Dragon (2008)
3) The Indigo King (2008)
4) The Shadow Dragons (2009)
5) The Dragon's Apprentice (2010)

Knight Terrors: The (Mis)adventures of Smoke the Dragon by Nicholas Ozment and Richard Svensson (2010)

The Inheritance Cycle series by Christopher Paolini.
1) Eragon (2001)
2) Eldest (2005)
3) Brisingr (2008)
4) Inheritance (2011)
Eldest / Eragon Omnibus (2005)
Inheritance Boxed Set Omnibus (Books 1-3) (2008)
Mythic Vision: The Making of the Movie Eragon by Mark Cotta Vaz (2006).
The Inheritance Almanac: An A to Z Guide to the World of Eragon by Mike Macauley (2010).

The Dragons of Rosemar: The Dragon King Prophecy by D. S. Patrick (2009).

The DragonKeeper Chronicles series by Donita K. Paul.
1) DragonSpell (2004)
2) DragonQuest (2005)
3) DragonKnight (2006)
4) DragonFire (2007)
5) DragonLight (2008)

The Vanishing Sculptor (aka The Dragons of Chiril) by Donita K. Paul (2009).
Dragons of the Valley by Donita K. Paul (2010).
Dragons of the Watch by Donita K. Paul (2011).

The Cardinal's Blades by Pierre Pevel (2009).
The Alchemist in the Shadows by Pierre Pevel (2010).
The Three Prince War by Pierre Pevel (due in 2012).
The Dragon Arcarna by Pierre Pevel (due in 2012).

The Immortals quartet by Tamora Pierce. Skysong, as well as Flamewing, Wingstar, Diamondflame, Icefall, Steelsings, Jadewing, Jewelclaw, Moonwind, Rainbow and Riverwind.
1) Wild Magic (1992)
2) Wolf Speaker (1994)
3) The Emperor Mage (1994)
4) The Realms of the Gods (1996)
The Immortals Box Set Omnibus (2003)

The Alosha trilogy by Christopher Pike. Dragons also start life as legless, wingless, tailless, and without fire; in this form, they are known as Kouls. Later in life, a Koul develops legs, a tail, wings and fiery breath.
1) Alosha (2004)
2) The Shaktra (2005)
3) The Yanti (2006)

The Winter Dragon by Caroline Pitcher (2003).

The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. Errol, Ninereeds and other dragons. Pratchett's Discworld novels describe two types of dragons: Noble Dragons (Draco Nobilis) which are typical European-type dragons, which are extinct by the time the books take place but can be summoned by magic or created with a lot of magic and imagination; and the Swamp Dragons (Draco Vulgaris), which are the size of small dogs, bred as pets, and, due to their complex, fire-producing anatomy, have a tendency to self-destruct.
1) The Colour of Magic (1983)
8) Guards! Guards! (1989)

The Lily Quench series by Natalie Jane Prior.
1) Lily Quench and the Dragon of Ashby (2004)
2) Lily Quench and the Black Mountains (2003)
3) Lily Quench and the Treasure of Mote Ely (2004)
4) Lily Quench and the Lighthouse of Skellig Mor (2003)
5) Lily Quench and the Magician's Pyramid (2003)
6) Lily Quench and the Hand of Manuelo (aka The Secret of Manelo) (2004)
7) Lily Quench and the Search for King Dragon (2005)
8) Lily Quench's Companion: And Guide to Dragons and the Art of Quenching (2007)

The Dragon Nimbus series by Irene Radford.
1) The Glass Dragon (1994)
2) The Perfect Princess (1995)
3) The Loneliest Magician (1996)
4) The Wizard's Treasure (2000)

The Dragon Nimbus History series by Irene Radford.
1) The Dragon's Touchstone (1997)
2) The Last Battlemage (1997)
3) The Renegade Dragon (1999)

The Stargods series by Irene Radford.
1) The Hidden Dragon (2002)
2) The Dragon Circle (2004)
3) The Dragon's Revenge (2005)

The Dragon Nimbus Omnibus Editions by Irene Radford.
1) The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume I (2007)
2) The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume II (2007)
3) The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume III (2008)

The Dragon Prince trilogy by Melanie Rawn. Azhdeen, Elisel and various unnamed dragons.
1) Dragon Prince (1988)
2) The Star Scroll (1989)
3) Sunrunner's Fire (1990)

The Dragon Star trilogy by Melanie Rawn
1) Stronghold (1991)
2) The Dragon Token (1993)
3) Skybowl (1994)

The Dragon Orb series by Mark Robson.
1) Firestorm (2008)
2) Shadow (2009)
3) Longfang (2009)
4) Aurora (2009)

No Such Thing as Dragons by Philip Reeve (2009).

The Lost Dragons of Barakhai (Books of Barakhai #2) by Mickey Zucker Reichert (2002).

Revolution (Dragon America) by Mike Resnick (2005). The British are coming, and the dragons are waiting for them! Set in an alternative colonial America where dragons rule the landscape, the revolution is taking its bloody toll and General Washington will need all the help he can get to free the American colonies from their overseas rulers. Dragon America is an alternative history in the Orson Scott Card and Harry Turtledove modes.

The Council Wars series by John Ringo.
1) There Will Be Dragons (2003)
2) Emerald Sea (2004)

The Egg by M.P. Robertson (2004).
The Dragon Snatcher by M. P. Robertson (2005).
The Great Dragon Rescue by M. P. Robertson (2009).

The Deltora Quest series by Emily Rodda. Dragons are portrayed as very intelligent and proud; as being divided into seven distinct tribes; as having the capacity to reproduce by parthenogenesis; and as each having a virtue to which it adheres, such as Strength, Honor, Luck, Faith, Hope, Joy, and Truth.
3) City of the Rats (2000)
4) The Shifting Sands (2001)
5) Dread Mountain (2001)
6) The Maze of the Beast (2001)
7) The Valley of the Lost (2001)
8) Return to Del (2000)
Deltora Quest Omnibus (2008)
Secrets Of Deltora (2009) (with Marc McBride)

The Dragons of Deltora series by Emily Rodda.
1) Dragon's Nest (2004)
2) Shadowgate (2004)
3) Isle of the Dead (2005)
4) The Sister of the South (2005)
5) Tales of Deltora (2006)

The Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. Various dragons (including Norwegian Ridgebacks, Hungarian Horntails, Swedish Short-Snouts, Common Welsh Greens, Hebridean Blacks and a Chinese Fireball.
1) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (1997)
4) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000).
7) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007)
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J. K. Rowling (2001) (with Newt Scamander)

Does Harry Potter Tickle Waking Dragons? (Book 1) by Nancy Solon Villaluz (2008).
Does Harry Potter Tickle Waking Dragons? (Book 2) by Nancy Solon Villaluz (due in 2012).

The Dragon of Lonely Island series by Rebecca Rupp.
1) The Dragon of Lonely Island (1998)
2) The Return of the Dragon (2005)

The Chronicles of Elantra series by Michelle Sagara.
1) Cast in Shadow (2005)
2) Cast in Courtlight (2006)
3) Cast in Secret (2007)
4) Cast in Fury (2008)
5) Cast in Silence (2009)
6) Cast in Chaos (2010)
7) Cast in Ruin (2011)
Chronicles of the Elantra (Books 1-3) Omnibus (2009)

The Spearwielder's Tales trilogy by R.A. Salvatore. Robert (also known as Robert the Wretched) is the dragon antagonist.
1) The Woods Out Back (1993)
2) The Dragon's Dagger (1994)
3) Dragonslayer Returns (1995)
Spearwielder's Tale Omnibus (2004)

The Dragon Chronicles: The Lost Journals of the Great Wizard, Septimus Agorius by Malcolm Sanders (2004).

The Scalehunter's Daughter by Lucius Shepard (1988). Griaule, a gigantic dragon, paralyzed and moribund yet still capable of casting a baleful influence.
The Taborin Scale (Novella of the Dragon Griaule) by Lucius Shepard (2010).

The Ashuak trilogy by Tony Shillitoe.
1) Blood (2002)
2) Passion (2003)
3) Freedom (2003)

Myth, Magic and Missiles (After Armageddon #1) by J. Skretteberg (2010).

The DragonCrown War series by Michael A. Stackpole.
1) Fortress Draconis (2001)
2) When Dragons Rage (2002)
3) The Grand Crusade (2003)

The Crown Colonies series by Michael A. Stackpole.
1) At the Queen's Command (2010)

The Ologies by Dugald Steer.
> The Dragon Dance (2005) (with D. Carrel)
> The Dragon Star (2005) (with D. Carrel)
> The Winged Serpent (2005)

The Ologies: Dragonology Chronicles series by Dugald Steer.
1) The Dragon's Eye (2008)
2) The Dragon Diary (2009)
3) The Dragon's Apprentice (coming in 2011)

Returner's Wealth: Wyrmeweald by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell (2010). Young pioneer, Micah, enters Wrymeweald full of hope to return home having made his fortune. But this is a land where wyrmes, fabulous dragon-like beasts, roam wild and reign supreme.

Wings of Fire by Jonathan Strahan and Marianne S. Jablon (2010). The editors offer 26 dragon tales that are high in quality and diverse in writing style and characterization. The anthology includes tales by Peter S. Beagle, Anne McCaffrey’s (Dragonriders of Pern), Ursula Leguin (Earthsea Universe), George R. R. Martin, Michael Swanwick, Jane Yolen, Pat Murphy, Gordon R. Dickson’s well-loved “St. Dragon and the George” and more! A treasure trove for dragon lovers.

Buried Fire by Jonathan Stroud (1999).

The Cleveland Portal series by S Andrew Swann.
1) The Dragons of the Cuyahoga (2001)
2) The Dwarves of Whiskey Island (2005)
Dragons and Dwarves Omnibus (2009)

The Iron Dragon's Daughter by Michael Swanwick (1993).
The Dragons of Babel by Michael Swanwick (2008).

On Wings of a Dragon by Cora Taylor (2001).

Dragon's Egg by Sarah L. Thomson (2007).

A number of dragons have made appearances in J. R. R. Tolkien’s world of Middle-earth.
> The Hobbit or There and Back Again (1937). Smaug, a classic, European-type dragon.
> The Lord of the Rings:
1) The Fellowship of the Ring (1954). Ancalagon the black dragon.
3) The Return of the King (1955). Scatha the dragon (Appendix A. II, 1955).
> The Silmarillion (1977). Glaurung, the first of the dragons in Middle-earth and Ancalagon the black dragon.
> Tales from the Perilous Realm (1993). Dragons and Sea-Monsters.
> Roverandom (1998)

The Darkness series by Harry Turtledove. In this magical analogue of the Second World War, the dragons are beasts, highly pugnacious and under complete human control. In the storyline they are the analogue of fighter planes and dragon riders are obviously intended to represent fighter pilots of the Luftwaffe and the RAF.
1) Into the Darkness (1998)
2) Darkness Descending (2000)
3) Through the Darkness (2001)
4) Rulers of the Darkness (2002)
5) Jaws of Darkness (2003)
6) Out of the Darkness (2004)

Voices of Dragons by Carrie Vaughn (2010). Seventeen-year-old Kay Wyatt knows she's breaking the law by rock climbing near the border, but she'd rather have an adventure than follow the rules. When the dragon Artegal unexpectedly saves her life, the rules are abruptly shattered, and a secret friendship grows between them. As tensions mount and battles begin, Kay and Artegal are caught in the middle. Can their friendship change the course of a war?

Dragon Horse by Peter Ward (2008). Set in ancient China, two brothers fight the classic battle between good and evil as the Shadow-without-name attempts to break free from an eternal imprisonment by utilizing the strength and power of the famed dragon horses.

The Ethshar series by Lawrence Watt-Evans.
4) The Blood of a Dragon (1991)

The Obsidian Chronicles series by Lawrence Watt-Evans.
1) Dragon Weather (1999)
2) The Dragon Society (2001)
3) Dragon Venom (2003)

Testament of the Dragon: An Illustrated Novel by Margaret Weis (1996).

A Dragon Lover's Treasury of the Fantastic edited by Margaret Weis (1994).
New Amazons edited by Margaret Weis (1996).
A Magic-Lover's Treasury of the Fantastic edited by Margaret Weis and Martin H Greenberg (1997).

The Darksword series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
1) Forging the Darksword (1987)
2) Doom of the Darksword (1988)
3) Triumph of the Darksword (1988)
4) Legacy of the Darksword (1997)
Darksword Adventures (1988)
The Darksword Trilogy (omnibus) (1989)

The Rose of the Prophet series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
1) The Will of the Wanderer (1988)
2) The Paladin of the Night (1989)
3) The Prophet of Akhran (1989)
Rose of the Prophet Trilogy Omnibus (2010)

The Death Gate series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
1) Dragon Wing (1990)
2) Elven Star (1990)
3) Fire Sea (1991)
4) The Serpent Mage (1992)
5) The Hand of Chaos (1993)
6) Into the Labyrinth (1993)
7) The Seventh Gate (1994)

The Starshield series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
1) The Mantle of Kendis-Dai (aka Sentinels) (1996)
2) Nightsword (1995)

The Dragonships of Vindras series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
1) Bones of the Dragon (2008)
2) Secret of the Dragon (2010)

Treasures of Fantasy edited by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (1997).

Dark Heart (Dragon's Disciple #1) by Margaret Weis and David Baldwin (1998).

The Dragon Brigade series by Margaret Weis and Robert Krammes.
1) Shadow Raiders (2011)

The Dragonkeeper series by Carole Wilkinson.
1) Dragonkeeper (2003)
2) Garden of the Purple Dragon (2007)
3) Dragon Moon (2007)
4) Dragon Dawn (2008) (Prequel to Dragonkeeper)

The Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series by Tad Williams. Igjarjuk, the ice dragon.
1) The Dragonbone Chair (1989)
2) Stone of Farewell (1991)
3) To Green Angel Tower – Part 1 & 2 (1994)

The Dragons of Ordinary Farm by Tad Williams and Deborah Beale (2009). Tyler and Lucinda have to spend summer vacation with their ancient uncle Gideon, a farmer. They think they're in for six weeks of cows, sheep, horses, and pigs. But when they arrive in deserted Standard Valley, California, they discover that Ordinary Farm is, well, no ordinary farm.

The Enchanted Forest series by Patricia C. Wrede.
1) Dragonsbane (1990) aka Dealing with Dragons
2) Searching for Dragons (1991) aka Dragon Search
3) Calling on Dragons (1993)
4) Talking to Dragons (1984)
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles Omnibus (1995) (contains all four)

Merlin and the Dragons by Jane Yolen (1998).

The Dragon Cliff trilogy by Julie E. Young.
1) The Prophecy (2010)

The Dragonback series by Timothy Zahn.
1) Dragon and Thief (2003)
2) Dragon and Soldier (2004)
3) Dragon and Slave (2005)
4) Dragon and Herdsman (2006)
5) Dragon and Judge (2007)
6) Dragon and Liberator (2008)

A Gathering of Heroes (Dark Border #3) by Paul Edwin Zimmer (1987). Features Komanthodel, the ancient evil dragon.

A Dance With Dragons - Reviewed by Craig

2011-07-12T09:07:00.005+10:00

A Dance With Dragons
Song of Ice and Fire #05
George R R Martin

The fifth volume in the greatest epic work of the modern age The future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance. In the east, Daenerys, last scion of House Targaryen, her dragons grown to terrifying maturity, rules as queen of a city built on dust and death, beset by enemies. Now that her whereabouts are known many are seeking Daenerys and her dragons. Among them the dwarf, Tyrion Lannister, who has escaped King's Landing with a price on his head, wrongfully condemned to death for the murder of his nephew, King Joffrey. But not before killing his hated father, Lord Tywin. To the north lies the great Wall of ice and stone -- a structure only as strong as those guarding it. Eddard Stark's bastard son Jon Snow has been elected the 998th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, but he has enemies both in the Watch and beyond the Wall, where the wildling armies are massing for an assault. On all sides bitter conflicts are reigniting, played out by a grand cast of outlaws and priests, soldiers and skinchangers, nobles and slaves. The tides of destiny will inevitably lead to the greatest dance of all!

Brilliant! What a way to start! And, what a way to end! And more so… dare I say it? WORTH THE WAIT! 1000 pages, or near enough that makes no matter. 75 chapters, 16 POVs, Much ado about… Tyrion, Jon Snow and Daenerys. This is a big book, and because it's GRRM (even after I just reread the whole series) there's a lot to take in. A lot of characters to 'keep in mind'. New directions, unexpected twists, and previous 'background characters' becoming a bit more prevalent. Keep in mind that a large part of this book runs parallel to A Feast for Crows (you'll know when it moves beyond that). I recommend a reread before cracking this open. It's been a long wait and there's a lot to remember, but if you are time limited, there's a few different synopsis out there to refresh your memory! Or ask me, next time you're in, for a quick "now where were we?" -Craig

Up Close with Elspeth Cooper

2011-07-09T09:36:00.005+10:00

Songs of the Earth
Wild Hunt #01
By Elsepth Cooper

Gair is under a death sentence. He can hear music - music with power - and in the Holy City that means only one thing: he s a witch and he s going to be burnt at the stake. Even if he could escape, the Church Knights and their witchfinder would be hot on his heels while his burgeoning power threatens to tear him apart from within.

There is no hope...none, but a secret order, themselves persecuted almost to destruction. If Gair can escape, if he can master his own growing, dangerous abilities, if he can find the guardians of the Veil, then maybe he will be safe.

Or maybe he ll discover that his fight has only just begun.

1. What started you writing, and is it the same thing that still inspires you today?

I can't really point to a single moment. I've always been imaginative - my parents read me Ivanhoe as a bedtime story, which sparked a love of epic adventure that I've never really grown out of, so I suppose we could blame them!

At school, I never had a problem making up stories and loved assignments that allowed me to express my creative side. I remember we were doing a project on Captain Cook once, and everyone else in the class had gone for a rather dry, fact-based approach, but I wrote mine in the style of a diary by one of the sailors, with Cook's discoveries interspersed with snippets of ship-board life, and pen-and-ink sketches in the margin. So even then I could feel the power of fiction, the pull of "what happens next", which still drives me today.

2. How many novels did you write before you got published?

Believe it or not, Songs of the Earth is my first finished novel. It was one of those stories that bit hard, and wouldn't let go.

3. What was the first thing you did when you found out a publisher wanted to print your work?

Apart from giggling and exclaiming "F***!" at the top of my voice? I re-read the email from my agent about a thousand times, opened a bottle of champagne, then treated myself to my first piece of serious jewellery as a reward.

4. What books, or authors, would you say have most influenced you in the type of writer you've become?

Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry books made quite an impression on me, and latterly his histories-that-never-were, like The Lions of al-Rassan. Guaranteed to make me cry - partly with envy, that he makes it all look so effortless. I admire Robert Holdstock's depth of scholarship, and the way he tapped into our ancient mythology without ever seeming to lecture, and touched the very roots of stories - Terry Pratchett explored similar ideas in Hogfather and Wyrd Sisters. The figuring out of where stories come from and how they evolve and change has always fascinated me.

5. Your debut novel is SONGS OF THE EARTH, can you tell us a bit about the story and how you came up with it?

It's about a novice Knight who can hear the songs of the earth, a magical power that infuses everything from the earth under his feet to the birds in the air, and manifests as a music that only the gifted can hear. Unfortunately, the Church thinks this makes him a witch and they've put him on trial for his life. The book follows his escape from the Holy City, and his journey to find the Guardians of the Veil who can teach him how to use his growing powers. On the way he discovers that what he's been taught by the Church is not the whole truth, and he's slap-bang in the middle of a much bigger conflict, with much higher stakes. He's been handed a weapon, and he has to decide what and who he's fighting for.

On the surface it's a fantasy adventure with swords and magic, but it also touches on things like the difference between religion and faith, persecution of those who are "different", and how history gets written by the victors.

Where it came from was twofold. I love my garden, and there have been times when I've stood outside on a summer morning and fancied I could hear the plants growing, which gave me the Song. The opening scene came to me pretty much out of the blue: I was incandescently angry, and I felt as if there was a force inside me that was trying to burst out John-Hurt-in-Alien-style. Suddenly there was Gair, alone in the dark, wrestling with the magic and terribly afraid that he was about to lose control . . .

The book just grew from there. Who was this person? How did he end up in an iron cell? Where were the guards taking him, and why? Before I knew it I was three chapters in, and Songs of the Earth was born.

6. Do you consciously chose themes to explore in your work or does it 'just happen'?

A bit of both. I consciously chose to feature a Church with a corrosive secret - the Catholic Church was very much in the news with the child abuse scandal that still rumbles on today. Tied in with that was the idea that history gets written by the victors, but the rest happened very organically, and sneaked up on me. It was only when I looked at the whole novel in the edit stage that I could see themes emerging, and teased them out a bit.

7. What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general?

Do you know, I've never really thought about that? The challenge for most people is probably sustaining the story to a satisfying conclusion. How many times have you read agents and publishers complaining that a really cool premise and engaging protagonist has run out of story and just fizzled out?

Personally, the biggest challenge writing a novel is the two-thirds blues: I get two-thirds of the way through and start hating the book, doubting myself and my abilities, and generally sinking into the mire of despondency. It doesn't last long (although at the time, it feels like forever) and then I get my spark back and we're off again.

And of course, now that I'm writing full time, the biggest challenge of all is not letting daily life overwhelm me. Sometimes, when you've got all day, you end up getting less done than you used to do when you were still working and you only had two hours writing time late at night, and had to make them count.

8. Do you use an outline when you write, or are you more of a discovery writer?

To use George RR Martin's phraseology I am a gardener rather than an architect, but I've looked at the picture on the seed-packet so I know what sort of story I'm growing. I have a general idea of what I'm doing and how it's going to end, but I don't write it all down in advance, or cover a pin-board with chapter summaries on 3x5 index cards and so forth. I've tried the methodical approach, laying out all my tools and blueprints, and it kills the writing stone dead for me. There's no magic left, and it becomes a chore.

Note I said "for me". Some authors wouldn't dream of building a book without all the scaffolding in place first, and if that's what works for them, great. More power to them. But for me, I write best organically: start with an idea and then just let it grow, pruning and training where necessary to ensure I hit the various landmarks on the way to the end, but how I get to each one is a voyage of discovery.

9. How much research do you do, and is it before or during the writing process?

Given the organic, free-range nature of my writing, I can't always know what I'm going to need to research before I start. I tend to stumble across things I need to know as I go, and research them then. Occasionally that means doing a bit of backing-and-filling if I find out I've got something wrong, but that tends to be just details.

10. Do you ever base your characters on people you know or have known?

Not consciously, although I've noticed I do borrow the odd character trait here and there. Gair, for instance, shares his self-sufficiency, his focus, his absolute sense of right and wrong, with my husband.

11. What is your work schedule like when you're in writers mode?

I've been known to work 14+ hours straight when everything's coming together - and sometimes when it's not, when only sheer pig-headedness keeps me at my desk. I can be very single-minded! Generally, I do emails, admin, social networking etc in the mornings, and write afterwards until I feel I've achieved enough for one day, or fall asleep/pass out with hunger, whichever comes first.

12. What do you do to relax, when you're not in 'writer's mode? (are you ever not in writer's mode?)

A part of my brain is always in writer's mode, chewing over plots and dialogue whilst I'm doing the dishes or whatever, but when I want to switch off I like to read, cook, potter in the garden, watch movies. I have to get out in the fresh air every day, if I can - I go stir-crazy indoors.

13. When you look back on writing career, although it has only just begun, is there anything you would've done differently? If so, what and why?

Maybe started sooner? I've been writing since I could hold a pen, pretty much, but I was 40 before I found the courage to seek out a literary agent, and even then it was mostly to stop my husband nagging me about it! But then, if I'd started sooner, there is a very real chance that Songs of the Earth would not exist in the way it does now, because I would not be the person I am.

14. Do you ever regret being 'self employed' (self motivating) and look longingly at people with 'normal' jobs - or you still hold down a 'day job'?

I worked in IT for 21 years - why on earth would I want to go back . . .

Being serious, I kind of miss the commute, because being on the train gave me two hours of prime reading time, but it was also killing me: in 2004 I was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, and I soldiered on for five more years before it became apparent that leaving the house at 7am and not getting home until 6pm was unsustainable, and I had to quit.

So regrets? Not really. I didn't have a choice about giving up the day job; it was a happy accident that Gollancz offered me a publishing contract at round about the same time, and it's pretty much my dream job. A believer might say when God closes a door, he opens a window . . .

15. How do you balance what you're reading against what you're writing?

When I'm writing, I don't really have a lot of time for reading - I feel guilty for neglecting my own characters - although sometimes reading someone else's prose is a great way to recharge my batteries, or serves as a prompt for nailing a tricky scene. I've never noticed a need to consciously balance anything; I'm generally just doing one or the other.

16. And finally, what future novels/ideas do you have in the works? What can your readers expect next?

Once The Wild Hunt is complete, I think we'll be staying in the milieu of the Empire for one more book, a darkly-humorous standalone story about a gentleman assassin who needs a *lot* of money by Tuesday week or he'll have to explain to his grandmother what happened to his inheritance, so he takes on a high-stakes, high-paying job that n

Publish Post

one of the city's other hitmen will touch . . . and promptly falls for the target.

After that, I'm not sure. I'll have to see what other ideas have taken root!

Up Close with Carrie Vaughn

2011-07-02T10:17:00.002+10:00

Kitty's Big Trouble
Kitty Noville #09
By Carrie Vaughn

Kitty Norville is back and in more trouble than ever. Her recent run-in with werewolves traumatized by the horrors of war has made her start wondering how long the US government might have been covertly using werewolves in combat. Have any famous names in our own history might have actually been supernatural? She's got suspicions about William Tecumseh Sherman. Then an interview with the right vampire puts her on the trail of Wyatt Earp, vampire hunter.

But her investigations lead her to a clue about enigmatic vampire Roman and the mysterious Long Game played by vampires through the millennia. That, plus a call for help from a powerful vampire ally in San Francisco, suddenly puts Kitty and her friends on the supernatural chessboard, pieces in dangerously active play. And Kitty Norville is never content to be a pawn...

Each book in the series is well-written and fast-paced and contributes to Kitty's progress as a stronger, more independent werewolf. She is upbeat, snarky and smart and is surrounded by a cast of interesting and likeable secondary characters from loyal lawyer Ben to quiet, intense hitman Cormac and enigmatic vampire Rick.

Recommended for fans of Kelley Armstrong.

With the release of Kitty's Big Trouble, Carrie Vaughn answers some of our questions on her life as a writer, who she reads and what the future has in store for Kitty.

1. What started you writing, and is it the same thing that still inspires you today?

I started writing when I was a kid because I had a big imagination and it was the best way to explore all the ideas I had. These days, I write because it's my job -- but the process is the same, and I still spend a lot of time daydreaming and tapping into my imagination. It's my job because I love doing it.

2. What books, or authors, would you say have most influenced you in the type of writer you've become?

Ray Bradbury and Robin McKinley were early influences -- reading their works made me want to be a writer, because I wanted to learn exactly how they could write such powerful, beautiful stories using just words. Lately, Lois McMaster Bujold is an influence because I learned how to write a long, ongoing series from her Vorkosigan books.

3. Your latest release is Kitty's Big Trouble, can you tell us a bit about the story and how you came up with it?

In the course of researching some historical supernatural figures, Kitty and friends make their way to San Francisco's Chinatown to help the vampire Anastasia keep a powerful artifact out of the hands of their archnemesis.

I've been wanting to branch out into different kinds of folklore and stories, bring in some different kinds of supernatural creatures, so I turned to Chinese mythology. And Chinatown is so iconic, I had a good time writing about it.

4. Do you consciously choose themes to explore in your work or does it 'just happen'?

I usually choose a couple of core ideas for each book. At this point, ten books into the series, I have a good idea of the series arc, and Kitty's character arc, so I always have to keep those in mind. Sometimes I get surprised, but I try to pick interesting ideas to work on in the first place, to give the books some depth.

5. What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general?

Writing in general, the challenge has been trying to juggle all the various parts of it -- creativity, the business side, maintaining a public front, and trying to have a life on the side as well. It's easy to get overwhelmed. As for the challenge with each novel -- I find revision to be difficult, because that's when I have to take the raw material of the first draft and try to make it as cohesive and powerful as I possibly can. It would be easy to keep revising forever because there always seems to be more to fix.

6. Do you use an outline when you write, or are you more of a discovery writer?

I use an outline, but not a very good one. It's never detailed enough. So, usually, I start with a summary and discover a lot about the story on the way. I have to know where the story ends up, though, so I know where I'm going. I'll usually write the end before I'm finished writing the rest.

7. How much research do you do, and is it before or during the writing process?

A little of both. I do general research -- like Chinese folklore or the military -- before I start so I can get ideas and a general sense of what I'm writing about. As I'm writing I'll discover details -- like neighborhoods in San Francisco -- that I need specific information on. I'll flag it and look it up later.

8. Who is your favourite character from your books?

Too many to choose from.

9. You've dropped hints about some of the places Rick has been. Will we get to find out more about him?

The collection, Kitty's Greatest Hits, includes Rick's origin story, so you'll get a lot of information there. I've written another story about him, "It's Still the Same Old Story," that will appear in an anthology, Down These Strange Streets, edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois.

10. What do you do to relax, when you're not in writer's mode?

I do a lot of crafts, knitting and costuming. I walk my dog. Watch movies. I like spending time outdoors, and traveling.

11. How do you balance what you're reading against what you're writing?

I don't read much that's similar to what I'm writing. I just like different kinds of books. I tend to read a lot of science fiction, space opera, and stand-alone fantasy. I also read a lot of nonfiction for research/information.

12. And finally, what future novels/ideas do you have in the works? What can your readers expect next?

I've got more Kitty books planned. I'm also working on more young adult books. I have a few other ideas floating around but it's way too early to announce anything. I also, as usual, have a bunch of short stories in the pipeline.

Kitty's Big Trouble is available now.

If you haven't tried this series, start with book 1, Kitty and the Midnight Hour.

- Interview by Allison.

Up Close with Joe Abercrombie

2011-06-18T09:25:00.002+10:00

Heroes
by Joe Abercrombie

They say Black Dow's killed more men than winter, and clawed his way to the throne of the North up a hill of skulls. The King of the Union, ever a jealous neighbour, is not about to stand smiling by while he claws his way any higher. The orders have been given and the armies are toiling through the northern mud. Thousands of men are converging on a forgotten ring of stones, on a worthless hill, in an unimportant valley, and they've brought a lot of sharpened metal with them. Bremer dan Gorst, disgraced master swordsman, has sworn to reclaim his stolen honour on the battlefield. Obsessed with redemption and addicted to violence, he's far past caring how much blood gets spilled in the attempt. Even if it's his own. Prince Calder isn't interested in honour, and still less in getting himself killed. All he wants is power, and he'll tell any lie, use any trick, and betray any friend to get it. Just as long as he doesn't have to fight for it himself. Curnden Craw, the last honest man in the North, has gained nothing from a life of warfare but swollen knees and frayed nerves. He hardly even cares who wins any more, he just wants to do the right thing. But can he even tell what that is with the world burning down around him? Over three bloody days of battle, the fate of the North will be decided. But with both sides riddled by intrigues, follies, feuds and petty jealousies, it is unlikely to be the noblest hearts, or even the strongest arms that prevail. Three men. One battle. No Heroes.

1. What started you writing, and is it the same thing that still inspires you today?

Oddly, though I’d always been a keen reader and had long harboured some ideas about trying writing myself, it was finding myself with time on my hands that was really the catalyst. I used to work as a freelance video editor, and even when busy I’d find myself with time off in between jobs. A few days here, a couple of weeks there. I decided I needed a more worthwhile endeavour in this free time than just playing video games, so I started putting some of my ideas to paper, and found myself really excited by what started to come out. Sven years on, five years since I was first published, it’s a different beast, more like work, of course, since it is my work, and there are all kinds of deadlines and expectations to meet which I never dreamed of when I first started tapping the keyboard in the small hours. But occasionally I’ll still find myself getting excited by what comes out...

2. How many novels did you write before you got published?

The Blade Itself was the first novel I wrote, and the first to be published, though it did take me maybe six months to find a publisher, and I had made an abortive attempt to write the book some seven years before and gave up because, even by my analysis, it wasn’t very good...

3. What was the first thing you did when you found out a publisher wanted to print your work?

I had a cold flush, then a hot flush, then I wondered if I was being conned, then I hyperventilated for a bit. The director I was working with at the time (I used to work as a tv editor, mostly of live music and events) soon talked me down, though. He’s a good friend of mine, very familiar with the workings of the record industry which is not dissimilar to publishing in some ways, and gave me some excellent advice to keep things in proportion.

4. What books, or authors, would you say have most influenced you in the type of writer you've become?

Tough to say, really, as I think I am (and probably most writers are) influenced by everything I read, watch, play, experience and particularly enjoy or don’t. In the arena of fantasy fiction, I’d probably pick out Tolkien, Eddings, Moorcock, and LeGuin as my early influences, and George RR Martin as a later one. But I’ve always read widely, especially these days a lot of non-fiction and history in particular, and I’ve always felt that film and television have been just as important in my make-up as books.

5. Your latest release is THE HEROES, can you tell us a bit about the story and how you came up with it?

Essentially it’s the story of a single battle, most of it taking place in one valley over the course of three days, and following the individual stories of a mismatched group of people on both sides and at various levels of command. I suppose the basic model was films like A Bridge Too Far, Gettysburg, Waterloo that try to do something similar with real-world events. I was keen to bring that kind of realistic, earthy approach to fantasy fiction, which often centres around warfare but focuses on the heroism and the shiny metal while overlooking the boredom, randomness and waste of warfare. I was keen to look at the whole notion of heroism, really pick it apart, present some characters who are heroic in some ways but cowardly, treacherous, greedy, manipulative in others.

6. What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general?

I find the toughest thing starting a new book, generally, which I’m in the process of doing right now. You’ve come off the high of finishing and releasing something that, hopefully, you’ve come to be happy in and proud of, and suddenly you’re diving into new and uncertain waters, leaving old friends behind and finding yourself among strangers. Will it work this time around?

7. Do you use an outline when you write, or are you more of a discovery writer?

I’m a pretty tight planner, on the whole. There has to be some wiggle room, but usually I know where I’m going.
8. How much research do you do, and is it before or during the writing process?

In the case of the last book, a block at the start, a bit of reading during the process, and then another block towards the end, when I perhaps have become aware of some weaknesses that could do with shoring up. At the end of writing Best Served Cold, for example, I took a trip to Italy and looked around a lot of Renaissance palaces, churches, galleries. Helped a lot in the fleshing out of the setting.

9. Do you ever base your characters on people you know or have known?

Not directly, but it’s impossible to keep your own experience out of your work. Why would you want to anyway? Often the best parts of a book draw on personal experience in one way or another.

10. What is your work schedule like when your in writers mode?

Frankly, a bit of a mess. I’ve had a lot of other things going on lately, a big move and building project over the last year and a half, in particular, so I’m hoping that sooner or later I’ll be able to actually have a schedule that I can stick to. As it is I work all the time at a very inefficient level.

11. What do you do to relax, when you're no in 'writer's mode? (are you ever not in writer's mode?)

TV, Video games, gym, mostly.

12. When you look back on writing career, is there anything you would've done differently? If so, what and why?

When you read an old book you always find yourself wincing at one construction or another, shaking your head over something you could have done better. But that’s inevitable if you improve, which of course you hope you will, and your opinion of your own old work is constantly evolving. Certainly there are scenes, characters, plotlines I could have done better, with the benefit of hindsight, but in the big picture there’s nothing I particularly regret. After all, I hope still to be writing for some time to come.

13. Do you ever regret being 'self employed' (self motivating) and look longingly at people with 'normal' jobs - or you still hold down a 'day job'?

One of the best pieces of writing advice I’ve heard is, “every day, get dressed.” It can be tough spending a lot of time on your own, wrestling with yourself, in effect, trying to keep motivation over such a long period, trying to force the words out and into shape. You get support from the publisher, from your editor, of course, but it’s still a lonely business. No doubt I miss some of that interaction you get in most day jobs, that sense of participating in a common goal. I still do one editing job a year, working at the V-Festival, a music festival in the UK, to recapture some sense of quick deadline teamwork...

14. How do you balance what you're reading against what you're writing?

I fail to balance anything in my life, honestly. I scarcely read at all when I’m in the midst of writing.

15. And finally, what future novels/ideas do you have in the works? What can your readers expect next?

What I always try to give them, which is more of the same, only slightly different. I’m contracted for four more books, which will probably be one more standalone, then another trilogy…

Up Close with Walter Jon Williams

2011-06-11T10:41:00.004+10:00

DEEP STATE
by Walter Jon Williams

Dagmar Shaw is one of the world's hottest designers of alternate reality games. She is the Puppetmaster and thousands of gamers are dancing on her strings. But when the campaign she is running in Turkey comes into conflict with the new, brutal regime, she realises that games can have very real consequences. When an old friend approaches Dagmar with a project so insane, so ambitious, she can't possibly say no, she is plunged into a world of spies and soldiers. A nation hangs in the balance and in a world of intrigue and betrayal, the master player must face the possibility that she has, herself, been played. Dagmar is the Puppetmaster, but when the bullets are real and her 'puppets' start dying, is any cause worth it?

1. What started you writing, and is it the same thing that still inspires you today?

What started me writing was an irresistible compulsion to write. It hit me when I was about four or five years old, and I don't know where it came from.

The compulsion drove me for thirty-five years or so, and then it went away as mysteriously as it came. Now that I'm no longer compelled to write, I find that I have to inspire myself, somehow, every day. This turns out to be more work than the actual writing.

2. How many novels did you write before you got published?

I wrote two spec novels before I sold a third book. Those two novels remain unsold to this day, a lesson in the fact that literary ability is something that is learned, day by day, through constant application. By the third book, I was good enough to sell. Before that, not so much.

3. What was the first thing you did when you found out a publisher wanted to print your work?

I called all my friends for a party. Unfortunately it was New Year's Day, and they'd all partied themselves out the night before. So I ended up having a quiet dinner with one friend.

4. What books, or authors, would you say have most influenced you in the type of writer you've become?

I find myself deeply attracted by autocratic writers who warp realities into alignment with the contours of their own skulls. Pynchon, Delany, Zelazny, Nabokov,

5. What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general?

The most challenging thing is finishing what you begin. A lot of writers make a brilliant start on the first 100 pages, and then inspiration runs out. A working writer won't be inspired every day, but has to work anyway.

6. Do you use an outline when you write, or are you more of a discovery writer?

I outline thoroughly. I always know the ending before I start, and that way I can write to that ending without having to waste time writing thousands of words exploring ideas that don't work out.

7. How much research do you do, and is it before or during the writing process?

It depends on the project, but if I'm working on something that needs a lot of research, then I'll research as much as possible before I start, and then continue the research as I'm writing. I do massive amounts of research that never end up in the book--- maybe that's because research is often much more fun than actual work.

8. Do you ever base your characters on people you know or have known?

Generally speaking, no. The few times I've used people I know, I've been told that they're the least convincing characters in the book. I think that's because they're intruding from another reality, one outside the fictional construct I'm creating.

9. What is your work schedule like when your in writers mode?

I seem to be at my most creative and energetic in the early hours of the morning, between midnight and 3am, so that's when I work. I wish my schedule were more in conformity with that of the rest of the world, but there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it.

10. What do you do to relax, when you're no in 'writer's mode? (are you ever not in writer's mode?)

I have far too many hobbies. I've trained in Kenpo Karate for nearly thirty years, I do as much travel as the budget can stand, I play games with my friends, I'm an enthusiastic scuba diver. All these occupations give me a lot of material for fiction, fortunately.

11. When you look back on writing career, is there anything you would've done differently? If so, what and why?

If I had it to do over, I'd go to Hollywood when I was young. I'd make a pile of money writing for television, then retire and write novels free of the necessity of having to earn a living with them.

That's the fantasy, anyway. It may have been completely unworkable in reality, but then I'll never know.

12. Do you ever regret being 'self employed' (self motivating) and look longingly at people with 'normal' jobs?

Every so often I get mopey about the insecurities of my profession, but then I contemplate my friends who work in cubicles eight hours each day, and I realize that I'm in one of the few professions that gives me the freedom to be the person I actually am. So would I trade this for a job in an office? Absolutely not--- not unless I was extremely desperate and had large-caliber weapons pointed at my head, anyway.

13. How do you balance what you're reading against what you're writing?

Between work, research, workshops, and so forth, I seem to do very little reading for pleasure. I love getting lost in a good book, but unfortunately that's become a rare pleasure.

14. And finally, what future novels/ideas do you have in the works?

DEEP STATE, the sequel to THIS IS NOT A GAME, is out right now, a near-future thriller about a social media-inspired revolution in a Middle Eastern country. Imagine my surprise when I turned on the television and saw scenes from my novel being enacted in Egypt! I wonder if they got an advanced reading copy or something . . .

The third book in the series, which deals with the influence of digital technology on more traditional mass media, will be out about this time next year. I've gone around with the publisher about titles, and I only found that the discussion had been settled when I saw that amazon.uk was offering advanced purchase for something called THE FOURTH WALL, which seems to be by me. Life is full of surprises!--- which all things considered, is how I'd prefer it to be.

We've Moved...

2011-05-31T09:07:00.000+10:00

2010 Aurealis Awards

2011-05-24T13:21:00.005+10:00

Congratulations to the winners of 2010 Aurealis Awards held in Sydney last Saturday night.

The winners are:

• Best Science Fiction Novel: Transformation Space, Marianne de Pierres
• Best Science Fiction Short Story: “The Heart of a Mouse”, K.J. Bishop
• Best Fantasy Novel: Power and Majesty, Tansy Rayner Roberts
• Best Fantasy Short Story (tie): “The February Dragon”, LL Hannett & Angela Slatter; “Yowie”, Thoraiya Dyer
• Best Horror Novel: Madigan Mine, Kirstyn McDermott
• Best Horror Short Story: “The Fear”, Richard Harland
• Best Anthology: Wings of Fire, Edited by Jonathan Strahan and Marianne S. Jablon
• Best Collection: The Girl With No Hands, Angela Slatter
• Best Illustrated Book / Graphic Novel: Changing Ways: Book 1, Justin Randall
• Best Young Adult Novel: Guardian of the Dead, Karen Healey
• Best Young Adult Short Story: “A Thousand Flowers”, Margo Lanagan
• Best Children’s Fiction (told primarily through pictures): The Boy and the Toy, Sonya Hartnett (writer) & Lucia Masciullo (illustrator)
• Best Children’s Fiction (told primarily through words): The Keepers, Lian Tanner

Thanks also to the organisers of this years awards, Specfaction, for all their hard work. And to HarperVoyager who sponsored the evening.

Up Close with Nalini Singh

2011-05-24T09:30:00.003+10:00

This week we are joined by Nalini Singh, awesome writer and friend of the store. Her latest title, Kiss of Snow is due out on the 1st of June, 2011 and is a Galaxy Choice title for June!

Kiss of Snow
Psychangling #10
Nalini Singh

Since the moment of her defection from the PsyNet and into the SnowDancer wolf pack, Sienna Lauren has had one weakness. Hawke. Alpha and dangerous, he compels her to madness. Hawke is used to walking alone, having lost the woman who would've been his mate long ago. But Sienna fascinates the primal heart of him, even as he tells himself she is far too young to handle the wild fury of the wolf. Then Sienna changes the rules and suddenly, there is no more distance, only the most intimate of battles between two people who were never meant to meet. Yet as they strip away each other's secrets in a storm of raw emotion, they must also ready themselves for a far more vicious fight ...A deadly enemy is out to destroy SnowDancer, striking at everything they hold dear, but it is Sienna's darkest secret that may yet savage the pack that is her home ...and the alpha who is its heartbeat ...

1. What started you writing, and is it the same thing that still inspires you today?

I've always had the hunger to write, from when I was very young. That need is, quite simply, a part of me.

2. How many novels did you write before you got published?

This may sound odd, but I didn't actually keep track! However, it was a good number - at least 7.

3. What was the first thing you did when you found out a publisher wanted to print your work?

Acquired a perma-grin and then told all the people who I knew would understand what the sale meant to me.

4. What books, or authors, would you say have most influenced you in the type of writer you've become?

I've been such a voracious and omnivorous reader from childhood that it's difficult for me to point to certain books or authors. Instead, I like to think that every book I've ever read has taught me something about writing, about story.

5. Your latest release is KISS OF SNOW, can you tell us a bit about the story and how you came up with the PsyChangelings?

KISS OF SNOW is set in the SnowDancer wolf pack, and features the SD alpha, Hawke, and a young Psy woman, Sienna, who has defected from the PsyNet, the mental network that ties all Psy to one another.

These two have struck sparks off each other from day one, but the age difference between them, as well as Hawke's conviction that he lost his chance to mate when the woman who would've been his mate died as a child, has had the effect of keeping them apart. However, everything comes to a head in KISS OF SNOW, and the rules of engagement change dramatically. It's an intense, emotional story, one that also furthers the overarching storyline of the series.

So many different ideas led to the creation of the Psy/Changeling world and characters, but I do remember thinking one day, "What if great psychic abilities such as telepathy or telekinesis weren't a gift? What if they drove you mad? What would you do to survive?" That was the genesis of the Psy race, and the changelings all but exploded onto the page once I began writing.

6. Do you consciously chose themes to explore in your work or does it 'just happen'?

I'm a very instinctive writer - I trust my gut and my characters, and just run with it.

However, the Psy/Changeling series does have an overarching storyline, and there, I do plan ahead, as I believe that kind of coherence makes for a strong series.

7. What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general?

I think the self-discipline. Writers work alone for the most part, so we have to be very self-motivated in terms of ensuring the work gets done.

8. How much research do you do, and is it before or during the writing process?

If the piece of research is something on which a crucial plot point hangs, then I'll research it prior to writing the scene(s).

However, in general, I prefer to write the first draft, and then do the necessary research. I find this stops me from trying to insert too much research material into the book, and it also allows me to do very focused research - because I know exactly what I'm looking for.

9. Do you ever base your characters on people you know or have known?

No. My characters tend to be very strong, unique individuals from the instant they appear in my mind.

10. What is your work schedule like when you're in writers mode?

I generally like to do any admin (e-mails, errands etc) in the morning, and write in the afternoon/evening. However, my writing schedule all depends on what I'm working on. For example, if I have edits due within a short period, I may focus only on those edits to ensure they go in on deadline.

11. What do you do to relax, when you're not in 'writer's mode? (are you ever not in writer's mode?)

I love to read, and to travel.

I think a writer is always a writer - anything can spark an idea.

12. When you look back on writing career, is there anything you would've done differently? If so, what and why?

Everything I've done has led me to this point in my career, so no, I wouldn't change anything. :-)

13. Do you ever regret being 'self employed' (self motivating) and look longingly at people with 'normal' jobs - or you still hold down a 'day job'?

Nope. I absolutely adore being my own boss, and love the flexibility of my hours.

14. How do you balance what you're reading against what you're writing?

I find I tend to read a lot outside my own subgenre/genre, especially when I'm deep into writing a book. The difference ensures I can enjoy the experience as a reader, rather than looking at it from the perspective of a writer.

15. And finally, what future novels/ideas do you have in the works? What can your readers expect next?

My next release is from my Guild Hunter series - Archangel's Blade. It'll be out in September and features the dark, dangerous and sinfully sexy vampire, Dmitri. An excerpt from the book will be up on my website in early June: www.nalinisingh.com

I'm also currently working on a novella featuring Galen and Jessamy from the Guild Hunter series and absolutely loving it. After that, I'll dive into the next Psy/Changeling book - I can't wait! There's so much more to explore in this world.

Dragon Eye-View Fiction

2011-05-21T09:18:00.006+10:00

Dragons: Those magnificent, legendary creatures (typically displaying serpentine or otherwise reptilian features) found in the myths and folklore of many cultures. This list is arranged by author. The titles listed directly below include novels written with the perspectives and lives of the dragons themselves, as well as dragon shapeshifters. For novels with dragons as major or minor characters – see the blog section titled ‘Dragon Fiction’. For books involving Dragon shapeshifters (to human) and romance – see the blog section titled ‘Dragon Shapeshifter Romance Fiction’. See also sections titled ‘Dragon Game World Novels’, ‘Dragon Information & Care Handbooks’ and ‘Dragon Art & Drawings’ by clicking the label link ‘Dragons’.

Little Lost Dragon by Wayne Anderson (2009).

The Sword of the Dragon series by Scott Appleton. When in ancient times the dragon prophet was betrayed by his choicest warriors, he set in mind a plan to bring them to justice. One thousand years later he prepares his human daughters to mete out that justice, and sends them in search of the first traitor.
1) Swords of the Six (2009)
2) Offspring (2011)

The Griffen McCandles series by by Robert Asprin.
1) Dragons Wild (2008)
2) Dragons Luck (2009)
3) Dragons Deal (2010) (with Jody Lynn Nye)

GreeHee: The Journey of Five by Michele Avanti (2006). GreeHee son of Tereem the Terrible, an adolescent dragon.

The Wyvernwood series by Robin Wayne Bailey.
1) Dragonkin (2001)
2) Talisman (2004)
3) Undersky (2005)

The Tales of the Frog Princess series by E. D. Baker.
2) Dragon's Breath (2003)
6) The Dragon Princess (2008)
7) Dragon Kiss (2009)

Worm in the Blood by Thomas Bloor (2005).
Beast Beneath the Skin by Thomas Bloor (2006).
Heart of the Serpent by Thomas Bloor (2007).
The Dragon and the Warlord by Thomas Bloor (2008).

Dragon's Keep by Janet Lee Carey (2007). The dragons which the Three meet in the forests of Jarrosh.

The Dragons of Noor by Janet Lee Carey (2010). Tells the tale of Princess Rosalind, who was born with a greenish-yellow dragon talon on her wedding finger, and thus must wear golden gloves to hide her secret.

The Truth series by Dawn Cook. A young woman, Alissa, becomes part of a world of magic and develops the ability to transform into a dragon.
1) First Truth (2002)
2) Hidden Truth (2002)
3) Forgotten Truth (2003)
4) Lost Truth (2004)

The Dragon Diaries series by Deborah Cooke.
1) Flying Blind (2011)
2) Winging It (2011)

The Jennifer Scales series by MaryJanice Davidson and Anthony Alongi. And Jennifer thought puberty sucked. Try morphing into a dragon. Blue scales? Claws? A snout? Come on!
1) Jennifer Scales and the Ancient Furnace (2005)
2) Jennifer Scales and the Messenger of Light (2006)
3) The Silver Moon Elm (2007)
4) Seraph of Sorrow (2009)
5) Rise of the Poison Moon (2010)
6) Evangelina (coming in 2011)

The Dragons in Our Midst series by Bryan Davis. Clefspeare, Hartanna, Firedda and others.
1) Raising Dragons (2004)
2) The Candlestone (2004)
3) The Circles of Seven (2005)
4) The Tears of a Dragon (2005)
Dragons in Our Midst Omnibus (2009)

The Dragons of Starlight series by Bryan Davis.
1) The Starlighter (2010)
2) Warrior (2011)
3) Diviner (2011)

The Memory of Flames series by Stephen Deas. Dragons, once unstoppable, have been subdued by humans for centuries. However a political plot frees one of the dragons and triggers as cascade of terror as the dragons seek to topple their human overseers.
1) The Adamantine Palace (2009)
2) The King of the Crags (2010)
3) The Order of the Scales (coming in 2011)
4) The Black Mausoleum (due in 2012)

The Painted Boy by Charles DeLint (2010).

The Dragon Knight series by Gordon R. Dickson.
1) The Dragon and the George (1976). Bryagh, Gorbash and Smrgol plus various others.
2) The Dragon Knight (1990)
3) The Dragon on the Border (1992)
4) The Dragon at War (1992)
5) The Dragon, the Earl, and the Troll (1994)
6) The Dragon and the Djinn (1996)
7) The Dragon and the Gnarly King (1997)
8) The Dragon in Lyonesse (1998)
9) The Dragon and the Fair Maid of Kent (2000)

The Hatching Magic series by Ann Downer.
1) Hatching Magic (2003)
2) The Dragon of Never-Was (2006)

The Ultimate Dragon Saga series by Graham Edwards. Cumber, Fortune, Wraith and many other dragon characters.
1) Dragoncharm (1995)
2) Dragonstorm (1996)
3) Dragonflame (1997)

Dragon’s Ring by Dave Freer (2009). Fionn, a black dragon who plans to destroy Tasmarin.

Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke (1997). Firedrake, Slatebeard, Maia, Shimmertail and several unnamed dragons.

The Winterlands series by Barbara Hambly. Morkeleb the black dragon is the major characters around who revolves the plot.
1) Dragonsbane (1985) – Locus award nominee 1986 and 1987.
2) Dragonshadow (1999) – Locus award nominee 2000.
3) Knight of the Demon Queen (2000) – Locus award nominee, 2001.
4) Dragonstar (2002)
5) Princess (2010). Novella starring John Aversin.

The Dragon's Prophecy by H. M. Hearing (2010). The dragons of Aquii are doomed. Power that flowed freely in the dragons was stolen by the presence of humans in their blue world. Their race dwindles more each year since the humans have arrived, but it is a human prophesised who will save them all and return their power to them. Not all of them approve and many dragons would rather die than trust a human again.

Nine Dragons: A Contemporary Fable by George Herman and Kristen Seaton (2003).

The Liveship Traders trilogy by Robin Hobb. Part of the Realm of the Elderlings storyline. Dragons and humans once coexisted. Their essences became mixed in some cases, producing scaled humans referred to as Elderlings, or small, rubbery-skinned dragons, called "Others" and treated as abominations. Humans carved living dragon statues out of special living stone; these statues were later used as a weapon against the Outislanders by King Verity Farseer of the Six Duchies. Hobb's dragons begin life as sea serpents, who swim upriver to a special beach where they would cocoon themselves and hatch as dragons the next year. After a natural disaster changed the shape of the land and killed all but two dragons, the serpents could no longer reach their cocooning grounds and remained in the sea.
1) Ship of Magic (1998)
2) The Mad Ship (1999)
3) Ship of Destiny (2000)

The Tawny Man trilogy by Robin Hobb. Part of the Realm of the Elderlings storyline. Icefyre and Tintaglia, the last remaining dragons. The Fool seeks the head of a dragon…
2) The Golden Fool (2002)
3) Fool's Fate (2003)

The Rain Wild Chronicles trilogy (third book in progress) by Robin Hobb. Part of the Realm of the Elderlings storyline.
1) The Dragon Keeper (2009)
2) Dragon Haven (2010)

The Shifters series by Sarah A. Hoyt.
1) Draw One in the Dark (2006)
2) Gentleman Takes a Chance (2008)

The Magical British Empire series by Sarah A. Hoyt.
1) Heart of Light (2008)
2) Soul of Fire (2008)
3) Heart and Soul (2008)

In The Land Of Dragons by Richard L Hummel and Rob Anderson (2010).

The Song in the Silence series by Elizabeth Kerner. The Kantri, a society of telepathic dragons, including Akhor, the king; Shikrar, his soulfriend; Kedra and Mirazhe, the first new parents in centuries, and Idai, and old and wise admirer of Akhor.
1) Song in the Silence: The Tale of Lanen Kaelar (1996)
2) The Lesser Kindred (2000)
3) Redeeming the Lost (2004)

The Guild Wars series by J. Robert King.
1) Edge of Destiny (2010)

The Chronicles of Kale: A Dragon's Awakening by Aya Knight (2011).

The Age of Fire series by E. E. Knight. Auron (later AuRon), the gray, scaleless dragon. Also included are Natasatch (his mate), Irelia (his green mother), AuRel (his bronze father), Jizara (green sister), Wistala (green sister), NooMoahk (black dragon), Rugaard (copper dragon), and many others.
1) Dragon Champion (2005)
2) Dragon Avenger (2006)
3) Dragon Outcast (2007)
4) Dragon Strike (2008)
5) Dragon Rule (2009)
6) Dragon Fate (2010)

Dragons Among Us by C. L. Kraemer (2010). In a world full of anomalies such as the platypus and self reproducing Komodo dragon, is the human race willing to accept that dragons may be real? Sapien Draconi-human-dragon shape shifters-all over the world face this dilemma every day.

In the House of Five Dragons by E. D. Lindquist and Aron Christensen (2010).

Puff the Magic Dragon by Lenny Lipton and Peter Yarrow (2010).

Dragon's Winter by Elizabeth A. Lynn (1998). Shape-shifting twin brothers fight to rule their father’s kingdom.
Dragon's Treasure by Elizabeth A. Lynn (2003).

The Dragon Age series by James Maxey. Book 1: Bitterwood has spent the past twenty years hunting down dragons, one at a time. But he is getting old and the hate that he has carried in his heart since a group of dragon-soldiers killed his family is beginning to fade. When he kills the royal prince dragon, the king decides the only retribution is genocide of the human race. Bitterwood is forced to enter the Free City, the grand trap designed to eradicate mankind, with thousands of others.
1) Bitterwood (2007)
2) Dragonforge (2008)
3) Dragonseed (2009)

Legend of the White Dragon (Legends / Legacies / Destiny) Omnibus by Melanie Nilles (2010).
Fireblood (Legend of the White Dragon #4) by Melanie Nilles (2011).

The Draca Wards Saga series by B. Pine.
1) Familiar Origins (2011)

The Chronicles of Krangor series by Michael Pryor (actually dinosaurs not dragons).
1) Lost Castle (2007)
2) The Missing King (2008)
3) The King in Reserve (2009)

The Dragon with the Girl Tattoo by Adam Roberts (2010).

The Dragonic Voyages series by by Katherine A. Smith
1) Dragons to Loosen (2008)
2) Dragonic Freedom (2009)
3) Dragonic Pride (2010)
4) To be published.

The Dragon Delasangre series by Alan F Troop.
1) The Dragon Delasangre (2002)
2) Dragon Moon (2003)
3) The Seadragon's Daughter (2004)
4) A Host of Dragons (2006)

The Clan of the Claw series by Harry Turtledove (with Jody Lynn Nye, John Ringo, S M Stirling). The dinosaurs were not wiped out and now the descendants of mammals (feline-like people) and dinosaurs (dragons) battle for control of the Earth.
1) Exiled (coming in 2011)

Dragons Bait by Vivian Vande Velde (1992). Falsely accused of witchcraft, 15-year-old Alys is staked out on a hillside and left as sacrificial bait for a hungry dragon. It's cold, dark, and raining, and Alys is completely alone. Suddenly, Alys sees the shadow of the dragon coursing across the moon--does the dragon see her?

Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton (2003). The tale of a family dealing with the death of their father, of a son who goes to law for his inheritance, a son who agonizes over his father's deathbed confession, a daughter who falls in love, a daughter who becomes involved in the abolition movement, and a daughter sacrificing herself for her husband. Except that everyone in the story is a dragon, red in tooth and claw.

Dragons of Asgard by Scott C. Waring (2010).

The Dragonvarld series by Margaret Weis. Maristara, an evil black dragon; Braun, her grandson; Draconas, the walker, a dragon in human form; and various other dragons.
1) Mistress of Dragons (2003)
2) The Dragon's Son (2004)
3) Master of Dragons (2005)
4) Dragonvarld Adventures (2007)

The Book of Man trilogy by Jane Welch
1) Dawn of a Dark Age (2001)
2) The Broken Chalice (2002)
3) The Allegiance of Man (2003)

The Dragon or Shimmer and Thorn series by Laurence Yep. Story involving Shimmer the dragon princess.
1) Dragon of the Lost Sea (1982)
2) Dragon Steel (1985)
3) Dragon Cauldron (1991)
4) Dragon War (1992)

City of Fire by Laurence Yep (2010).

The Pit Dragon series by Jane Yolen. Heart's Blood and several others.
1) Dragon's Blood (1982)
2) Heart's Blood (1984)
3) A Sending of Dragons (1987)
4) Dragon's Heart (2009)
The Pit Dragon Trilogy Omnibus (Books 1-3) (1998)

Up Close with Michael Cobley

2011-05-20T10:01:00.004+10:00

Orphaned Worlds
Humanitys Fire #02
Michael Cobley

Darien is no longer a lost outpost of humanity, but the prize in an intergalactic power struggle. Hegemony forces control the planet, while Earth merely observes, rendered impotent by galactic politics. Yet Earth's ambassador to Darien will become a player in a greater conflict as there is more at stake than a turf war on a newly discovered world. An ancient temple hides access to a hyperspace prison, housing the greatest threat sentient life has ever known. Millennia ago, malignant intelligences were caged there following an apocalyptic struggle, and their servants work on their release. Now a new war is coming.

1. What started you writing, and is it the same thing that still inspires you today?

I was moved and entranced by books from an early age, and have been trying to tell my own stories since about 14-15, I guess. I was a very introverted kid, even up to my early 20s, so writing was my escape and means of expression. It is still that today, but now for me writing is also the means whereby I can figure out how to get ideas across. That's integral to how you write good SF, and also to writing non-fiction like book critiques and any political ranting I might get up to now and then!

2. How many novels did you write before you got published?

I recently unearthed the long-hand MS of the first novel I ever wrote, back when I was about 19-20 - its a fantasy vaguely in the Tolkien mode, and weighs in at about 55000 words, which makes it a short novel, longer than a novella, the kind of length of Moorcock's Eternal Champion books (but not quite up to his standard). I've lost the top page so I don't know what the title was but at the end it says something like 'This concludes the first part of the Lanarim Trilogy'. The second book I wrote was an SF novel called Catacombs, which ended up being largely rewritten at least twice and send round innumerable publishers who quite sensibly rejected it. After that I started another novel but abandoned it after getting several chapters in, the consequence of working up a chapter by chapter outline so highly detailed that I found myself getting bored. So about 1995 I started on the notes and background which eventually became Shadowkings, so the answer is two and a bit.

3. What was the first thing you did when you found out a publisher wanted to print your work?

That was some time in 1986 - I probably did a dance in my bedsit and/or punched the air, then went round to a local cafe bar called Di Maggios where some friends bought me drinks because those early acceptances were in the non-paying small press!

4. What books, or authors, would you say have most influenced you in the type of writer you've become?

That's a bit of a tough un' - there are lots of different types of fantasy/SF/even horror books that I want to write, but looking at the old track record so far, I guess for the fantasy it would have to be touches of Moorcock, Tolkien, Robert E Howard, Jack Vance, Roger Zelazny, and for the SF I tip my hat to David Brin, Iain Banks, Dan Simmons, Vernor Vinge, Dave Wingrove & Ken Macleod.

5. Your latest release is ORPHANED WORLDS, can you tell us a bit about the story and how you came up with it?

Well, it is the second part of the Humanity's Fire trilogy and continues and expands on the stories and themes began in pt1, Seeds Of Earth. In essence, the colonists of Darien, the lost Human colonyworld, have discovered just now low down, mean and dirty the offworld powers can be, since the colony's president and most of his cabinet have been murdered. In Orphaned Worlds I wanted to broaden the overall picture to include the other two lost colonies, to bring them into the picture, to link their fates together, and to deepen the grim consequences and multiply the mysteries, hopefully without mystifying the reader. All of which should set the stage for book 3, The Ascendant Stars, which gathers all the threads and forces and antagonists together.

6. Do you consciously chose themes to explore in your work or does it 'just happen'?

I try to think through an overall theme at the outline stage - for the Humanity's Fire trilogy the theme was centred around how guilt and remorse can make us try to escape it, something by quite drastic means. However, I'm not sure if that has come across to the readers - it's not crucial that the reader gets that, of course.

7. What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general?

Trying not to think about deadlines, and trying not to get sidetracked by other fascinating things in life.

8. Do you use an outline when you write, or are you more of a discovery writer?

I definitely need an outline - I need to know how the story ends and I need to know where the main dramatic turning points are, what the important twists and turns of character path will be. That said, it can't have too much detail since I need room to invent and create and let the old back brain leap off at a tangent; also, there has to be sufficient slack in the outline to allow for unintended consequences, which is part of the writing process. This isn't so much the old saw about characters taking over, rather that different emphases and outcomes can arise out of the story as its being created, which for a writer can be a delight.

9. How much research do you do, and is it before or during the writing process?

I have to do a certain amount of groundwork beforehand, like surveillance before a stealthy incursion. And yes, research is an ongoing process of checking and rechecking in the quest for scene-setting plausibility, those background details that reinforce the authenticity of the story's context. Yeah, I have reference books here, and am skilled at the old googling, there!

10. Do you ever base your characters on people you know or have known?

Not that I personally know, no. But I had a couple of actors in mind while writing some of the characters in the trilogy - for Greg Cameron I was imagining David Tennant speaking the words; Theo Karlsson was my Sean Connery stand-in, sort of.

11. What is your work schedule like when you're in writers mode?

Usually my head doesnt get fully into writer mode until after midday, then I work till about 5pm, break to rustle up dinner for me and SuperSusan (who's usually out working at a proper job), then work from about 6.30 through to 10pm, head down to the living room, watch an episode of the The Wire with Sue, then retire for the night.

12. What do you do to relax, when you're not in 'writer's mode? (are you ever not in writer's mode?)

Well, my writer-in-the-basement is always at work (although he usually gets into high gear when I'm off at the movies or a rock gig). For relaxation I read, or keep up to date with various current affairs-type happenings, and keep up with friends, or play computer games. Just finished playing Singularity, which was a blast. Am currently looking forward intensely to Bioshock: Infinite - oh yeah!

13. When you look back on your writing career, is there anything you would've done differently? If so, what and why?

Hmm, beyond try harder earlier, I think the main thing I could have done would have been to get an agent earlier - or rather get the agent I have now earlier than I did! Not just to increase the chances of being taken seriously by publishers, but also to get an idea of what trends and requirements are prevalent. Not out of some fad-chasing impulse, but to see which of my many current ideas might get an editors attention. That said, in the end it really does come down to the intense individuality of a writer's vision, and his/her ability to get it across on the page - fads come and go, but that ambition, allied to a thorough grounding in the techniques and craft of writing, goes a long way to getting the all-important first contract.

14. How do you balance what you're reading against what you're writing?

Once, my reading matter would stay solidly in the genre that I was currently writing in, just to feed it and mix it up. Now, my reading has veered off into different territories, been reading a lot of political stuff on democratic theory, as well as Joe Abercrombie's recent triumphs, stuff by Neal Asher, Stephen Hunt, Ian Whates, William Gibson...

15. And finally, what future novels/ideas do you have in the works? What can your readers expect next?

That's currently the subject of ongoing discussions, but I am fairly certain that it will be another book set in the Humanity's Fire universe, and it'll be a larger stand-alone novel. Beyond that, plenty of other ideas in the HFire background, a couple of weird fantasy novels, and a couple of outandout cyberpunk novels. Oh, and my parallel-universe-Scotland political novel. Just a few things to keep me busy for the next decade or so!

Official Trailer for PASSION by Lauren Kate

2011-05-18T12:16:00.000+10:00

Spotlight on K J Parker

2011-05-18T11:23:00.003+10:00

The Hammer
by K J Parker

The colony was founded seventy years ago. The plan was originally to mine silver, but there turned out not to be any. Now an uneasy peace exists on the island, between the colonists and the once-noble met'Oc, a family in exile on a remote stronghold for their role in a vaguely remembered civil war. The met'Oc are tolerated, in spite of occasional cattle stealing raids, since they alone possess the weapons considered necessary protection in the event of the island's savages becoming hostile. Intelligent, resourceful, and determined, Gignomai is the youngest brother in the current generation of met'Oc. He is about to realise exactly what is expected of him; and what it means to defy his family.

1. What started you writing, and is it the same thing that still inspires you today?

When I was 12 years old and helping my father with the hay, I suddenly thought of a man who’d been a soldier, involved in a long and horrible war; he belonged to a cavalry unit nicknamed the Pitchfork (probably because I was holding a pitchfork at the time) and when he came home from the war, things were all different. I could take you to the exact place (give or take a square yard) where that character first occurred to me. I’ve been writing that story ever since. Presumably at some point I’m going to have to think of another idea, but not quite yet. This one’s still got plenty of mileage in it.

2. How many novels did you write before you got published?

Um, none. I showed the first 5 or so chapters of my first novel to a friend who’s a published author, he showed them to his agent, the agent sold them to Orbit. That is, of course, more luck than any human being deserves.

3. What was the first thing you did when you found out a publisher wanted to print your work?
I think I wandered around bumping into things for a bit. Then I sat down and wrote the rest of the book, very quickly, before they could change their minds.

4. What books, or authors, would you say have most influenced you in the type of writer you've become?

Oh boy. It’s a long list. Probably the two strongest influences are Iain M Banks and Jonathan Gash, followed by Dickens and Homer. But a more accurate answer would be ‘every author I ever read, in some way or other’.

Usually, before I start writing a new book, I reread John Julius Norwich’s history of Byzantium, because all human life is in there somewhere.

5. Your latest release is THE HAMMER, can you tell us a bit about the story and how you came up with it?

I first thought of Gignomai, the central character of ‘The Hammer’, when a fox got in our chicken run and killed half a dozen of our birds; I suddenly had this idea of a young boy reacting to such a thing in a very unusual way. As soon as I’d thought of him, I knew he had two brothers, and he was the youngest. Once I had those three characters, I set about looking for somewhere to deploy them, and I remembered my father reading Blackmore’s ‘Lorna Doone’ to me when I was young. After that, the characters took over and I followed where they led me. I like it when they do that. Less work.

6. Do you consciously chose themes to explore in your work or does it 'just happen'?

I keep coming back to a handful of themes – not necessarily by choice, but because they’re the sort of issues that concern the sort of people I write about. There’s moral ambiguity, the blurred lines between good and evil; there’s the catalytic effect of war on human nature; there’s the lasting effect of early experience on what we become. I have an idea that all three of these are part of the same issue, but I haven’t made the connection yet. Watch this space.

7. What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general?

I have three main areas of difficulty, namely the beginning, the middle and the end. My rule of thumb is, if I get up from the keyboard having written a thousand words in three hours, with the stuff just flowing of its own accord and inspiration sleeting down on me from the heavens, then what I’ve written is almost certainly garbage and needs to be deleted and done all over again. If it takes me a very long time and gives me a headache, it’s probably all right. The hardest thing, of course, is the stuff nobody notices – getting a character across a room, out of a door and into a street, or linking the events of Thursday evening with those of Friday morning. I sweat blood over those little sentences that the reader’s eye just slides over.

8. Do you use an outline when you write, or are you more of a discovery writer?

I wish, I really wish I could do outlines, like proper writers do, but I can’t. My excuse is that when I start a book, I don’t know the characters well enough to predict exactly what they’ll do, or what they’ve done. I know the beginning and the ending, and the mise en scene and the backstory, and I know the characters about as well as you know the person you marry on your wedding day. The rest becomes apparent as we go along together.

9. How much research do you do, and is it before or during the writing process?

Lots. Lots and lots, far more than is necessary; far more, where my first half dozen or so books were concerned, than was good for me. I guess by instinct and inclination I’m a historian – and a novelist is just a historian who records the words and deeds of people who happen not to have existed – and what motivates a historian is a burning desire to find out what it was really like. I guess if I can do that, and communicate some of that perception to the reader, I can draw him in to my artificial world enough to make him want to hang around.

10. Do you ever base your characters on people you know or have known?

Some peripheral characters; never main ones. My main characters have to be engineered from the ground up to do specific tasks; they need to have had certain experiences (usually horrible) and certain strengths and weaknesses of character in order to make the story work. I’ve never met – luckily for me – people like the protagonists in my books.

11. What is your work schedule like when you're in writers mode?

I work every day – if I miss a day, it’s like coming back to paint that’s just starting to dry. I tend to blunder on until I get to the last line or come up against a monstrous dead end of my own devising, rather than revising and reworking as I go along.

12. What do you do to relax, when you're not in 'writer's mode? (are you ever not in writer's mode?)

I’m a part time farm labourer and forester, and I make stuff; I’m a half-competent machinist, a not-very-good but enthusiastic blacksmith, and I make most of my own clothes. I kid myself that all this stuff counts as research; but it’s not, it’s fun.

13. When you look back on writing career, is there anything you would've done differently? If so, what and why?

I prefer to look forward and think about what I’m going to do next. There’s one book I really, really want to write, but I have my doubts about whether anyone will enjoy reading it, so it’ll have to wait.

14. Do you ever regret being 'self employed' (self motivating) and look longingly at people with 'normal' jobs - or you still hold down a 'day job'?

Apart from a disastrous few years in the legal profession, which we don’t talk about, I’ve always worked on my own. The term ‘not a team player’ springs to mind. My day jobs (see above) are delightfully solitary. I get on rather better with cows and trees than I do with people.

15. How do you balance what you're reading against what you're writing?

See above, under John Julius Norwich; I’m lucky in that I can feed off pretty much everything I read (or see or do or hear, come to that) without feeling the subconscious urge to imitate it.

16. And finally, what future novels/ideas do you have in the works? What can your readers expect next?

Loads of stuff. I’m about halfway through a new book, the events in which mirror to a certain extent the spot of excitement they’ve been having in Egypt recently (though I had the idea quite some time ago), and I’ve lined up a couple of slices of short fiction to keep me going between novels. After that; I’ve got a long, rather rowdy queue of characters waiting to have books built for them to live in.

In rememberance of Douglas Adams

2011-05-12T11:11:00.000+10:00

Yesterday was 10 years since Douglas Adams left us and this world hasn't been quite so funny since then... I think it's time the TV show ran again so a whole new generation of kids can race home from school and hone their sense of humour with Arthur Dent, Ford Perfect and a depressed robot...

Up Close with Karen Miller

2011-05-12T08:50:00.000+10:00

Due to unforeseen circumstances the signing we had planned for Karen Miller has had to be cancelled - but stay tuned because as soon as we can get things sorted we will schedule a new one!

In the meantime pull up a chair and grab a cuppa - Karen very kindly answered some questions for us about writing, how she does it and some of what she is planning for the future!

1. What started you writing, and is it the same thing that still inspires you today?

My first forays into writing were with fanfiction, and I was inspired to write then because I fell in love with other people's stories, was intrigued by certain 'unfinished' aspects of various episodes of shows I loved, and wanted to fill in the gaps. I guess that's when I realised I was just as interested in the consequences of actions as I was with the actions themselves. And then I got hit by a story scene myself, and found that at last I was as excited by my own story as I was by these other storytellers' tales, and that's when I made the transition to professional writing.

At the end of the day, it's people and the things they do, and how those things change the world, that excite me. I'm also inspired by great friendships, great sacrifices, the amazingness of history - and the absolute enjoyment of a rattling good yarn. Fictional words and fictional people are as real to me as anyone in our world, and I find myself gripped by the need to share those stories. It's odd, but then that's me!

2. How many novels did you write before you got published?

Professionally, I wrote 3 young adult light romance novels before The Innocent Mage was published in 2005. Innocent Mage was my first foray into fantasy writing.

3. What was the first thing you did when you found out a publisher wanted to print your work?

Wow. You know, I'm not sure I can remember! I think I phoned friends and family, to share the news.

4. What books, or authors, would you say have most influenced you in the type of writer you've become?

Well, all the writers I loved to read as a kid, who were responsible for my lifelong love affair with stories, spec fic in particular. So we're talking CS Lewis, Enid Blyton, Andre Norton, Ruth M Arthur, Antonia Forrest. As an adult, probably the biggest influence has been Dorothy Dunnett. The writers who continue to inspire me today are people like Kage Baker, Connie Willis, Robert B Parker, Orson Scott Card, JD Robb, Elizabeth Peters, Dave Duncan, Reginald Hill, Terry Pratchett, Lois McMaster Bujold. And that's just off the top of my head!

5. Your latest release is A Blight of Mages, can you tell us a bit about the story and how you came up with it?

Well, while I was writing the four books in the Mage sequence (The Innocent Mage, Innocence Lost - aka The Awakened Mage, The Prodigal Mage and The Reluctant Mage) I always knew that the foundation of everything that happens in those stories traces back to the sorcerers Morgan and Barl. And I also knew that nobody knew the true story of their lives, and how what they did led to everything that happened later. So, A Blight of Mages is the story of their tragically doomed love affair. The bottom line? They were two people who should never have met. But because they did, and they were who they were, the world was changed forever.

6. Do you consciously chose themes to explore in your work or does it 'just happen'?

I don't think consciously, no. I think there are philosophical and psychological questions that will always intrigue me, and that fiction is one way for me to explore those questions and try to come up with plausible answers to them. I try not to write to a theme, as such, because that's when you run the risk of writing a treatise or a polemic instead of a rattling good yarn. And the rattling good yarn is my first intention. But having said that, I do try to address interesting and challenging questions, so that there's some deeper purpose or meaning to the trials the characters endure.

7. What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general?

Getting through the first draft. Writing a first draft is the Spanish Inquisition for me. After 16 novels you'd think it'd be easier but no. No, no, no. It hurts as much now as it ever did. Once I get the first draft down, it's fun all the way. But getting the story out of my head and onto the page that first time? Murder.

8. Do you use an outline when you write, or are you more of a discovery writer?

I'm a plotter and a pantser! I need some kind of rough framework to get me going, but I don't like to over-outline because part of the fun is in discovering unexpected moments as I make my way through the first draft. I always know where I'm heading, though. I have to know the ending before I start, and I generally know the big moments along the way. Then it comes down to discovering as I write.

9. How much research do you do, and is it before or during the writing process?

It depends on the story. I have a fairly good history background just from general reading, because I love history. For the Stargate and Star Wars novels I wrote, I immersed myself in the filmed material, and the various guides that gave me technical details I needed to be accurate. My biggest research project is upcoming - I'll be doing a good solid six months' worth of reading and dvd watching for my next fantasy series, The Tarnished Crown Quintet. As for when I reasearch, well, it's kind of an ongoing process. I'm always reading something, or watching something, that adds to my sum of knowledge. And then often I'll have to stop and look up something in particular. For one of the Stargate novels, Do No Harm, I was literally going from the internet to the manuscript, 2 computers side by side, while I was writing a blow by blow account of an appendectomy. That was fun!

10. Do you ever base your characters on people you know or have known?

Yes and no. I have never substituted a living person for a fictional person in my work, but certainly there are people I've known who have given me certain insights that find their way into the books. I once worked for a truly appalling human being, a man I'll never forget due to his awfulness, and he's been very useful when trying to understand the mind set of certain villains! Someone else I worked for, in a roundabout way, taught me that no person is ever only one thing. So that's how real life gets used in my fiction.

11. What is your work schedule like when you're in writers mode?

Insane. I tend to be a binge writer, in that I need to immerse myself in the work to get the best results. Unfortunately, because of my crazy schedule the last few years, that's meant I've pretty much been writing 7 days a week, without much of a break. I'm looking forward to changing that dynamic, because it's not healthy over the long run. After I've had a break, and get into writing book 1 of The Tarnished Crown series, I'll be aiming for a steady 8-10 pages a day, 5-6 days a week.

12. What do you do to relax, when you're not in 'writer's mode? (are you ever not in writer's mode?)

I watch tv and film on dvd. I read fun stuff that has nothing to do with my own writing. I work out. I do something with my local theatre. This year I'm directing The Crucible. I'm also looking to do some martial arts and some stage combat work, and maybe some art stuff, just to get me out of the house and out of my head. I love to cook, so I'm looking forward to experimenting there and getting creative with baking. But really, no, I'm never not in writers' mode. Occupational hazard!

13. When you look back on you writing career, is there anything you would've done differently? If so, what and why?

Even though things have been a bit rough lately, due to being very tired, I have to say no. The last few years have been intense, but I've learned an awful lot. I've grown and improved as a writer, I think, because I've written so much, in so many different worlds and styles. Maybe I could wish I'd found the courage to push through my fears sooner ... but then, I think I needed to be the person I was in 2005 to tell the story I had to tell. Things happen in their time, and everybody's journey is different. That's why it's important not to compare yourself with other writers.

14. Do you ever regret being 'self employed' (self motivating) and look longingly at people with 'normal' jobs?

Not when I look at the traffic on Sydney roads, no! *g* And no, I don't. Sure, there's the comfort of a regular paycheque in 'normal' work, but then, in truth, I was never really suited to 'normal' work. I am at my happiest when I'm sitting by myself in a quiet room playing with people who exist only in my imagination. I think that's a pretty good definition of not-normal! I'm quite introverted, so prolonged exposure to people is quite stressful. I like the freedom that comes with being able to decide when and how often I hang out in a crowd.

15. How do you balance what you're reading against what you're writing?

I don't read spec fic while I'm writing it. It's just too distracting. And I can't read new work while I'm writing either because that's distracting too! Basically I rely on my tried and true favourites like Pratchett, JD Robb, Nora Roberts and Georgette Heyer for my bed time reading. But after hours of writing I can't do any more words, so I rest my brain with tv and dvd drama. I can't get through a day without a story fix, so that's how I cope there. Dramatic fiction is restful, and doesn't make the same demands. I also have to be careful with the non fiction reading, because it can spark story ideas that distract me from the project at hand. Bottom line, I'm far too easily distracted!

16. And finally, what future novels/ideas do you have in the works?

Right now I'm finishing the fourth Rogue Agent book, Wizard Undercover. I have another Rogue Agent to do after that, and then hopefully more. And, as I've mentioned, I have The Tarnished Crown Quintet on the horizon. That is a project I'm really excited about, and terrified by! It's the biggest, most complicated storytelling I've ever considered, with multiple characters, multiple plotlines, over a wide ranging timeline and geography. That's why I'm slowing right down, doing the one book at a time, so that I can pour all my energy and effort into doing the very best work that's in me. After that, who knows?I have ideas for more Mage books, for going back to the world of the Godspeaker trilogy ... maybe a stage play, even! But I'm letting all of that stuff sit on the back burner. My main focus going forward is Tarnished Crown. I hope to really make a leap forward as a storyteller, with that project.

Review: Ambassador's Mission by Trudi Canavan

2011-05-11T17:48:00.004+10:00

The Rogue by Trudi Canavan, book two in the Traitor Spy trilogy has hit the shelves running this week so we thought now would be a great time to talk about book one, The Ambassador's Mission!

Reviewed by Chrissi

Set 20 years after the Black Magician trilogy, this is the start of a brand new series following the next generation of Kyralia. The story is split into two parts: the first part is set in Imardin, the capital of Kyralia, where Sonea and Cery are out to catch a rogue Magician known as the Thief Hunter. If Sonea is caught breaking the rules and consorting with thieves, she may be exiled from the Magician’s Guild and the Allied Lands. The second part follows Sonea’s only son Lorkin and Ambassador Dannyl in the mysterious land of Sachaka. Lorkin must live up to high expectations – not just from his parents, but also due to his name, which combines the names of the two most respected Magicians who died in the Ichani Invasion. Despite this, he has no idea what to do with his life. When the opportunity to explore Sachaka arises, Lorkin signs on with Dannyl to help him research the history of Sachaka and possibly discover a new kind of magic that may be used in place of Black Magic.

The first few chapters are designed to bring us up to speed with current events, as well as highlighting the differences between this new series and the last trilogy, making it very clear that, although this is the same world, the rules have changed and anything can happen! This provides the story with a new flavour as it doesn’t just repeat the other books written in this world. Rather, Canavan takes us though the Thieves’ world and begins to reveal the mysteries of the Traitors – a secret sect of Sachakans that was originally introduced in her prequel novel The Magician’s Apprentice (Pb $22.99). Lorkin is directly involved with the Traitors due to a broken promise by his late father and has been called upon to repay the debt.

True to the passing of time, people and friendships have changed. The most startling of these is the relationship between Sonea and Regin. It just shows that anyone can grow up, overcome their differences and work together. Canavan cleverly explores contemporary themes, as illustrated in the reference to the use of the drug Roet, which has spread in Imardin society. Most of the book details the effects of this drug on people and their lives, linking it into the main plot of the trilogy. Combining this situation with tangible references to discrimination and corruption offers readers greater ease in relating to the characters and their lives.

Altogether this book was engaging and fun to read, and a great start to a brilliant new series. It’s perfect for teens through to adults, and I honestly can’t wait for the next one. This story is just starting and based on what Canavan has introduced in this tale, the next instalment will be amazing! – Chrissi

Up Close with Jennifer Estep

2011-05-10T09:31:00.006+10:00

This week we sit down with Jennifer Estep, the bestselling author of the Elemental Assassins series!

Tangled Threads
Elemental Assassins #04
Jennifer Estep

I’d rather face a dozen lethal assassins any night than deal with something as tricky, convoluted, and fragile as my feelings.

But here I am. Gin Blanco, the semi-retired assassin known as the Spider. Hovering outside sexy businessman Owen Grayson’s front door like a nervous teenage girl. One thing I like about Owen: he doesn’t shy away from my past—or my present. And right now I have a bull’s-eye on my forehead. Cold-blooded Fire elemental Mab Monroe has hired one of the smartest assassins in the business to trap me. Elektra LaFleur is skilled and efficient, with deadly electrical elemental magic as potent as my own Ice and Stone powers. Which means there’s a fifty-fifty chance one of us won’t survive this battle. I intend to kill LaFleur—or die trying—because Mab wants the assassin to take out my baby sister, Detective Bria Coolidge, too. The only problem is, Bria has no idea I’m her long-lost sibling . . . or that I’m the murderer she’s been chasing through Ashland for weeks. And what Bria doesn’t know just might get us both dead. . . .

1. What started you writing, and is it the same thing that still inspires you today?

I’ve always loved to read ever since I was a kid, and one day, I think I had the thought that a lot of writers do after reading a book that wasn’t very good – Why, I could write something better than that. So one summer, I decided to write an epic fantasy book. It wasn’t very good, but I’d been bitten by the writing bug, and I’ve been writing books ever since.

It always seems like I have another story that I want to tell, and that’s what keeps me writing to this day – all these characters and voices swirling around in my head. LOL.

2. How many novels did you write before you got published?

I wrote seven books before I got published – a couple of really bad epic fantasies, a cozy murder mystery, a contemporary romance, you get the idea. Finally, I sold my seventh book, which was Karma Girl, a paranormal romance and the first book in my Bigtime superhero series.

3. What was the first thing you did when you found out a publisher wanted to print your work?

I was at work when I got the call from my agent about the book deal. So after we hung up, I got up, went outside, and got into my car. And then, I let out a few screams of happiness. LOL.

4. What books, or authors, would you say have most influenced you in the type of writer you've become?

I read pretty widely in lots of different genres, but some of my favorite authors are Robin McKinley, Donald Westlake, David Eddings, Robert Parker, Ian Fleming … I could go on all day. I wish I could write half as well as these authors do.

5. Your latest release is Tangled Threads, can you tell us a bit about the Elemental Assassin story and how you came up with it?

Of course. The Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series focuses on Gin Blanco, an assassin codenamed the Spider who can control the elements of Ice and Stone. When she’s not busy killing people and righting wrongs, Gin runs a barbecue restaurant called the Pork Pit in the fictional Southern metropolis of Ashland. The city is also home to giants, dwarves, vampires, and elementals – Air, Fire, Ice, and Stone.Books in the series are Spider’s Bite, Web of Lies, Venom, and Tangled Threads. There are also several free short stories on the Excerpts page of my website.

As for how I came up with the idea for the series, I’d always liked reading about assassin characters, especially in fantasy literature. One day, I thought that it would be cool to write my own assassin character – a really strong, smart heroine – with my own magic and world building.

That was the initial idea for Gin Blanco and the dark, gritty city of Ashland.

6. Do you consciously chose themes to explore in your work or does it 'just happen'?

I don’t know that I consciously choose themes to explore, although I’d say that some of themes in the Elemental Assassin series are losing your family, surviving, and creating a new life and making a new family for yourself. Really, though, I just want to tell a good story that has a little bit of everything in it – action, danger, romance, magic, fight scenes. Those are the kind of books that I like to read, and hopefully, those are the kind of books that I’m writing too.

7. What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general?

To me, the most challenging thing is just making the time to sit down and write. There are so many other things that writers have to do – blogging, social media, advertising, marketing, answering e-mails, etc. Being a writer isn’t just about writing books. LOL. There’s always something to do, and sometimes, that makes it difficult to carve out actual writing time.

8. Do you use an outline when you write, or are you more of a discovery writer?

I’m a complete discovery writer.I don’t do outlines, storyboards, or anything like that. I think of my main character and the magical powers that she has, along with the main plot and turning points of the book. I let all that percolate in my head for a while, and when I think I’m ready, I just sit down and start writing. It’s not pretty, but it’s the process that works for me.

9. How much research do you do, and is it before or during the writing process?

I always say that the great thing about writing fantasy is that you can make the whole thing up. LOL. I like writing fantasy because it lets me come up with my own city, magic, rules, and more. That being said, I do a little bit of research. For my Elemental Assassin series, I’ll do research if I have a question about something like a weapon. I do a bit more research for my upcoming Mythos Academy young adult series. Since that series is mythology-based, I look up various mythological gods, heroes, monsters, and more.

Usually, I do my research during the writing process when I have a question about something, since I’m a discovery writer (see question 8).

10. Do you ever base your characters on people you know or have known?

Not really. Occasionally, I might take a quirk that someone has and use that in a story, but that’s about it. For example, my grandmother hates to wear socks, so I made that part of Jo-Jo’s character in the Elemental Assassin books. But I don’t base characters on people I know.

11. What is your work schedule like when you're in writer’s mode?

I do something every day, whether it’s actual writing, blogging, answering e-mails, etc. I usually work until lunchtime, a few hours in the afternoon, then take a break, and work a few more hours in the evening.

When I’m writing a new book, I try to write at least 2,000 to 3,000 words a day. This helps me keep the story going in my mind and lets me finish a rough draft of about 50,000 words in a few weeks. It’s just the method that works for me. When the draft is done, I’ll let it sit for a few weeks before going back to it and seeing if the story holds together and if I think that I can do something with it. So yeah, I’m pretty much busy all the time. LOL.

12. What do you do to relax, when you're not in 'writer's mode? (are you ever not in writer's mode?)

I love to read, watch TV/movies, cook, and hang out with friends and family.

13. When you look back on writing career, is there anything you would've done differently? If so, what and why?

When I was starting out, I wish knew then what I know now about the business side of writing and everything that goes into producing a book. It would have saved me from asking a lot of dumb questions. LOL. I think educating yourself as a writer about all sides of publishing is really important to do, and I wish I’d started doing that earlier.

14. Do you ever regret being 'self employed' (self motivating) and look longingly at people with 'normal' jobs - or you still hold down a 'day job'?

It can be hard to stay motivated, which is why I try to do something writing-related every day, even if it’s just answering e-mails or blogging.

I worked at a newspaper full-time until December. Right now, I’m doing some freelance work in addition to writing books. I’m cautiously hoping that I can make it writing full-time, but we’ll see what happens. I’d like to at least get a part-time job to get me out of the house. It can be lonely sometimes, just sitting in front of the computer all day long.

15. How do you balance what you're reading against what you're writing?

When I’m writing a new book, I won’t read in that genre just because I don’t want other ideas creeping into my work. For example, when I’m writing a new urban fantasy, I’ll read something completely different, like a western or a contemporary romance. And reading in a different genre is a fun break for me, especially if I’ve been thinking about my fantasy world all day long.

16. And finally, what future novels/ideas do you have in the works? What can your readers expect next?

Spider’s Revenge, the fifth Elemental Assassin book, will be out in October.

I also have a young adult urban fantasy series coming out this year. It’s called the Mythos Academy series, and the books focus on Gwen Frost, a 17-year-old Gypsy girl who has the gift of psychometry, or the ability to know an object’s history just by touching it. After a serious freak-out with her magic, Gwen is shipped off to Mythos Academy, a school for the descendants of ancient warriors like Spartans, Valkyries, Amazons, and more.

The first book, Touch of Frost, will be out in August, while the second book, Kiss of Frost, will hit shelves in December. First Frost, a prequel e-short story to the series, will be out in July. Visit www.jenniferestep.com for excerpts and more.

Thanks for taking the time to interview me. I appreciate it. Happy reading, everyone! ;-)

MASSIVE Relocation Sale

2011-05-06T19:46:00.003+10:00

From the beginning of June Galaxy Bookshop will be moving to a higher realm. Well, above Abbey's Bookshop to be specific. Level 1, 131 York Street - actually that's just a few doors up the street. But before you recalibrate your guidance systems to our new dimension, we'd like you to take advantage of our...

MASSIVE RELOCATION SALE (echo echo echo).

Up Close with Jack Campbell

2011-05-05T08:45:00.004+10:00

John G. Hemry (LCDR, USN ret.) is an American author of military science fiction novels. Writing under the name Jack Campbell, he has written six volumes of the Lost Fleet series which have been hugely popular at Galaxy.

Hemry plans to continue the Lost Fleet series with two spin-offs: Beyond the Frontier, focusing on the main characters from the Lost Fleet, and Phoenix Rising, focusing on the collapse of the Syndicate Worlds. I'm not a big reader of Science Fiction myself (my first love being fantasy) but I can honestly say that I can't wait! I really enjoyed the Lost Fleet series and if you are a fan of David Weber or Elizabeth Moon then I think you would too!

1. What started you writing, and is it the same thing that still inspires you today?

As best I recall (because my first efforts at writing were about four decades ago now) I was motivated by my own love of reading. I’ve read a lot since the day I learned how, and at some point I realized that I could try writing my own stories that someone else could read and enjoy the way I enjoyed books. Maybe I could do this amazing thing, creating stories, exploring new ideas or new twists on old ideas and entertain other people. There was something inside me that really wanted to do that.

And it’s still there. I still think it’s an amazing thing that I can write works that get published and read by many others, that my ideas are interesting enough that other people want to read them. That’s just cool. Of course now I’ve added the ideas of examining how people think about things, of presenting something in a different light so as to bring forth new ways of seeing something familiar or new or old. But that’s part of the old dream, too, I think. So, yes, it still inspires me today.

2. How many novels did you write before you got published?

I only completed two novels, though there were substantial pieces of others lying around. (They’re still lying around, as a matter of fact.) One was a humorous paranormal novel which was rejected by everybody, and the other a steampunk-type SF story which a number of years later I reworked into a YA series that my agent is currently shopping around. When I say reworked, I mean completely rewritten, because it needed that. There were also a lot of shorter stories, ranging from shorts up to novella length. I’m glad I wrote all of those, because I learned more about writing as I wrote them. A novel-length work carries a lot of commitments in time and attention. Shorter works let you play with ideas, try new ways of saying things, and do a lot of stuff which may never work out but teaches you something along the way.

3. What was the first thing you did when you found out a publisher wanted to print your work?

First I called my wife, and then I called an agent. After selling a few short stories, I had qualified to join the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) and soon afterwards attended that year’s World SF convention which was in Baltimore, Maryland. There another SFWA member introduced me to an editor at Penguin, which gave me a chance to find out exactly what she was looking for. Also there I met an agent who impressed me with his courtesy and interest. When the editor called to offer to buy the book, I promptly called the agent and asked him to represent me. Under most circumstances, it can be hard to get an agent to represent you, but when you’ve got an offer from a publisher in hand it helps a whole lot.

4. What books, or authors, would you say have most influenced you in the type of writer you've become?

That is very hard to answer, because I have read so many. Certainly Tolkien has to rank up there, because he demonstrated the highest level of world-building and mining the past for ideas that could be redone. Writers like Andre Norton, Robert Heinlein (in his middle writing years), and Leigh Brackett were about telling a story and creating vivid settings and interesting characters. Poul Anderson could use language like a fine instrument. I’ve read many more, and enjoyed what they could do, but I think those authors contributed the most to the way I write. I love much of what Zelazny did, but I’m not a Zelazny-type writer. I suppose both Wells and Verne influenced me quite a bit as well, because of the way they handled technology. You don’t get long, detailed explanations of how something works in their books. Instead, they just say “here is what it does” and (if necessary) “here is how it is used.” I find I do the same, because that is how (in real life) we all deal with technology.

5. Your latest release is DREADNAUGHT, can you tell us a bit about the Lost Fleet story and how you came up with it?

The Lost Fleet story grew out of two primary concepts. The first involved a question asked to a number of writers by someone who wrote in the Star Trek universe. She wanted to know if we thought a long-retreat scenario would work in Star Trek. All of us said no, because of the way Star Trek handles faster-than-light travel and other issues. But the question got me thinking whether or not a believable, plausible long-retreat story could be set in space. The classic long-retreat story is Xenophon’s March of the Ten Thousand. Could I do that in space?

The other piece involved a common kind of legend found in cultures around the world, that of the hero from the past who is not dead, but sleeping, and will return when most needed. One of the most well known of these figures in the West is King Arthur, but there are many others such as the Twelfth Imam in Islam. I wondered what it would be like for some hero of the past to actually wake up and discover the legends which had grown up and what was now expected of him or her.

At some point I realized that the two concepts fitted together perfectly. A fleet trapped deep in enemy territory, its leaders dead, and a man from the past who has been celebrated as an incredible hero. The men and women of the fleet need this man to save them, but he is all too aware that he is not the amazing hero they believe in. Yet he has to do his best to live up to the legends, because that is the only way to save those who believe in him. To those ideas I added that of a long war which had badly battered the ideals the people had once lived by, and that worked well too with the hero being from the past so he could speak to those almost forgotten ideals and remind everyone what they had once aspired to be.

I also wanted to write realistic space battles, and the Lost Fleet gave me the means to deal with incredibly huge, three-dimensional, unconstrained battlegrounds with no up or down.

6. Do you consciously chose themes to explore in your work or does it 'just happen'?

It’s a combination of both, I think. Ideas, themes, come to me at times. They just happen. Perhaps I know how to use them in a story. Perhaps I need to research to see if they can be used, or perhaps I need to come up with a story to fit the theme. It can take years from the time a theme comes to me to the time I figure out how to use it in a story, or it can something that catches fire immediately so I see the story forming right on the heels of the idea. There are times when the theme is something I don’t want to use or can’t use because it’s not suited to me.

One of the reasons I like talking to other writers is that just engaging in conversations with them tend to get ideas pinging around. A lot of readers can come up with interesting things as well. I’m not sure that I’ve ever used the exact idea someone brought up, but they inspire new lines of thought.

7. What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general?

You need a good story. If there are interesting things happening, good characters will come along to populate that story and carry it. But if the story has shortcomings, you’ll keep running into slow patches and problems.

Related to that is getting going and keeping going when it comes to actually writing. Fired-up enthusiasm for a new idea or approach helps a lot. There was one time when I needed to get a book done by deadline, but I had also been working on a YA series. At some point, the daughter of the characters in the YA series appeared in my head and insisted that I write down her story. I couldn’t work on anything else until I finished a draft of it. Then she let me get back to work on my deadline project. That was a bad thing in the sense of holding up my other work, but a good thing in the sense of feeling the story just flow out.

There’s the old saying about writers and muses. It does feel sometimes as if something is telling you to work on something, or to tell a story in a certain way. I had to learn to listen to that. Usually, there’s been a very good reason why my muse was telling me “do this.”

8. Do you use an outline when you write, or are you more of a discovery writer?

I can’t do outlines. I write up two or three page proposals when I get contracts for new books, but the books that get written sometimes vary a great deal from those proposals. I know internally where I’m starting, and where I want to go. But the characters sometimes have their own ideas. I may intend one thing, and they may make it clear that wouldn’t work. It evolves as I go along and the characters provide inputs, or it becomes clear that this event could lead to that previously unexpected other thing.

So I am definitely a discovery writer. I like seeing where the story can take me. But I stick by the rules I established for that story. If the only way to keep the story going is to break the rules, then I’ve screwed up somewhere and need to change that. Even if it is a fantasy, the characters operate within limits, for better and for worse.

9. How much research do you do, and is it before or during the writing process?

The amount of research varies with the story. In a lot of cases I have the idea, because I am researching ideas all the time in history, science and other areas. Anything might trigger a new idea. I got one story idea from the homework my youngest son was doing on the American Revolution. That particular story required a fair amount of extra research, but much of that is online now which helps a great deal. When I wanted a map of the area around Boston, Massachusetts in 1775, I found a nice one posted online by the U.S. Library of Congress. That let me put in small details and plot movements that led locals in Boston to ask if I was a native of the city myself.

The process for me is usually both before and during. Research helps create ideas, and then further research helps build the story if necessary. It can be fun in and of itself, too. I wanted to learn more about quantum physics, so I put together a presentation called “Everything I Needed to Know About Quantum Physics I Learned from the Three Stooges.” Of course, once you’ve got the basics of quantum physics down, you can use them in all kinds of stories, so that was productive in a lot of ways.

10. Do you ever base your characters on people you know or have known?

Sometimes my characters are pretty closely drawn from people that I’ve known. In my Sinclair/”JAG in Space” series a number of the characters were like that. Master-at-Arms Ivan Sharpe was modeled on Master-at-Arms John Long who worked for me on the USS Spruance, lawyer Commander Alex Carr was based on my friend Alex Carr, and the commanding officer Captain Hayes was based on the Captain Hayes who commanded the Spruance during part of the time I was aboard her. I suppose all of those close to real life characters came about because the books in that series have all been based on events I either experienced or had close knowledge of.

In the Lost Fleet, by comparison, every character is a composite of many people. They become no less real in my mind, but as individuals they exist only within the story. Black Jack Geary is a composite of the best bosses I worked for, and some of the other characters draw on aspects of the worst bosses I had.

11. What is your work schedule like when you're in writers mode?

Erratic at best. Ideally, I’ve got inspiration flowing when the kids are at school and nothing else is interfering, so I can pump out the words as fast as they come to me. But most of the time, there’s interruptions, sometimes every few minutes, so I have to work in brief intervals, halt, and restart. That’s taken some practice to be able to do, and sometimes it’s just too hard.

There are times when the story is coming as smoothly and as fast as if someone were telling it to me to write down. Then I just type as fast as I can, and even when I know something is going to need filled in later I’ll blow past it and keep going to the end. Fortunately, even at such times I can take breaks for things like making dinner for the kids and not have it interrupt the ideas flowing through my head.

12. What do you do to relax, when you're not in 'writer's mode? (are you ever not in writer's mode?)

I am almost always in writer’s mode, I guess. I can’t watch a movie or video or read a book without analyzing characters, plot and everything else. The good part of that is when something is really well done I can appreciate the quality of the work, and when something is badly done I can learn lessons from that on what not to do.

Just relaxing involves things like playing simulations, driving somewhere and wandering through stores or along streets or paths, and sometimes just listening to music. Music often carries its own stories, though, so that gets me right back into writer’s mode. History has always been fun for me, so I often relax reading that.

And we go to the Disney parks. There’s a lot of storytelling there too, of course, but it’s a lot of fun.

13. When you look back on your writing career, is there anything you would've done differently? If so, what and why?

I wish I could have started writing professionally earlier. I made occasional efforts for a few decades, but each time I tried to start I pretty quickly hit a wall, feeling that I wasn’t ready. When I finally kept going, I suppose I felt inside that I had seen enough and learned enough to create decent stories. I wasn’t quite right. I still had a lot of learning to do, because there’s a world of difference between thinking stories in your head and putting them down in words. It still took a lot of work to get my first sales and subsequent sales, of course, but that time I didn’t stop writing.

I wish I had known more of what to do when my first two series came out. I had plenty of advice and I tried to follow it, but it’s one of those things where you need to live it to really understand it. Maybe I could have built up more sales for those books. I know I could have written my first series better, but everyone has to have a first series.

14. Do you ever regret being 'self employed' (self motivating) and look longingly at people with 'normal' jobs - or you still hold down a 'day job'?

I had a career in the US Navy, so I spent a long time being motivated by others (with varying degrees of success on their part). Of course you couldn’t exactly call that a normal job, since I was rarely in a nine-to-five situation and more often experiencing the “adventure” of the Navy. Still, I had plenty of structured time, watching the sun rise in the morning and then watching the clock tick over to midnight that night while on watch.

My day job is handling the kids, which means a frantic start to the day on school days, a bit of a wind down, then getting essentials done before seeing what writing I can do, then the kids back and dealing with that. When meals and bedtime are all done, then I can write again. Day job? Well, most of the day, anyway.

I’m glad I had to opportunity to do this, to see both sides of the coin, or all sides of the multi-sided dice. You learn from everything.

15. How do you balance what you're reading against what you're writing?

One of the paradoxes for a writer is that most people become writers because we love reading, but once you start writing seriously there isn’t very much time left for reading. It’s frustrating.
As a rule, I don’t read a lot of the same things I write, but then I write a lot of different things so that is a very loose rule. There are certain writers I seek out because I love the stories they tell and the voices they give their characters. People like L. A. Meyer, whose Jacky Faber (or Bloody Jack) stories are tremendous fun because of how well he captures different places in different times, and for Jacky’s wonderful personality.

I read a fair amount of Young Adult works because I read each night to my children, both classics and new works. Recently we went through Edgar Rice Burrough’s Mars books, and it was very interesting to read them again after a span of years. I was seeing them through different eyes, yet still seeing what had originally drawn me to them and still draws new readers today.

I’ve always liked lots of different things to read, every possible topic, so I bounce around a lot between different kinds of fiction genres and nonfiction books. Sometimes the books inspire a certain voice. After reading the books on Cullodon, Glencoe and the Highland Clearances by John Prebble I was moved to try to catch the voice of a Highland girl in a short story I’m still shopping around. I like it when that happens, even if it doesn’t produce a published work.

16. And finally, what future novels/ideas do you have in the works? What can your readers expect next?

Right now I’m working on the twin spin-off’s from the original Lost Fleet series. Dreadnaught is the first book in the Beyond the Frontier series, and there is also a series called The Phoenix Stars. Beyond the Frontier directly follows the main characters from the Lost Fleet as the deal with the situation following the end of Victorious. The Phoenix Stars is set in the Midway star system and follows new characters as the try to cope with what has happened to the Syndicate Worlds. The two series have intertwining stories, at least one character jumping from one to the other, and give a chance to fully explore not only the aliens introduced in the Lost Fleet but also events in the Alliance and what used to be the Syndicate Worlds following the end of the war.

My agent is also shopping around a YA series which I hope finds a publisher soon. I call The Pillars of Reality “steampunk with dragons.” While technically YA the series is more than suitable for adults.

Hopefully my short fiction will continue to come out as ideas appear. That usually shows up in Analog Magazine (most recently “The Rift” in the October 2010 issue and “Betty Knox and Dictionary Jones in the Mystery of the Missing Teenage Anachronisms” in the March 2011 issue). I also have a short story (“Dawn’s Last Light”) in the upcoming anthology By Other Means.

Dreadnaught
Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier #1
By Jack Campbell

The Alliance woke Captain John "Black Jack" Geary from cryogenic sleep to take command of the fleet in the century-long conflict against the Syndicate Worlds. Now Fleet Admiral Geary's victory has earned him the adoration of the people-and the enmity of politicians convinced that a living hero can be a very inconvenient thing.

Geary knows that members of the military high command and the government question his loyalty to the Alliance and fear his staging a coup-so he can't help but wonder if the newly christened First Fleet is being deliberately sent to the far side of space on a suicide mission.

Up Close with Daniel Abraham

2011-05-03T09:21:00.005+10:00

Daniel Abraham, the critically acclaimed author of The Long Price Quartet, has just had the first book in his new epic fantasy sequence, The Dragon's Path (Book One of The Dagger and The Coin), released. So I bombarded the publisher with emails and phone calls they put me in touch with Daniel and he gave me an interview.

Actually it was much easier than that but not nearly as interesting a story so... *grin* Here's the interview!

1. What started you writing, and is it the same thing that still inspires you today?

In the immediate sense that I started writing in when I was ten years old becuase my teacher set aside time for it, I am probably not inspired by precisely the same thing, no offense to Mrs. Avelucia. Go back one remove, though, and I wrote back then -- and in high school, and in college, and after college when I was working in tech support -- for the same reason I do now. I really enjoy doing it. I know writers -- very successful ones, some of them -- who don't enjoy writing so much as they love having written. I'm one of the lucky few who likes the whole process. Except maybe going over copyedits.

2. How many novels did you write before you got published?

Let's see. If you only count full drafts, three. If outlines and partial drafts count, five.

3. What was the first thing you did when you found out a publisher wanted to print your work?

The first time an editor bought one of my short stories, I took the acceptance letter and had it framed. I have it in my office now. Ann Kennedy (now Ann VanderMeer) back when she was editing The Silver Web.

4. What books, or authors, would you say have most influenced you in the type of writer you've become?

That's a terribly long list. The author that has had the greatest direct effect on me is Walter Jon Williams, partly because I read everything he writes, and partly because we've been workshopping together for over a decade now. As a reader, I blame the genre writers I read to pieces as a teenager -- Larry Niven, David Eddings, Roger Zelazny, Arthur C. Clarke. But the truth is, I almost never read something that doesn't affect me somehow.

5. Your latest release is The Dragon's Path , can you tell us a bit about the story and how you came up with it?

This is actually the first in a (short, closed-ended) series called The Dagger and the Coin. My first fantasy series was The Long Price Quartet, and I was very pleased with how it came out. I wanted to do something different with the Long Price books -- thematically and structurally -- than what I'd seen before. The Dagger and the Coin is the flipside of that project. This is the series where I try to do a common thing uncommonly well, which it turns out is much harder than mere originality, right? I got together with a bunch of the local writers and spent a day talking about what epic fantasy is and does -- what it's about, what the strengths are, where it came from, where it's going -- and then built the story that I hoped would keep me up too late as an adult the way Eddings' Belgariad did when I was a teenager.

6. Do you consciously chose themes to explore in your work or does it 'just happen'?

I become aware of issues that turn my crank and they inform what I'm doing. It's less a conscious craftsman's choice than molding things with the mental clay I've got on hand. But I do know at least some of the things that are going to inform the story I'm telling. For The Dagger and the Coin, I'm thinking (among other things) about the relationship between doubt and certainty.

7. What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general?

Mission creep. I've got three different book series I'm working on right now, and adapting A Game of Thrones for comic books besides, and there are still days -- a lot of them, actually -- when I fatasize about the *other* books I want to write.

8. Do you use an outline when you write, or are you more of a discovery writer?

I outline. I don't stick religiously to my outlines. I re-outline as the old one turns out to be less accurate or useful than I'd thought. It's always seemed to me that discovery v outlining was a false dichotomy. They're both ways of thinking through a story. And neither of them gets you off the hook for editing or writing a second draft.

9. How much research do you do, and is it before or during the writing process?

Mileage varies. A lot of the research I do, I've already done because I'm writing about things that interest me. And because they interest me, I've already been reading about them. In the middle of the project, I'll often head off to look up particular issues or questions when the issues crop up.

10. Do you ever base your characters on people you know or have known?

All of my characters are part of me. Especially the bad guys.

11. What is your work schedule like when you're in writers mode?

Drop off the kid at school around 8:30, pick her up at 3. In between, I try not to check email more than a hundred or so times.

12. What do you do to relax, when you're not in 'writer's mode? (are you ever not in writer's mode?)

Try to catch up on housework and bills, mostly. Writing is actually a singularly unglamorous lifestyle.

13. When you look back on writing career, is there anything you would've done differently? If so, what and why?

I don't know. There have been a lot of bumps in the road, but there's nothing much I can regret. I suppose if I had it all to do over again, I'd want to work more.

14. Do you ever regret being 'self employed' (self motivating) and look longingly at people with 'normal' jobs - or you still hold down a 'day job'?

I miss having a regular paycheck. And health insurance. You can't really be a full time writer without a spouse with group health insurance, at least not in the USA. My dream job is actually to do exactly what I do now, but on salary as the employee of a publishing house. If my editors came to me and said "give us two publishable books a year and we will give you a living wage plus benefits" I wouldn't hesitate.

15. How do you balance what you're reading against what you're writing?

I try -- and fail -- to read about a book a week by someone I don't know personally. Usually I don't read in the genre I'm writing in at the time. If I've spent my full day in epic fantasy, I'm sated. I read a lot of mystery, horror, and non-fiction.

16. And finally, what future novels/ideas do you have in the works? What can your readers expect next?

I've got the rest of The Dagger and the Coin still to do. We're hammering out whether it's a trilogy of the five-book series, but it's one of the two. And there are other stories to tell in different parts of the same world, should things go well and people want to read them. I'm also writing a space opera series -- The Expanse -- with my very good friend Ty Franck under the name James S. A. Corey, and an urban fantasy series -- The Black Sun's Daughter -- as MLN Hanover.

But that said, I have three crime novels I'd dearly love to write, and a horror/literary/popular science novel about memory and ghouls, and a really lovely original comic book that I'd need to get a lot more street cred before I can even pitch (oh, but with the right artist, it would change the nature of space surrounding it -- it's that cool).

So more. And different. And more. It seems to be my gift and my curse.

The Dragon's Path
The Dagger and the Coin Book One
by Daniel Abraham

The dragons are gone, the powerful magics that broke the world diluted to little more than parlour tricks, but the kingdoms of men remain and the great game of thrones goes on. Lords deploy armies and merchant caravans as their weapons, manoeuvring for wealth and influence. But a darker power is rising - an unlikely leader with an ancient ally threatens to unleash again the madness that destroyed the world once already. Only one man knows the truth and, from the shadows, must champion humanity. The world's fate stands on the edge of a Dagger, its future on the toss of a Coin ...

Dragon Game World Novels

2011-04-30T14:51:00.005+10:00

These are 'Game World' titles with prominent Dragon appearances.

Dragons: Worlds Afire by Margaret Weis, Keith Baker, Tracy Hickman, Scott McGough and R. A. Salvatore (2006). Five writers from four different settings are brought together in this beautiful trade paperback book. There is one story each from the foremost authors in the Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Magic: The Gathering and Eberron worlds. Preceding each story is a gorgeous full-color plate illustration of a dragon, done in the distinctive styles of each setting by the premier artists of each line.

Dragonlance:

The Dragonlance: Chronicles series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
1) Dragons of Autumn Twilight (1984)
2) Dragons of Winter Night (1985)
3) Dragons of Spring Dawning (1985)
4) Dragons of Summer Flame (1995)
Dragonlance Chronicles Omnibus (1988)
The Annotated Chronicles Omnibus (1999)

The Dragonlance: Tales trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
1) The Magic of Krynn (1987)
2) Kender, Gully Dwarves and Gnomes (1987)
3) Love and War (1987)
Dragonlance Tales Omnibus (Books 1-3) (1991)

The Second Generation by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (1994).

The Dragons trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
1) The Dragons of Krynn (1994)
2) The Dragons at War (1996)
3) The Dragons of Chaos (1996)
Dragons of Time Anthology (2007)

The Dragonlance: War of Souls trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
1) Dragons of a Fallen Sun (2000)
2) Dragons of a Lost Star (2001)
3) Dragons of a Vanished Moon (2002)
The Search for Power (2004)

The Dragonlance: Tales from the War of Souls series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
1) The Search for Magic (2001)
2) The Players of Gilean (2003)
The War of Souls: A Dragonlance Omnibus (2010)

The Sovereign Stone trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
1) Well of Darkness (2000)
2) Guardians of the Lost (2001)
3) Journey into the Void (2003)

The Dragonlance: Young Adult Chronicles by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
1) A Rumor of Dragons (2003)
2) Night of the Dragons (2003)
3) The Nightmare Lands (2003)
4) To The Gates of Palanthas (2003)
5) Hope's Flame (2004)
6) A Dawn of Dragons (2004)
Chronicles for Young Readers Gift Set Omnibus (2004)

The Dragonlance: Dark Chronicles trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
1) Dragons of the Dwarven Depths (2006)
2) Dragons Of The Highlord Skies (2007)
3) Dragons of the Hourglass Mage (2008)

Dragonlance: Fifth Age novel collections by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
Relics and Omens: Tales of the Fifth Age (1998)
Heroes and Fools: Tales of the Fifth Age (1999)
Rebels and Tyrants: Tales of the Fifth Age (2000)
The Best of Tales Volume 1 (2000)
The Best of Tales Volume 2 (2002)

Realms of Dragons: The Worlds of Weis and Hickman by Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman and Denise Little (1999).

The Dragonlance: Age of Mortals series by Jean Rabe.
6) The Lake of Death (2004)

The Dragonlance: Elven Exiles trilogy by Paul B. Thompson and Tonya C. Cook.
3) Destiny (2007)

Eberron:

The Draconic Prophecies trilogy by James Wyatt
1) The Storm Dragon (2007)
2) Dragon Forge (2008)
3) Dragon War (2009)

The Seal of Karga Kul (Dungeons & Dragons) by Alexander Irvine (2010).

Untold Adventures: A Dungeons & Dragons Anthology by Alan Dean Foster, John Shirley, Lisa Smedman, Mark Sehestedt and Mike Resnick (coming in 2011).

Forgotten Realms:

The Year of Rogue Dragons trilogy by Richard Lee Byers.
1) The Rage (2004)
2) The Rite (2005)
3) The Ruin (2006)
The Year of Rogue Dragons Omnibus (2010)

The Forgotten Realms: Legend of Drizzt by R. A. Salvatore is a highly recommened and excellent series! Although there are a vast number of races described in these novels; here is listed only those with known dragon appearances. To view the full list of this series and appearances by Drizzt the Drow (Dark Elf), see the upcoming Galaxy Books blog entry ‘Dark Elf Fiction’ that will appear in 2011.

The Dark Elf trilogy by R. A. Salvatore. Hephaestus the red dragon is a minor character.
3) Sojourn (1991).
The Dark Elf Trilogy Omnibus (1998)

The Icewind Dale trilogy by R. A. Salvatore. Ingeloakastimizilian, also known as Icingdeath, is a White Frost Dragon who fights Drizzt Do'Urden and Wulfgar.
1) The Crystal Shard (1988)
The Icewind Dale Trilogy Omnibus (1997)

The Legacy of the Drow series by R. A. Salvatore. A black dragon lurks in Mithral Hall.
1) The Legacy (1992)
The Legacy of the Drow Omnibus (1997)

The Sellswords trilogy by R. A. Salvatore. Hephaestus the red dragon is a minor character.
1) Servant of the Shard (2000).
2) Promise of the Witch King (2005)
3) Road of the Patriarch (2006)
The Sellswords Omnibus (2010)

The Legend of Drizzt Boxed Set (Books I-III) (2007)
The Legend of Drizzt Boxed Set (Books IV-VI) (2007)
The Legend of Drizzt Boxed Set (Books VII-X) (2008)

The Cleric Quintet by R. A. Salvatore. Dragons mentioned and present in some editions.
1) Canticle (1991)
2) In Sylvan Shadows (1992)
3) Night Masks (1992)
4) The Fallen Fortress (1993)
5) The Chaos Curse (1994)
The Cleric Quintet Colector's Edition Omnibus (2002)

Magic The Gathering:

The Dragons of Magic by J. Robert King (2001).

Dragon Information & Care Handbooks

2011-04-30T12:02:00.004+10:00

The Discovery of Dragons: New Research Revealed by Graeme Base (2007).

Dragons and Fantasy Beasts by Finlay Cowan (2008).

The How to Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell. Now a movie animation!
1) How to Train Your Dragon (2003)
2) How to Be a Pirate (2004)
3) How to Speak Dragonese (2005)
4) How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse (2006)
5) How To Twist a Dragon's Tale (2007)
6) A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons (2007)
7) How to Ride a Dragon's Storm (2008)
8) How to Break a Dragon's Heart (2009)
9) How to Steal a Dragon's Sword (2010)
The Heroic Misadventures of Hiccup the Viking: The First Collection Omnibus (2007)
Hiccup Original Box Set Omnibus (2010)
How to Train Your Dragon Boxed Set Omnibus (2010)
How to Train Your Dragon: The First Collection Omnibus (2010)
How to Train Your Dragon - Tale of the Movie (2010)

Dragonology Tracking and Taming Dragons Volume 1: The European Dragon by Dr Ernest Drake (2006).
Dragonology: Tracking and Taming Dragons Volume 2: The Frost Dragon by Dr Ernest Drake (2008).
Dragonology: Bringing Up Baby Dragons by Dr Ernest Drake (2008).
Drake's Comprehensive Compendium of Dragonology by Dr. Ernest Drake (2009).

Dragonology: The Complete Book of Dragons by Ernest Drake and Dugald A. Steer (2003).
Monsterology: The Complete Book of Monstrous Beasts by Ernest Drake and Dugald A. Steer (2008).

A Practical Guide to Dragon Magic (Dungeons & Dragons) by Susan Morris (2010).

How to Raise and Keep a Dragon by Joe Nigg (2006).

Lily Quench's Companion: And Guide to Dragons and the Art of Quenching by Natalie Jane Prior and Janine Dawson (2007).

A Practical Guide to Dragons by Lisa Trumbauer (2006).
A Practical Guide to Dragon Riding by Lisa Trutkoff Trumbauer (2008).

Dragon Art & Drawings

2011-04-30T10:53:00.008+10:00

How To Draw Dragons

Learn to Draw Like the Masters: Dragons by Eugene Caine (2009).

How to Draw Magical, Monstrous & Mythological Creatures: Discover the Magic of Drawing More Than 20 Legendary Folklore, Fantasy, and Horror Characters by Merrie Destefano (coming in 2011).

The Art of Drawing Dragons, Mythological Beasts, and Fantasy Creatures: Discover Simple Step-by-Step Techniques for Drawing Fantastic Creatures of Folklore and Legend (The Collectors Series) by Michael Dobrzycki (2007).

How to Draw Knights, Kings, Queens and Dragons by Christopher Hart (1999).

Drawing Made Easy: Dragons & Fantasy: Unleash your creative beast as you conjure up dragons, fairies, ogres, and other fantastic creatures by Kythera of Anevern (2009).

How to Draw and Paint Dragons: A Complete Course Built Around These Legendary Beasts by Tom Kidd (2010).

Dracopedia: A Guide to Drawing the Dragons of the World by William O'Connor (2009).

DragonArt Fantasy Characters: How to Draw Fantastic Beings and Incredible Creatures by Jessica 'Neon Dragon' Peffer (2007).

Drawing Manga: Fantasy Creatures by Toby Quarmby (2005).

Dragon Artbooks

The Art of Dragon Magazine (2007). For 30 years, Dragon magazine has published genre-defining fantasy masterpieces. This beautiful treasury features classic pieces by undisputed masters such as Larry Elmore, Keith Parkinson, Jeff Easley, Wayne Reynolds, Brom, Todd Lockwood, Tony DiTerlizzi, Tim Hildebrandt, Daniel Horne, Denis Beauvais, Clyde Caldwell and more!

Forging Dragons by John Howe (2008). In this amazing collection of dragon art, created over his 30-year career, iconic fantasy artist John Howe explores the inspirations and techniques he uses to render these amazing beasts of myth and legend.

Galaxy Bookshop Bestsellers 30/04/11

2011-04-30T10:08:00.001+10:00

1. Dreadnaught by Jack Campbell

2. Kings of the North by Elizabeth Moon

3. Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris

4. Game of Thrones by George R R Martin

5. Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

6. Crippled God by Steven Erikson

7. Born of Shadows by Sherrilyn Kenyon

8. Watcher of the Dead by J V Jones

9. Orphaned Worlds by Michael Cobley

10. Changes by Jim Butcher