Posted by Meg
A review of The Desert Spear popped up on the blog Strange Telemetry. I am going to go ahead and review this review by saying the summary is spot on, the content is well-written and the topics the author raises are ones, I think, writers and readers alike will want to ponder and discuss. Namely, the treatment of character development in The Desert Spear. So what are you waiting for? Check it out.
Posted by Meg
Both of these recent reviews of The Warded Man feature two similar qualities. The first: the authors of both blogs were skeptical when they cracked open the first book in the Demon Cycle. The second: both authors ended up giving The Warded Man more than 4 stars.
The first review comes from AQ’s Reviews, a blogger who reviews comics, science-fiction and fantasy books as well as television series. A lot of fantasy authors these days have a tough job trying to both ground their imagined worlds in more traditional fantasy worlds while, at the same time, striving to bring something entirely new and original to the genre. Readers are hungry for freshly imagined cultures and new twists on old tropes. In this review, the author delves into this discussion and talks about patterns that fantasy authors tend to often repeat in terms of character, plot and world. These can range from the superficial: how the characters look and present themselves to the major story arc of the book or series.
The second review is pulled from An Infinite Number of Monkeys, a blog dedicated to books, writing and photography. This reviewer first heard about The Warded Man because of all the press Peat got for writing on his cellphone on the F train (a fact that I am still impressed with). Noting that writing a book on a cellphone is definitely cool, the author wondered: was the book any good?
After expecting a boy fulfilling prophecy book during the first chapters, the reviewer quickly changes his tune upon meeting the rest of the beloved cast: Leesha and Rojer. The review notes how Peat uses some traditional fantasy tropes, but twists them into something more inventive.
Posted by Meg
If you are paying attention to Peat’s Twitter, you may have noticed the creation of a new “bot” this past month. The douchebot.
In a tweet, Peat called the spam-bot that incorrectly corrected his use of the word “you’re” a douchebot. That’s when Howard Taylor, author of Schlock of Mercenary and co-author of Writing Excuses, volunteered to draw a picture of the douchebot. The chance arose a couple weeks ago at Lunacon.
Click here for the original Tweet!
Peat got a great video of the drawing process, which will be posted here soon. So check back!
Posted by Meg
Jardir has made it through some brutal battles, and it’s because of all the fans out there who believed in him enough to vote that he would win! Now, he has made it to Round 3 where he is up against a formidable opponent …
But first, let’s review our favorite warrior’s battle history:
First, he defeated Lady Jessica from the Dune series by Frank Herbert in a close, epic battle. This qualified him to move on to the next round where he went up against Havemercy, a magical, metal dragon from Havemercy by Jadia Jones and Danielle Bennett. Though Jardir wasn’t the predicted winner, he prevailed in the end.
Well, he may have met his match this time, but let’s make sure he goes down fighting! Jardir is now up against Moiraine Damodred, a character from Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. But guess who the predicted winner is? Jardir! Let’s give him some power and head over to the cage match and vote for him! There is a prose write-up giving details on what might go down during the battle, so make sure to give that a read before casting your vote for the one and only, Jardir.
Posted by Meg
Peat went to Boskone 49 last month and had a blast.
(Books are not the Hammer)
Picture of Peat from the Character & Hard SF panel. From left to right: Bud Sparhawk, Eileen Grayhawk, Catherine Kramer, Captain Hammer
You can also check out a fan’s account of weekend. For more pictures, taken by the Art Director at Tor, click here.
One of the really exciting parts of the weekend was that John Scalzi was the Guest of Honor. Artist Daniel dos Santos decided to draw a portrait of Scalzi over the weekend. Luckily, Peat was in a prime viewing location to take pictures of the portrait as it was being created. He snapped a series of photos every couple minutes, and I created this nifty gif of the proceedings:
Saturday, 2pm, Harbor I: Guest of Honor Interview and Portrait Painting In this unique mega-mixed-media event, our Official Artist Daniel dos Santos will both interview and simultaneously create a fabulous painting of our Guest of Honor John Scalzi. We considered requesting that John also be suspended facedown in a tub of Coke Zero and Daniel ride a unicycle, but you can only take fan service so far.