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how bernard cornwell hurt my jaw with heroic historical fantasy
Bernard Cornwell, well known for his Sharpe series of Napoleonic Historical action novels, isn’t one who’s seen in the fantasy section of your local bookshop. And, after giving him a darned good read, I don’t know why not.
I got hooked on Cornwell recently when I started with the aforementioned Sharpe novels. I have a problem in that I can read something in the realm of 100-140 pages per hour. This means I drink novels the same way some guys drink beer. It also means I quickly run out of books I feel inspired to read and end up re-reading… Continue reading
nysta’s knives and their colourful names inspired by iain banks
I’m quite proud of some of the names Nysta has for her knives. Go With My Blessing, for example. Being primarily a throwing knife, I liked that. And then there’s Entrance Exam, which often buries itself in throats while Fulci’s Last Joke never fails to find an eyeball. In-Jokes aside, I’m most happy with A Flaw in the Glass. I love that name.
But what caused me to actually give such colourful names to Nysta’s knives?
Simple. Iain Banks did.
While I was sketching out my first few character studies, I envisioned an elf clad in knives. My first short… Continue reading
The Nysta Soundtrack
Music is important to me, so a good soundtrack when I’m writing is an integral part of my comfort zone.
I find I listen to different music depending on the feel of the book. For example, the first book I wrote to the wonderful tunes of the Cramps. Especially the song, New Kind of Kick. It kept me buzzing and I could imagine Nysta’s boots crunching stones as she strutted across the Deadlands. You could make a decent argument that the music of the Cramps actually defined her character for me.
However, the third book seems to be looking for… Continue reading
a song for arenanet
I’m a bit of a gamer, naturally. For the last few years I’ve been looking forward to Guild Wars 2. Well, it was released, and it was beautiful. Unfortunately, the developers have decided their whole philosophy of virtual horizontal progression was bad and they’ve decided to appease the WOW crowd and have changed their philosophy barely months into the release. This made me sad.
In any case, I wrote them a song.
We don’t need no new conditions We don’t need no new tiers at all No more sarcasm in the forums Devs, don’t make a Warcraft clone Hey! A-Net!… Continue reading
gigantic death worm
Bizarro fiction’s a bit of a joy for me, so today I’m going to tell you about a book I just read.
Gigantic Death Worm, by Vince Kramer.
It’s awesome.
How awesome? It has Mexican ninjas in it. And wolf-spitting bears. What more do you want?
Mister Kramer has an oddball sense of humour. His phrasing can catch you by surprise, so I found myself barking a few laughs when I didn’t expect to. It’s genuinely funny and you can pretty much slap the story down your brainstem in one sitting.
If you’re looking for something a little different. A… Continue reading
nysta book trailer
I don’t have a book trailer. I have seen a lot of slideshow-style ones, but it’s not my thing. But I have been thinking, if I did have a book trailer, what soundtrack would it have?
And I didn’t have to think too long to realise it would be The Cramps’ New Kind of Kick.
No question.
brian freemantle’s charlie muffin books
I have just discovered Brian Freemantle.
I’m a big fan of pulp-style novels, whether they’re fantasy, western, or crime. I love the language and the characters. Which is how I found the Freemantle novels. Thanks to Amazon’s recommendations, I got sent a “You might also like” after copping a few other old crime novels. Shrugging it off as typical marketing bullshit, I still acted the sucker and bought Freemantle’s Charlie M. And cracked it open to read during lunch.
And I couldn’t put it down.
It’s like the perfect balance of Fleming and LeCarre. It’s beautiful and elegant and scrubbily… Continue reading
some stronger heroines from independant fantasy
I’ve been having a browse through the books I’ve been reading/looking at lately. I’m kind of exploring a lot of other independant authors at the moment. Mainly because it interests me to see what’s going on. What’s doing well. And also where I fit in.
As someone writing overly violent Westerns crossed with Fantasy, I know I could fit in near Conan, but these days no one is writing much in the way of Sword and Sorcery, and Heroic Fantasy seems remarkably lacking in its traditional form. Especially ones with anti-heroines and strong female characters who aren’t looking for love… Continue reading
upcoming cover news and how to choose your own book covers
Are you ready for the big reveal? I’ve gotten word that I should be seeing the new cover some time toward the end of the week. I’m hoping for it to be ready not long afterward. It’s short notice before the actual release, but judging by the peeks I’ve had of it, it’s worth the wait. Amir Zand, as always, blows my mind away.
I wrote about it once before, but I thought I’d just offer some tips to anyone looking for a good cover.
Firstly, don’t let your cousin do it. Unless he’s Brom. In which case, you’re the… Continue reading
fake book reviews scandals
Wow. What a past few weeks. There’s been so many articles on the industry of book reviews that my head is spinning. It’s very disheartening, but mostly I’m surprised.
As an independant author, I kind of expect fingers to be pointed at me and told how unprofessional I am. I expect people to think I solicit reviews or get my friends/family to write them for me. And I get that. I mean, it’s assumed that because I don’t have a contract with a traditional publisher, I must be bad and would, therefore, engage in shady review-spinning shenanigans.
But now it… Continue reading