JRR Tolkien: Interview from 1968

An interview with Tolkien, originally published in The Telegraph magazine on March 22. 1968.

For a fascinating look at the author behind the myth, and the discussion of his "epic fairy-tale", language, fairy-tales and the world of Middle Earth, in an era when fantasy wasn't fantasy yet.

What is also fascinating, is the language and skill of the article itself, this is before the media-zation of information. When writing was well written, and enjoyable to read in any medium.

 - Tolkien’s imaginary landscapes grew out of his predilection for creating languages. “Anyone who invents a language,” he said, “finds that it requires a suitable habitation and a history in which it can develop. A real language is never invented, of course. It is a natural thing. It is wrong to call the language you grow up speaking your native language. It is not. It is your first learnt language. It is a by-product of the total make-up of the animal.” Read the full article - telegraph.co.uk :

Triggerfish Story Lab Announces Shortlisted Entrants (Wanuri Kahiu, Nnedi Okorafor, Judy Kibinge + Others)

Triggefish Animation Studios announced that its inaugural Triggerfish Story Lab (which aims to give continental Africa’s most talented storytellers and filmmakers the opportunity to develop their ideas alongside Triggerfish’s international network of mentors)
Triggerfish has revealed the 23 feature and 12 TV projects that have been shortlisted 23 for the inaugural Story Lab, upped from the initially planned 10 features and 10 TV series, thanks to the overwhelming number of quality submissions. ... Read full article on indiewire.com

The shortlisted feature film entries are:

The Big Wild (Ian Pugh)
Born Flea (Andrew Phillips)
Bru and Boegie (Mike Scott)
The Camel Racer (Wanuri Kahui and Nnedi Okorafor)
The Crash (Julia Smuts Louw)
Dropped (Ian Tucker)
Elliot’s Journey (Judy Kibinge)
Fish Out of Water (Matthys Boshoff and Carina Stander)
The Legend of the Rain Queen (Hanneke Schutte)
The Life Factory (Howard James Fyvie)
Lights (Kay Carmichael)
The Little Five (Alex Latimer)
The Loneliest Satellite (Charlie Human)
Make Believe Maya (Nimrod Geva)
The Makers (Sheldon Bengston)
Molly and the Quarks (Donovan Marsh)
Mumbo Jumbo Bambinos (Mbuso Thulani Shiburi)
Paris in Africa (Yolanda Makalaza)
Paradox City (Greig Cameron)
True Colours (Bernard Bruwer)
The Wild Waste (Naseem Hoosen)
Witches Way (Jenna Bass and Chinelo Unwualo)
Zahrah the Windseeker (Wanuri Kahui and Nnedi Okorafor)

The shortlisted TV series are:

Chicken Core (Shina Ajulo)
Folklore (Andile Ngcizela)
Gullivan’s Loft (Jenny Verwoerd and Stephen van Wyk)
Herbert Smelly Pants (Denzil Lewis)
KC’s Super 4 (Malenga Mulendema)
Matchbox Monsters (Sue-Mari L. Sauer)
Ninja Princess (Marc Dey)
Onion Boy (Sarah Scrimgeour)
Sam and Sbu (Lori Reardon and John Reardon)
Sophie the Giantslayer (Kay Carmichael)
Uncanny Valley (Nicholas Rix and Moray Rhoda)
Wormholes (Lucy Heavens)

For more information, http://triggerfishstudios.com.

Mark Lawrence: Fantasy: What's new?

Interesting blog on modern fantasy, by Mark Lawrence the author of
The Broken Empire series: Prince of Thorns, King of Thorns, Emperor of Thorns, & Prince of Fools.

Mark Lawrence: Fantasy: What's new?: Modern fantasy has increasingly taken the war between good and evil away from elves and orcs, staging it instead within an individual's skull. ....

2013 Nebula Nominees Announced

Women Authors of Science Fiction and Fantasy Swept the Fiction Awards this year.

All of the fiction awards for 2013 were awarded to amazing women authors of Fantasy and Science Fiction. The Nebula Awards have for several years recognized women and authors of color. It is a great sign of the pendulums swing, I now am looking forward to the day that this is not actually news, and we can move beyond the need to point out how amazing this is.

2013 Nebula Awards

Novel 

Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Orbit UK)  

Nominees:

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Karen Joy Fowler (Marian Wood)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman (Morrow; Headline Review)
Fire with Fire, Charles E. Gannon (Baen)
Hild, Nicola Griffith (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
The Red: First Light, Linda Nagata (Mythic Island)
A Stranger in Olondria, Sofia Samatar (Small Beer)
The Golem and the Jinni, Helene Wecker (Harper)

Novella

The Weight of the Sunrise, Vylar Kaftan (Asimov’s 2/13)   

In her compelling new novella about the Incan empire, Vylar treats us to an alternate look at the history of the New World.
 Read Free Online Version

Nominees:

Wakulla Springs, Andy Duncan & Ellen Klages (Tor.com 10/2/13)
Annabel Lee, Nancy Kress (New Under the Sun, Arc Manor/Phoenix Pick)
Burning Girls, Veronica Schanoes (Tor.com 6/19/13)
Trial of the Century, Lawrence M. Schoen (lawrencemschoen.com, 8/13; World Jumping)
Six-Gun Snow White, Catherynne M. Valente (Subterranean)

Novelette

The Waiting Stars, Aliette de Bodard (The Other Half of the Sky) 

Nominees:

Paranormal Romance, Christopher Barzak (Lightspeed 6/13)
They Shall Salt the Earth with Seeds of Glass, Alaya Dawn Johnson (Asimov’s 1/13)
Pearl Rehabilitative Colony for Ungrateful Daughters, Henry Lien (Asimov’s 12/13)
The Litigation Master and the Monkey King, Ken Liu (Lightspeed 8/13)
In Joy, Knowing the Abyss Behind, Sarah Pinsker (Strange Horizons 7/1 – 7/8/13)

Short Story

If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love, Rachel Swirsky (Apex 3/13) 

Nominees:

The Sounds of Old Earth, Matthew Kressel (Lightspeed 1/13)
Selkie Stories Are for Losers, Sofia Samatar (Strange Horizons 1/7/13)
Selected Program Notes from the Retrospective Exhibition of Theresa Rosenberg Latimer, Kenneth Schneyer (Clockwork Phoenix 4)
Alive, Alive Oh, Sylvia Spruck Wrigley (Lightspeed 6/13)

Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, director; Alfonso Cuarón & Jonás Cuarón, writers) (Warner Bros.)

Nominees:

Doctor Who: ‘‘The Day of the Doctor’’, (Nick Hurran, director; Steven Moffat, writer) (BBC Wales)
Europa Report (Sebastián Cordero, director; Philip Gelatt, writer) (Start Motion Pictures)
Her (Spike Jonze, director; Spike Jonze, writer) (Warner Bros.)
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Francis Lawrence, director; Simon Beaufoy & Michael deBruyn, writers) (Lionsgate)
Pacific Rim (Guillermo del Toro, director; Travis Beacham & Guillermo del Toro, writers) (Warner Bros.)

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy

Sister Mine, Nalo Hopkinson (Grand Central)  

Nominees:

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, Holly Black (Little, Brown; Indigo)
When We Wake, Karen Healey (Allen & Unwin; Little, Brown)
The Summer Prince, Alaya Dawn Johnson (Levine)
Hero, Alethea Kontis (Harcourt)
September Girls, Bennett Madison (Harper Teen)
A Corner of White, Jaclyn Moriarty (Levine)

Damon Knight Grand Master Award: Samuel R. Delany
Special Guest: Frank M. Robinson

Links:

SFWA : 2013 Nebula Awards Winners Announced

Foolishness - Literary Style

Literary Shenanigans

I have collected here some literary related April Fools for 2014.

Brandon Sanderson Releases a deleted interlude that offers new insight into a minor character who is very important to WORDS OF RADIANCE


DRESDEN FILES coming to BROADWAY!
First, there were novels. Then it became a TV show. Then a comic book. Now, Harry Dresden is going where no urban fantasy book series has gone before. In Spring 2015, THE DRESDEN FILES conquers Broadway.

New Discovery: Goodreads to Publish Lost Jane Austen Novel

Author Jeff VanderMeer announced on facebook that he’d be writing a novelization of the popular game Candy Crush.

Ada Hoffmann Releases the programming schedule for Dinosaurcon 2014

Jim Hines is compiling a list of links to more foolish things on his  April Fool's day Roundup.

ScreenRant had George R. R. Martin fans nervous with this article: Martin Working With Co-Writers to Finish ‘Game of Thrones’ Books

Listen to or read The Legend of Roboninja over at Lightspeed Magazine

Some interesting facts on Fools Day by The Disorganised Author

Neil Gaiman reads Green Eggs and Ham

Neil reads Dr Seuss's GREEN EGGS AND HAM, in honor of the Worldbuilders 2014 charity hitting a $500,000 stretch goal.

Book Review: Feed by Mira Grant

Feed by Mira Grant
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Feed is the first book in the award winning zombie apocalypse Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant, pseudonym for New York Times bestselling author Seanan McGuire.

Though Feed is basically a near future zombie apocalypse book, it is not really a story about zombies. The zombie apocalypse is just the stage that Mira Grant has set through believable and fantastic worldbulding. This is a story of the evolution of society. This is a biological terror thriller, and a story of humanity both at our best and our worst.

With a seamless twining of cultural, historical and scientific accuracy, in an eerily realistic evolution of society this Science Fiction story depicts an all too real view of human nature. Drawing from all aspects of science, historical events; and current societal trends and issues Grant in true science fiction fashion asks whats next? and what if?

Unlike some thriller, apocalyptic or dystopian stories in Feed Grant avoids the often narrow or flat apocalyptic world by not focusing on any one thing but an intricately woven tapestry with direct connections to society and issues today.
From the loss freedoms of a post 911 world, and the politics of fear. To the changing roles of Network News Media, Bloggers and the internet and the information privacy wars. Throw in a little bit of the threats of corporate and governmental powers, corruption and greed, and the scary stuff that is coming out of true scientific 'advances' today. When you add all of that to a well developed plot, likable developed characters and the obvious research and attention to worldbuilding, you get a great story!

The only flaws I was able to see was that I would have liked to have seen more character growth over time, and a little less info dumping, though the use of blogging and news dumps to accomplish this was done extremely well, and since the main protagonists were news bloggers I am not sure how you can really avoid the show and don't tell.

I highly recommend this book (and series) to anyone looking for an intelligent biological/conspiracy/science thriller or an apocalyptic science fiction.

If you are looking for a standard Zombie Apocalypse or typical horror movie zombies you maybe disappointed, because Feed is much much more than that.

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Awesomeness ...  


 

Girls Who Read is a poem, written and performed by poet, writer, teacher, actor, spoken word performer, and rap-battler, Mark Grist. 

The video from Roundhouse London, is a testament to how powerful and beautiful poetry can be. With today's tendency towards sound bites and twitter talk, it is wonderful to see the return of the spoken word performance. This movement towards (or backwards) to the power of words and language to convey idea's and tell stories is part of the human experience. The oral tradition, From the early Norse saga's and the bardic traditions of the middle ages to the Izibongo, African praise poets, who for centuries performed oral recounting's of a tribal chief’s accomplishments. The Romans's took oration and words to a level of importance that we have not seen since. The Tibetan Paper Singer or Grags-pa seng-ge carried a similar role in Central and North Eastern Asia. He recounted ongoing stories about kings and their accomplishments. His historical poems were often tens of thousands of lines long.

Book Review: Unknown by Rachel Caine

Unknown by Rachel Caine

Outcast Season, book 2 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really liked this book, and yet I feel terrible that i did, it is so disturbing.
Rachel Caine weaves a disturbing and heart wrenching story, drawing on some of the most horrific historical and current events of mankind and war. The main character Cassiel is a true heroine, the romance in the story is believable and does not diminish either into stereotypical roles.

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Book Review: Undone - Outcast Season Series by Rachel Caine

Undone by Rachel Caine

Outcast Season Series, book 1

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Rachel Caine has managed to intricately weave a secondary viewpoint story line that seamlessly follows along the main story arcs of her amazing Weather Warden series, written like an Epic fantasy, split into different books instead of combined.

Though I am still waiting for a true epic multiple viewpoint and story arc Urban fantasy this is very close, I think that what little was missing in the scope and 'epicness' of the Weather Wardens, is fulfilled with this secondary series.

As much as I loved Joanne and the main characters of the Weather Wardens, I think the author has improved, the story by not relying on the typical urban fantasy snarky "I can beat up the bad guys, make humorous comments, and still wear great heels" heroine. With Cassiel we get a strong heroine with flaws and real internal conflicts.

The only negative is that the book it too short feeling more like a novella that a full book, and talk about cliff-hangers!



Authors website: Rachel Caine

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Book Review: Ill Wind - Weather Warden Series by Rachel Caine

Ill Wind by Rachel Caine

Weather Warden Series 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rachel Caine's Weather Warden series is one of the many series that has been sitting buried in my to-read list for too long.

Ill Wind, is the first book, in this unique urban fantasy, and once I started I could not stop and continued on to read the entire series. So my review is of the series as a whole. Short story - I absolutely loved it!

A true urban fantasy devoid of vampires, the author has woven a story that is part weather channel, part storm chasers and part epic fantasy.

The writing is so good, that I forgot I was reading Urban Fantasy at times, there is a tendency in this genre for strong characters and/or plots, but a simpler style of writing and world building where the magic and supernatural elements are involved. This book and series breaks that formula with well developed world-building, a strong magic system that is tied to the world and feels believable and probable, and all the foreshadowing and inter connections of an epic fantasy.

Links:
Rachel Caine


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Book Review: Unclean Spirits by M.L.N. Hanover

Unclean Spirits  by M.L.N. Hanover

Book 1 of The Black Sun's Daughter

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was ok, I liked it enough and the world was interesting, but the character's were a bit thin and the relations between them somewhat unbelievable, it was difficult to believe the connections they made to each other, or to care much about those relationships.

M.L.N. Hanover is a pseudonym for fantasy writer Daniel Abraham.

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Book Review: Heart of the Mirage by Glenda Larke

Heart of the Mirage by Glenda Larke

Book 1 of Mirage Makers series 

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

After reading Glenda Larke's other series I finally got through my to read list to read this book. I really enjoyed the world-building and historical connections. The characters were not as engaging to me as I usually like, but overall I really enjoyed this book. My only regret is that I did not realize that the next 2 books in the series are not available in ebook format in the US.

Drawing from historical events and basing the language and culture on Ancient Rome, and what feels like a mix of the Australian outback and African deserts, Glenda Larke manages to weave a believable tale of self discovery, and magic while avoiding the standard fantasy trope of medieval Europe.

Authors website: Glenda Larke.

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Book Review: Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

Reckoners series, book 1

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fantastic ..... To Quote Pat Rothfuss: "Steelheart is another win for Sanderson, proving that he's not a brilliant writer of epic fantasy, he's simply a brilliant writer. Period. "

The first book in Sanderson's Reckoners series, Steelheart is everything a book should be, it is well written, the action and pacing are intense, the world-building is phenomenal and the characters are engaging. But that is only the beginning of why this is a great book.

Sanderson manages to evoke the feeling of the old comics and classic Superhero's with a unique twist and the reality of what power really is and what it means to be a true hero.

Links:
Brandon Sanderson
Steelheart Portal


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Book Review: The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter

The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett

The Long Earth Series book 1

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I wavered on the rating on this one, I went with 3 because the concept and idea were interesting, and new, and in Science fiction the Idea is always important. But as for plot, story and characters this book missed the mark, so much more could have been done.

Author Sites: Terry Pratchett
Stephen Baxter
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Book Review: Terrene: The Hidden Valley by Eric Liu

Terrene: The Hidden Valley by Eric Liu

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book has a very interesting concept and story, I wish it would have been executed better, transitions between the timelines could be smoother, and character development is weak.

**** SPOILER *****
Though the ending wraps up the story satisfactorily in an unexpected way and unusual twist, there is too little in the book to support some of the events and conclusions.


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Book Review: A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson

A Memory of Light The Final Book in The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

Wheel of Time Series Book 14

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The end of an age, the end of an epic.
After 23 years,15 books, 11,916 Pages, 684 Chapters,4,416,130 Words, I do not think I have the words yet to say anything about "A Memory of Light" or The end of "The Wheel of Time".

Right now I can only say thank you Robert Jordan for your dream and your story. Thank you to Harriet and Team Jordan and Brandon Sanderson who worked to keep the wheel turning.

Links:
Dragonmount.com a Wheel of Time Community.
Theoryland.com hardcore fan freaks of the wheel of time.
Encyclopaedia WoT A premier resource among when it comes to the online Wheel of Time world. It is exactly what it sounds like.
Authors website: Brandon Sanderson

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Book Review: Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

Shades of Grey series Book 1

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am steel reeling, I do not think I have ever read a book like it, and I will need some time to digest and ponder before I could begin any kind of review, is just so new, and different. at this point I can only point to this review and comment by Patrick Rothfuss


Book Quotes:
“You see? I know where every single book used to be in the library.' She pointed to the shelf opposite. 'Over there was Catch-22, which was a hugely popular fishing book and one of a series, I believe.”
― Jasper Fforde, Shades of Grey
“Her areas of expertise are bar codes, book titles and maps - she has an original Parker Brothers map of the world.” ― Jasper Fforde, Shades of Grey

Links:
Jasper Fforde
Shades Of Grey Book Site

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Book Review: Trapped book 5 of The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne

Trapped by Kevin Hearne

Book 5 of The Iron Druid Chronicles 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Kevin Hearne continues to impress me with this series, the books continue to get better and Trapped is full of adventure, humor, and world building more akin to epic fantasy than urban fantasy!

Authors site: Kevin Hearne

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Book Review: Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor

Days of Blood & Starlight  by Laini Taylor

Daughter of Smoke & Bone, book 2

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, and Laini Taylor does not disappoint in this second book in the series. From the characters to the story arc, this is a solid urban fantasy.

For the few things that bothered me while I was reading it I had to remind myself that this is a YA book, in all other ways it is not a typical YA, with a fully developed magic system, and solid world building, along with strong characters.

The main female character is strong and believable, the romance is part of her but does not truly define her.

Links:
Read my review of Book 1, Daughter of Smoke & Bone here.
Laini Taylor

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