Another contest, no lie!

Did you not win the first Scott Lynch contest at FBS? You know, the one where you could get a free signed copy of his eagerly-awaited debut The Lies of Locke Lamora?



Well, pout no more! Second chances are your best friend.

Head over to FantasyBookSpot and read about the latest contest for July where you could win another copy of the book. And all you have to do is send a private message to Jay. Hot dang is right!

Royal review!

Check out my review of Split Heirs by Lawrence Watt-Evans and Esther M. Friesner! This was a book I got at a local library sale. It's a fun, light-hearted medieval romp complete with Shakespearian gender confusion!

Martin interview!

In case you weren't aware, Jay Tomio has an interview with George R.R. Martin up on FantasyBookSpot.com. Check it out, I say!

Timeweb review!

Check out my review of Brian Herbert's
Timeweb (Book One of the Timeweb Chronicles)!

Books to buy

I made a list. This list says that I'm not allowed to buy any other books until I buy all the books on said list. I will obey it. In fact, I must or else chaos will destroy all that is sacred and holy in my life.

Books to buy

• Sarah Monette - Melusine
• Cherie Priest - Four and Twenty Blackbirds
• Neil Gaiman - Neverwhere
• John Scalzi - Old Man's War
• Scott Lynch - The Lies of Locke Lamora
• Cory Doctorow - Standard Eastern Tribe
• Jim Hines - GoblinQuest
• Matthew Hughes - Black Brillion

Also, I'm not allowed to add to this list until all books have been crossed off. This is me, live, disciplining myself for you all to see.

Dreaming review

Check out my review for Matthew G. McMillan's
The Dreamer!

"Chance on Catella"

My science fiction short story "Chance on Catella" is now live on AlienSkin Magazine's site. It's part of their June/July 2006 issue. Here's the link to it:

http://www.alienskinmag.com/ficsf2.htm

Enjoy! It'll be up for two months! Also, if you search around the Interrogation Room link, you'll find my answer to the question of "What makes a good story title?"

Books I never finished

An interesting post at FantasyBookSpot about books you've started but never finished got me thinking. Skimming my bookshelves, I noticed I had a couple on there. Here they are, and I'll try to justify why I never finished them:

• Year Zero by Jeff Long (got about midway through it, but the plot kind of petered out so I lost interest. I will say that I loved The Descent though)
• The Wishsong of Shannara by Terry Brooks (can't remember why I didn't finish it)
• Elixir by Gary Braver (kind of boring)
• Northshore (Volume 1 of The Awakeners) by Sheri S. Tepper (I actually enjoyed this from what I remember, but I think other more interesting books came along)
• The Eternity Artifact by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. (good plot? no. sympathetic characters? nu-huh. keep reading? nope.)
• The Heat Seekers by Katherine Ramsland (hated the writing style of it after three chapters)

I'm sure there are more than this though. I'll have to look later on.

Let me know about any books you started, but never finished! I'm curious as to why!

Aberrant Dreams, #7

Check out my review of Aberrant Dreams, #7, Spring 2006! It's a good issue, with some humor and horror stories really standing out! Plus, free to read online! :)

Dead Letters, 2.2

The newest issue of Dead Letters is now available. This issue contains my zombie story titled "With the Dead, Change is Inevitable."



Check it out!

Upcoming reviews...

Well, it's about that time again (What time? you ask. What are you even writing about?). The time when I make a list of what reviews I'll be doing soon. Duh. And hopefully in this order.

• Aberrant Dreams, #7, Spring 2006
• American Gods by Neil Gaiman
• Timeweb by Brian Herbert
• Ending an Ending by Danny Birt
• The Dreamer by Matthew G. McMillan
• The Forest King: Woodlark's Shadow by Dan Mishkin & Tom Mandrake
• Hammered by Elizabeth Bear
• The Flock by James Robert Smith

Also, if I ever get unlazy enough I'd like to write up some comic book reviews and movie reviews. We'll see. I am lazy though. Well, not that lazy.

Coming out at the beginning of June will be my story "Chance on Catella" in AlienSkin Magazine. I shall have a link for you all soon enough, don't you worry yourselves too much.

Other than that, still writing away and waiting for the slush gods to take pity upon me and accept the virgin sacrifices I offer in return for world domination and a few more print publications. So say we all...

Fiery review!

Check out my review of Heir to Fire: Gila Flats by Rob Worley and Mike Dubisch!

Shimmer Spring 2006!

The newest issue of Shimmer is out now, and contains my very first fiction sale, "The Dealer's Hands," which you all should check out!

Very excited for my contrib. copy to arrive!

Stormy review!

Check out my review of David Niall Wilson's The Mote in Andrea's Eye!

Reflection...

It seems the slush gods have been quiet as of late. I shall say a prayer, and know that now that I've posted this they will destroy my hopes and dreams with forms and semi-personal rejections in the next few days.

Ah, the life of a writer. Slow, quiet, and filled with enough anxiety to belittle a classroom of kids with ADD.

That's all for now. I'll have some new reviews coming up soon of David Niall Wilson's The Mote in Andrea's Eye, Brian Herbert's Timeweb, and a couple of YA fantasy books. Stay tuned!

The Sword Review, uh, review!

Check out my review of The Sword Review, Issue 13, April 2006!

Hypergalactic review!

Check out my review of What I Did on my Hypergalactic Interstellar Summer Vacation by Adam Beechen and Dan Hipp!

Rumored review!

Check out my review of 30 Days of Night: Rumors of the Undead by Steve Niles and Jeff Mariotte! Yay for vampires!

What a thing, a Farthing!

Check out my latest review of Farthing, Issue 2! It's a great publication with a wide variety of stories to be enjoyed. What are you waiting for? Get reading!

We're off to see the Wizard...

Over the weekend I swung by a yard sale and was happy to find a couple copies of L. Frank Baum's Oz books. Four of them are the Del Rey editions, which aren't too bad looking, but one of them is much, much older. It's Ozma of Oz (L. Frank Baum, 1907):



It's not in the greatest condition, but its copyright is 1907. Yes, 1907. In one more year, it'll be 100 years old. Well, not the book itself as I think it was published in the 60s, but the idea...that'll be 100 years old. Crazy. And I got is for .50 cents. I happen to think that's pretty darn cool.

Now I have to go and fish out my copy of The Wizard of Oz that I've had since I was maybe twelve or thirteen.

Magical review!

Check out my review of Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom!

Star-tastic review!

Check out my review of John Scalzi's Agent to the Stars!

Review time!

Check out my review of E. Sedia's According to Crow! You'll be glad you did!

Glorius contests!

Hey, you. Yeah, you. D'you like contests? Wanna enter one? How about two? Come on, kid, everybody's doing it these days. It's not gonna kill you.

You could possibly win autographed copies of Vellum by Hal Duncan and signed copies of His Majesty's Dragon and Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik.

Pretty sweet deal, right? So, what d'ya say? Feelin' lucky?

Get to it!

Shimmer cover!

This has already been posted on my LJ, but I wanted it here as well.

Check out the cover of Shimmer's Spring 2006 issue!



It's got my name on it. Woo hoo!

New review up!

Check out my review for
The Sword Review, Issue 12, March 2006!

Woo, another one!

Just made an 87-day sale of my story "Chance on Catella" to AlienSkin Magazine for their June/July 2006 issue! Happy happy joy joy...

I wrote this story after reading a ton of Lovecraft though I doubt anyone will see a connection. It is a symbolic piece of dark science fiction. I like all things dark...

Story sale!

My Romero-esque zombie story, "With the Dead, Change is Inevitable", sold to Dead Letters for their 2.2 issue!

Woop woop!

Updated review queue!

All right, kiddies...here's an update on my review queue!

1. The Sword Review, Issue 12, March 2006 (will be posted this weekend)
2. David Drake's Surface Action (will be posted this weekend)
3. Hugh Cook's The Wishstone and the Wonderworkers
4. Cat Collins's Sleeping Dragons
5. Dan Simmons's The Fall of Hyperion

More books are being sent via FBS and those will be added to the list as they arrive. Plus, I also have Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom coming soon along with the fact that E. Sedia just contacted me and is sending me a copy of According to Crow to review. Woo hoo!!!

I'm a happy book-reading boy.

Uh oh...Amazon.com!

Well, I did it tonight. I created an account on Amazon and ordered some books. I got Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom and two S&S collections from Pitch-Black.

Eep! This could get dangerous real fast, but I think I can control myself. So many books though...blargh...

Oh, and for those not aware, I have a personal website in the works. Check it out:

http://www.sfreader.com/authors/PaulAbbamondi/

Wizardy review!

Check out my review of Hugh Cook's The Wizards and the Warriors!



Next up on the list is Robin Paige's Death at Daisy's Folly.

XYZ review!

Check out my review of Heidi Cyr's
X and Y and Other Like Stories!

Books I want...

And now, for those interested of course, a list of books that I want and the only way I'll get them is to pay money for them. What a feckless system that is, eh?

Here it is then:

• Sarah Monette's Mélusine
• Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
• John Scalzi's Old Man's War
• E. Sedia's According to Crow
• Nick Mamatas's Move Under Ground
• Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora

Now the only problem is where to find both the money and time to devote to these books while still having a huge stack of (mostly free) novels to occupy my mind for several months. Ugh. I'd like to think that I read pretty fast, but sometimes, like lately with anything by China Miéville, I like to take my time and relish in the words, plot, and characters.

Review queue!

For those interested, here is my list of upcoming reviews:

1. S.H. Viehl's Rebel Ice (will be posted later today)
2. Brainchild, A Collection of Artifacts (will be posted later today)
3. Hugh Cook's The Wizards and the Warriors (will be posted by this weekend)
4. Heidi Cyr's X and Y, and Other Like Stories (will be posted by this weekend)
5. The Sword Review, Issue 12 March 2006 (will be posted when the issue is complete)
6. Hugh Cook's The Wishstone and the Wonderworkers
7. David Drake's Surface Action
8. Cat Collins's Sleeping Dragons
9. Robin Paige's Death at Daisy's Folly
10. Dan Simmons's The Fall of Hyperion

And that's all for the moment. I'm sure more books are coming in, but I can only read these so fast! Stay tuned for further updates!

The not-so-long and not-so-dark review!

Well, if you haven't gone to check it out yet, here's a good reason to go and visit the new redesign of FantasyBookSpot. It's quite colorful with beautiful artwork by Nicole Cardiff.

I believe my review of Douglas Adams' The Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul is the first review to be posted so far. Check it out!

Yay, I'm a winner!

New FBS contest!

FantasyBookSpot is hosting another contest, this one for the month of April. Get a chance to win a signed copy of Daniel Abraham's A Shadow in Summer!



For more information on how to enter, go here.

Get on it, kiddies!

Second sale!

"Always Greener" to Shimmer for their Summer 2006 issue.

Woot, woot!

Another trip to the library!

Amount spent: $2.50

Purchases:
~ Five Card Stud by Elizabeth Gunn (Murder mystery thing.)
~ The Regulators by Richard Bachman (I now have two Bachman books to put with the Stephen King collection. This one is great because it has the Editor's Note in the beginning that talks about Bachman's death. Funny, you know, since it was only a pen name of King's, and the man never really existed.)
~ Insomnia by Stephen King (Eh, horrible movie, but maybe the book will provide more enjoyable reading. Either one, another for the collection.)
~ The Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice (I now have books 1, 2, and 3 for the Vampire Chronicles.)
~ A Wizard in Peace by Christopher Stasheff (I've read a couple in this series; not the worst out there.)
~ A Whisper of Blood edited by Ellen Datlow (Yes, the gem of the pile! I can't believe someone donated this anthology of vampirism. What a moron! It's in great condition too. I almost squealed like a fanboy when I saw it, but I held my composure.

The librarian did raise an eyebrow when she saw the cover for Stasheff's book. I guess she's a fan of V.C. Andrews only...



Overall, a successful trip.

Company review!

Check out my review of Kage Baker's The Children of the Company here!

The Sword Review!

Check out my review of The Sword Review's Issue 11 here!

Some stuff to be aware of...

FantasyBookSpot is hosting another awesome contest for the month of March. You can win a signed copy of Jeff VanderMeer's City of Saints and Madmen. To find out more, go here.



Jay Lake, always an interesting writer, has some thoughts and reflections from the authorial perspective. He's open and honest about everything he talks about. Go check it out: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

And finally, Tansy Rayner Roberts is hosting a contest for ASIM #22. You have to match the title with the opening line. Go here to see the contest. If you are the winning entry, you get a whole slob of prize choices. Only about four entries so far (mine included), and I know I have a better chance of winning by NOT telling people to enter, but hey, I'm a nice guy...

Happy Friday, everyone!

Bookshelf...

This is just one side of my bookshelf.



One day I plan on either a) getting a real bookshelf to hold all my novels or b) buying a castle in England so that I can actually have an entire room to call a library.

Bonus points if you can name some of my books?

Stamp-tastic review!

Check out my review of Terry Prachett's Going Postal here!

Yay for libraries!

So I finally made my way over to my town's library, got a card, and perused the "books for sale" racks. 25 cents for a paperback; $1 for hardbacks. I have a weird fascination with old books, ones with yellow pages and the strong, musty smell of time. I'd rather buy old, beat up books than spend $10 on a fresh paperback. Yeah, I'm weird.

My fondest memory is going to the library when I was around 12 or 13, and buying Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park for a quarter. The book's cover was ripped in half, dangling for its life. Some pages had been marked, some passages underlined. Not only was this the book that probably forwarded my yearn for reading/writing, it's the one that gave me my old book fetish.

Anyways, I spent $2 today. Here is what I got:

1. The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons (Yay for Hugo Award-winning authors.)
2. A Touch of Frost by R.D. Wingfield (I was intrigued by the plot summary.)
3. Death at Daisy's Folly by Robin Paige (I've only ever read a few murder mystery books and thought to give some more a try.)
4. Circus of the Damned by Laurell K. Hamilton (Um, it's about vampires. 'Nuff said.)
5. The Eyes of Darkness by Dean Koontz (I might need a horror read in the future so here we go.)
6. Surface Action by David Drake (Military sci-fi is always fun.)
7. The Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul by Douglas Adams (The humor god. Must...buy...it...now.)
8. The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan (Yeah, he's crap. I've read the first in the series, and thought that for a quarter I'd get book 3. If it sucks like I've heard his later books do, then I only lost a quarter and a few hours of my life.)

Knowing me, I'll go back next weekend and buy more.
I told you I'm addicted.

Shadowy review!

Check out my review of Shadowed Realms, #9 here!

Rant begin...

And, in other news, I got a 157-day rejection from a magazine that I thought had forgotten about me. I queried about the story two months ago with no response, and then yesterday, I get a form rejection in my email. That's fine, whatever. I probably won't submit to said magazine too often now that I know how they handle their submissions.

But here's the thing that bugs me. Not only is it a form rejection, but it's the kind that advertises its new subscription rate. That really bothers me. I understand they want to sell magazines, but the blatantly obvious marketing scheme of putting that crap into rejection letters is just annoying.

Here, we don't like your story and can't take the time to say anything about it, but why don't you purchase two year's worth of our magazine. Thanks!

...rant over.

Warlike review!

Check out my review of Hugh Cook's The Women and the Warlords here!

Chaotic review!

Check out my review of Brett L. Renwick's Wired for Chaos here!

I guess an update...

Not much to really update on.

Writing news
~ 150-day rejection from Aberrant Dreams with nice comments and encouragement to submit another story.

~ 23-day rejection from The Sword Review with some love it/hate it remarks.

~ 1-day rejection from The Town Drunk.

Sent out a couple stories last night. Other than that, I've been trying to catch up on my reading. I've got some books to review for FantasyBookSpot, and then on the side for pleasure, both the new issues of Shimmer and F&SF have arrived, tempting my eyes to devour them.

Also, The Girlfriend got me this for our anniversary/Valentine's Day celebration:


It's awesome.

Sword swinging review!

Check out my review of The Sword Review's January 2006 issue here!

My first interview!

Check out my very first interview here!

Glorius review!

Check out my review of Alan Dean Foster's Glory Lane here!

Angelic review!

Check out my review of Lisa Silverthorne's The Sound of Angels here!




Next up for Tangent is The Sword Review's current issue...

Making progress...

~ Received check and contract back from Shimmer for "The Dealer's Hands".

~ Received signed and personalized copy of Rebel Ice. Pretty darn cool, ya know. I'm excited to read it.

Well...

Not much of an update, but thought to share regardless.

~ 14-day rejection on "Helen Goes Shopping" from Abyss & Apex after resubmitting it. Oh well. After a few more tries with this one, I'm probably going to trunk it and work on other ideas.

Parlais vous?

Total of 18 critiques for "When It Burns, It Burns Like a Star" from Critters.

By far, my favorite one says this:

I'm assuming that English is not your first language, and that is the main problem here.

Huh? I'm pretty sure I've been speaking English all my life. Does this mean I suck at writing words in English? Probably, yes. Should I translate all my stories into French? Who knows. Others thought the story was excellent and my writing well-done.

I'm really surprised by the split of the critiques. They really are either for the story or against it. For my writing or against it. For my long title or against it.

I'm turning "When It Burns, It Burns Like a Star" into a novella. Hopefully, that should solve some problems. And no, I'm not taking English lessons.

I have a BA in Journalism for heaven's sake.
Sheesh.

Thinning review!

Check out my review for Stephen King's Thinner!



NOTE: The cover of the version I have is the old, 1984 original one. I got it for 25 cents from the public library. It's simple and not much to it. I thought this cover had a better design and represented more of what the book was about.

Phooey...

Writing news
~ 78-day form rejection for "The Dead Forest" from Orson Scott
Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show.

In other news, half of the critiques for "When It Burns, It Burns Like a Star" say my story has no point and they hated it, while the other half liked it and said it really made them think.

Humph. Well, I'm just going to completely rewrite it as a novella. And that's my decision.

We're all winners!

Thanks to PaperbackWriter for declaring that all that entered her free book giveaway are winners. Yay, I'm going to get a signed copy of Rebel Ice.



Writing news
~ 1-day rejection from The Town Drunk.

~ 22-day rejection from The Sword Review.

I did manage to send out two stories yesterday though which is good because I made my goal for the week. My story "When It Burns, It Burns Like a Star" is up at Critters, but I've only gotten two crits in so far. Must be a slow week as of yet. From what I've gathered on the story, there is too much exposition in it and not enough conflict. I'm toying with the idea of turning it into a novella, but then it really wouldn't be sellable. We'll see...

Work with me!

Why won't my ficticious character work with me?

I've given him everything he needs. A heatstick that can burn the face off anyone it touches, the path that can lead him to safety, a hot woman to rescue from alien insects. He's got the weapon, the motive, the reasoning. So what is he doing?

Sitting in his tiny room, shaking and crying like a little girl, as everyone around him is being attacked by alien insects.

GET TO IT, GEORGE! I'M TIRED OF WAITING AROUND!

---

In other news, Eugie from Tangent has sent me my next assignment. It's an anthology of stories by Lisa Silverthorne entitled The Sound of Angels. You can find more out about it here. Seems interesting enough and I can't wait to read it. Hopefully some free time will pop up this weekend!

Woot woot still...

Still on a first sale high. Mailed out my contracts yesterday for Shimmer. I have to work on writing a short bio for them. I wonder what I'll come up with.

1-day personal rejection from The Town Drunk. I don't think I have anything else to submit to them yet. Maybe I can whip up a story before their reading period ends. How in the heck does Terry Pratchett write humor so well?

280+ day personal rejection from Black Gate. The editor, Mr. O'Neill, had some nice things to say about my piece, but confessed that it wasn't as original as the others he was currently looking at. Considering this was the very first story I ever wrote, I'm quite pleased with this rejection.

Anyone have any advice for keeping things organized? I have a folder where I keep all my rough drafts and earlier versions. I figure I'll make a folder for all my contracts and maybe another for the final printed copy. Any ideas?

Crystalline review!

Check out my review of Tobias S. Buckell's debut Crystal Rain over here.

First sale ever!

Yesterday, January 15, 2006, will forever be a a day I hold deep in my heart.

I sold my first story ever, "The Dealer's Hands", to Shimmer for their Spring issue.

I could barely sleep last night. I'm so excited. This story went through three different versions and a thousand of edits. All the work paid off though.

I've only been submitting stories since June 2005. I know of other people who have gone a lot longer without selling a story. I was never expecting anything like this so soon.

I can say it now.

I'm a published writer.

Hmmm...

Just found out that Abyss & Apex had some server issues back in November and lost some of their submissions. I checked my spreadsheet and yup, I submitted them a story on 11/08/05. I queried and they lost it, but were nice enough to have me resubmit it even though their reading period is over.

Oh well. A resubmittal is better than a "sorry we lost it, but please submit again in the future."

Looking at my spreadsheet it also seems I don't have that many stories out in the market. I need to work on that ASAP. Like, by the end of this week I'd like to finish up three short stories and send them out. That's a goal I'd love to achieve.

In case anyone cares...

Here's my "To read" list in the order that they will hopefully be read:

- Brett Renwick's Wired For Chaos
- R.A. Salvatore's The Two Swords
- Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers
- George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones
- Cat Collins' Sleeping Dragons
- Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness
- Terry Prachett's Going Postal
- China Mieville's Perdido Street Station
- L.E. Modisett, Jr.'s The Infinity Artifact

You'd be surprised at how many of the "classics" I haven't read. I'm coming in quite late to Martin's series, and although I've been spoiled a few times already on it, I'm excited to see what all the talk has been about. I have no real excuse for not reading Le Guin's Hugo-winning novel. And China, well, I'm just beginning to enjoy his work.

I've told myself no more books until these are all done. I doubt that will happen. Plus, I'm reviewing miscellaneous items for Tangent Online.

Amazing Journeys...

Check out my review of Amazing Journeys, Volume 2, Issue 10 over at Tangent Online.

Write right rewrite...

A third request for rewrite on "The Dealer's Hands" for Shimmer. I think I'm going to take a few days and really think this one out. There is no guarantees if Beth (Shimmer Editor) likes it that the rest of the board will, but it coming this far is still a great feeling.

I also got a confirmation from The Town Drunk that they wouldn't mind seeing a complete rewrite on "Dragon's Speech." This is very good as I hope to add more humor and conflict to the tale.

I queried both Black Gate and Leading Edge about my stories so hopefully I'll hear back from them. Does anyone know their response times to queries?

And on the side I'm working on a story entitled "Above" that I feel will have a good home at a couple of sci-fi zines.

That is all for now, bloggers.

I know it's spelled Le Guin...

Top of the Monday mornin' to y'all!

First up, check out my review of Ursula K. Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea over here!



Unfortunately, Le Guin's name was entered spelled wrong into the FBS database and I'm sure it's too late to change it. Oh well...I'm sure she's used to it. It tis a tricky name, yes.

Writing News (dum dum duuuuummmmmm)
- A one-day rejection from Shimmer on "The Dealer's Hands". Suggestions were made and they offered to look at it again after a rewrite.

- A four-day rejection from The Town Drunk on "Dragon Speech". They seemed to like it at least and did offer some suggestions. My only problem is I can't tell if they want me to rewrite it and send back or not. Taken from rejection letter:

We encourage you to expand this story and have more fun with the dragon -- and we would like to see what you come up with.

That line there makes me think that it'd be OK to resubmit later after a rewrite. I don't know though. Anyone want to help me out?

- Still waiting to hear back from The Sword Review, among lots of other magazines. We'll see how this all goes...

An update from moi

Let's see, let's see...

Once my Internet is up and in full force I plan on sending out at least five queries (that I know of) to a couple of places. I fear that Black Gate will never respond and The Leading Edge has had my piece for longer than their response times expect.

I've been doing some tweaking and dampering with some short stories, but nothing too final yet. I'd really love to finish my fairy tale "Bereavement" as it has a special place in my writing heart.

My review of Amazing Journeys, Issue 10 is coming along slowly if surely. Probably by the end of the weekend I'll have it done and up on Tangent Online. Then after that, Eugie is sending me something else to review (my memory drifts away from me at this moment, off playing with toys or something). Yeah, so I have that to do as well.

And starting in March, I will now get F&SF at my doorstep. Well, my tiny mailbox down the hall. But you get the picture. I wasn't going to subscribe at first. My plan was to pick and choose my issues based off reviews, but when I searched for the magazine in my local Barnes & Noble, I could not find it. So, to save time but not money, I gave in to GVG's mind tricks and subscribed for a full year. Blast! I'll never get any writing done now...

Frosty review!

Check out my review of Kim Wilkin's amazing new novel Giants of the Frost here!



Much thanks goes to Damon from FBS for sending it to me. Without him, I'd probably never learn of some many unknown yet talented authors. Thanks!

First review of 2006

Happy New Year's everybody!

Eugie has just informed me that my review of Shimmer, August 2005 is now up on Tangent Online. Check it out and then let me know what you think!

Year in Review, 2005

I stole this thing from Elizabeth Bear's blog. Let's see how I've done...

Novel words written: 70,000

Well, I didn't truly start writing until I came home from college in May so this is only half a year's review in actuality.

The Periwinkle Prince draft: 53,045

The Spellcrafters draft: 10,150

Sylva draft: 3,500

Admirably Admirable Advice draft: 2,000

Best day: about 4,000 words during NaNo on The Periwinkle Prince. I believe it was the scene where Tandyn spots Amelia at the slave market and they make a run for it; that was fun to write.

Worst day: 100

Novels completed: None yet

Novels published: None yet

Novel and novel-length manuscript submissions: 0

Novels sold: 0

Novels rejected: 0 (yay no rejections here!)

Other responses: None

Short story words written: 58,000

"The Dragon-elves" - 10,000
"Escape" - 10,000
"Some Things Just Don't Sell" - 4,000
"Pixie Wine" - 3,500
"When It Burns, It Burns Like a Star" - 4,000
"The Drinking of Ales" - 3,500
"Chance on Catella" - 3,000
"The Troll Tracks" - 5,000
"Bereavement" - 7,000 (incomplete)
"Helen Goes Shopping" - 3,000
"The Dead Forest" - 5,000

Notes, outline, and synopsis words written: Yeah, I have no idea. I have papers all over the place.

Blog words written: You got me...maybe 15,000?

Non fiction articles for publication: I've written over 15 book reviews for FantasyBookSpot and about 5 things for Tangent Online. I also wrote an appreciation for SCI FICTION.

Total new words written: A bajillion.

New stories written: All of them.

Existing stories revised: All of them.

Short story submissions sent: 26

Responses received: 19

Acceptances: 0

Rejections: 19

Other responses: I have gotten several nice personal comments from editors which hopefully means I'm getting closer to becoming published.

Awaiting response: 7

Short stories published: 0

Best thing about this year's publications: 0

Poems written: 2

Poems submitted: 2

Major award nominations: 0

Minor award nominations: 0

Awards won: 0

Novel editing hours: None yet, but next year I'm going to focus on The Periwinkle Prince a bit.

Goals for 2006: Finish The Periwinkle Prince, finish Sylva, sell a short story, and have a lot more statistics for the Year in Review 2006.

That is all for now.

Tangent review

My review for The Sword Review, #9, December 2005 is now up on Tangent Online. Take a look and please feel free to give me some feedback if you think my opinions are stinky!

New review is up!

Check out my review of Lawrence Watt-Evans' Dragon Venom here.

Christmas books!

I got these two for Christmas:



Plus lots of nice gift cards to Barnes & Noble. Looks like I won't really need to buy books well into mid-February with all that I have to read. Holiday has been great so far. But I ate way too much food...

Early X-mas gift!

Tobias S. Buckell is sending me an ARC of his debut book, Crystal Rain. The final copy won't be out until February so I'm quite excited to read it. There's been a lot of talk going around the Interwebs about him and his debut.

Here's a blurb of what the story's about to tide you over:

In this much-anticipated debut novel, the only hope for a planet's delivery from the fearsome Azteca lies in a mythical artifact, the "Ma Wi Jung," said to be hidden somewhere in the frozen north.

Publication death

Just got word that I'm no longer reviewing Holly Messinger's End of the Line because, unfortunately, Eggplant Productions has gone under. Shame, as it seems like an interesting story published by a, what I thought to be, moving-forward publisher. Oh well...

In other good news, I'll be reviewing Shimmer, Amazing Journeys, and The Sword Review! Man is that a lot to read, but that matters not. For I live to read!

And now, a confession. I've hitched on to the band wagon about three years late and am madly in love with China Mieville's work. So far The Scar has been the most brilliant piece of literature I have ever read in my entire life. Now that may seem like a bold statement, when in actuality, this is a bold statement:

So far The Scar has been the most brilliant piece of literature I have ever read in my entire life.

As soon as I get some holiday cash, I'm going out and buying the rest of his books. Why did it take me so long to read him? Huh? I have no idea. I must have been in a hole in the ground or underneath a pile of rubble.

Writing news: 4-day rejection from Shimmer on "When It Burns, It Burns Like a Star". I've decided to put the story up on Critters to see what help they can offer me. I believe it to have potential somewhere, sometime.

Free stuff rules!

Now that I've gotten a bit farther into my side career of reviewing books and short fiction, I've acquired a lot more materials...and at no cost! Sure, I'm not in it to get free books, but man, it sure is great at times.

Brett Renwick is sending me his African-American science-fiction novel Wired for Chaos all the way from the UK:



Seems like an interesting read from the synopsis.

For Tangent, Eugie has asked me to review End of the Line by Holly Messinger. It's a western fantasy novella and I'm quite eager to read it. Sounds very different than anything I've ever read.

And for FantasyBookSpot, Damon had been kind enough to send me two books to review: The Eternity Artifact by L.E. Modisett and Giants of the Frost by Kim Wilkins.

My stack of "to-be-read" pile is growing taller every day. But at least I don't have to worry about what book to buy next. I've got enough to read until the middle of January for sure.

Major update like woah!

Well, with a new move to northern New Jersey I've been quite busy these last two weeks. But I'm beginning to get settled and hopefully soon I'll have my Internet connection set up in my studio.

Anyways, here are some things I've done recently.

Check out my book review for Alan Dean Foster's The Mocking Program over here.

Check out my book review for Stephen King's Firestarter over here.

My light fantasy story, The Drinking of Ales, went up on Critters about a week ago. I received about 15 well-done critiques of the story. Overall it was liked, but many said it had no conflict. Upon going back and reading the story, they were right. But now I have lots of suggestions for the rewrite which will hopefully make things go smoother.

Also, received a rejection for both The Drinking of Ales and Dragon Speech. The first one I expected after all the Critters comments and the second one I had forgotten I even submitted. No loss there as it was only a flash piece.

And at the moment I'm working on my novel The Spellcrafters. Outline is almost done and then the real writing can begin!

That is all for now, but stay tuned for further updates.

New review up!

Check out my review of The Sword Review, Issue 8 over at Tangent Online.

And then check out The Sword Review's website. Plenty of archived stories to read and enjoy!