Wednesday, April 30, 2014

2014 April Reading List

The Edge of Hope by Alina Popescu – If you’re into paranormal romance, this might be the book for you. Amazon
 
The Voices of the Dead by Julian Sanchez – This book has similar problems to The Antiquarian. The first half is great then the supernatural takes over and everything goes down hill from there. The ending was predictable, and it’s not really an ending at all. 4/5 stars Elefant.ro

CPSF4 – Hannu Rajaniemi’s stories are so far set in time that it makes it hard to relate to his characters. 3/5 stars Nemira

 CPSF5 –Ted Chiang always writes well, even when the stories are not very special, and Liviu Radu is, of course, always a treat. 4/5 stars Nemira

CPSF6 –Like I needed more proof that I’ll never be a horror fan. 3/5 stars Nemira

CPSF7 –I didn’t like 2013 so there’s nothing really worth mentioning in this one. 2/5 stars Nemira

CPSF8 – Alliette de Bodard writes well, but I don’t seem to care for any of the themes she approaches. Shrug. 3/5 stars Nemira

CPSF9 – I really hate it when they publish excerpts instead of full stories. 3/5 stars Nemira

CPSF10 – It pretends to be a hard sf issue, but the first two short stories are not and the essay is 25 years old. 4/5 stars Nemira

CPSF11 – The first story was too heavy and King’s didn’t belong here. 3/5 stars Nemira

CPSF12-13 –A double issue and not bad as a whole, but taken separately the stories weren’t that memorable. 4/5 stars Nemira

CPSF14 – Arthur C. Clark is always a treat, and Czeller describes an interesting universe that would have been a better fit for a novella. 4/5 stars Nemira

No One Writes to the Colonel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez – Beautiful prose with a great character arch. 4/5 stars  Amazon Bookdepository

Of Love and Other Demons by Gabriel Garcia Marquez – Creepy children are a big turn off for me so I didn’t enjoy the story much, mostly because I didn’t quite understand why the girl behaved the way she did and she was an unlikable character. 3/5 stars Amazon Bookdepository

Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold – After diving in unfamiliar waters this month, it felt like finally coming home. 4/5 stars Amazon Bookdepository

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Xenos. Contact intre civilizatii

It looks like SRSFF's latest anthology project will be called "Xenox. Contact intre civilizatii" (Xenox. Contact between Civilizations). The editor is Antuza Genescu, and the book is already announced on Nemira's website. The official launch will take place at Bookfest book fair in Bucharest (May 28 - June 1st).

The Romanian book description:

"Sigur v-aţi întrebat, măcar o dată, ce-aţi face dacă v-aţi trezi cu un extraterestru în faţă. Dar v-aţi şi dat un răspuns? Dacă nu, va trebui s-o faceţi cât de repede. Începeţi prin a citi aceste întâlniri fabuloase cu extratereştri, puse pe hârtie chiar de către cei care le-au trăit. În realitate? În imaginaţie? Rămâne de văzut...

Nu staţi prea mult pe gânduri. Nu trebuie să ratați astfel de întâlniri! Sunt îndrăzneţe. Şi percutante. Ceilalţi poate că pândesc după colţ şi nu aşteaptă decât să faceți un singur pas greşit.
Fie că-i numiţi „extratereştri”, fie că le spuneţi doar „ei”, fie că nu le daţi un nume, din teamă că simpla lui rostire i-ar îndepărta prea devreme sau ar fi exact semnalul de începere a invaziei, atingerea lor tot o veţi resimţi cândva. Iar pentru asta trebuie să fiţi pregătiţi. Vă ajută autorii aleși pe sprânceană: Liviu Radu, Aurel Cărășel, Cristian Teodorescu, Daniel Haiduc, Diana Alzner, Ioana Vișan, George Lazăr, Mihai Liviu Goga, Ștefana Czeller."

Monday, April 14, 2014

The Impaler Legacy Omnibus Blog Tour Wrap-Up

The Impaler Legacy Omnibus blog tour has officially ended, and what a wild ride it was! We had book promos, excerpts, character interviews, author interviews, guest posts, daily offers, and one big giveaway spread across over 40 blogs. 

Let's give a big standing ovation to all of the participants and my tour coordinator, Alina Popescu!

Monday, April 7, 2014 - Day 1 
Butterfly-o-Meter Books    
Christy's Cozy Corners     
Moonrise Book Blog   
multitaskingmomma - gets her head out of the oven!    
Nerd Girl  
Shattering Words     
Starry's Books  
T. Michelle Nelson      
Three Degrees of Murder  

Tuesday, April 8, 2014 - Day 2 
Carti nemuritoare  
Fang Freakin' Tastic 
Indy Book Fairy 
Minding Spot 
My Husband's Watching TV While I'm Watching the Baby 
Pretty Little Pages

Starry's Books  
The Avid Reader  

Wednesday, April 9, 2014 - Day 3
Books Are Love  
Diane’s Book Blog  
Moon Shine Art Spot    
Mythical Books    
Nocturnal Predators Reviews  
Starry's Books  
Vonnie's Reading Corner 

Thursday, April 10, 2014 - Day 4
I Read Indie    
Kitty Muse and Me    
manda-rae reads a lot  
My Husband's Watching TV While I'm Watching the Baby   
Starry's Books   

Friday, April 11, 2014 - Day 5
Book Snatch   
Creating Serenity  
Moonbeams Over Atlanta   
Musings From An Addicted Reader 
My Weekly Book      
Starry's Books 
United Indie Book Blog  

Saturday, April 12, 2014 - Day 6
Doing Dewey  
Fantasy World 
Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks 
Starry's Books
The Book Addict  
Violeta-Loredana Pascal - Afaceri, imagine, comunicare si personal   

Sunday, April 13, 2014 - Day 7
Bianca2b  
Doodles, Doodles Everywhere   
Lovely Reads  
TNT Reviews  
Triquetra Reviews  
My Tangled Skeins Book Reviews  
Starry's Books 
Vampy and Racey  

The giveaway is running for another week so there's still time to enter.

Thank you all for participating!

The Impaler Legacy Omnibus is available through Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, and iTunes.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sunday, April 13, 2014

The Impaler Legacy Omnibus Blog Tour - Day 7

The Impaler Legacy Omnibus Blog Tour has ended!

Here are today's participants:

Bianca2b  (Author interview)
Doodles, Doodles Everywhere   (Book promo, Excerpt)
Lovely Reads   (Book promo, Author interview, Excerpt)
TNT Reviews  (Book Promo, Excerpt)
Triquetra Reviews  (Book promo, Excerpt)
My Tangled Skeins Book Reviews  (Book promo, Excerpt)
Vampy and Racey   (Book promo, Review, Excerpt)
Starry's Books (Daily offer!)
Don't miss the daily offer on Starry's Books!









Saturday, April 12, 2014

The Impaler Legacy Omnibus Blog Tour - Day 6

The Impaler Legacy Omnibus Blog Tour has started!

Here are today's participants:

Doing Dewey  (Review)
Fantasy World  (Author interview, Character interview, Excerpt)
Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks  (Review)
Southeast by Midwest (Review)
The Book Addict  (Book promo, Excerpt)
Violeta-Loredana Pascal - Afaceri, imagine, comunicare si personal  (Guest post)
Starry's Books (Daily offer!)

Don't miss the daily offer on Starry's Books!



Friday, April 11, 2014

The Impaler Legacy Omnibus Blog Tour - Day 5

The Impaler Legacy Omnibus Blog Tour has started!

Here are today's participants:

Book Snatch  (Book promo, Excerpt)
Creating Serenity (Book promo, Excerpt)
Moonbeams Over Atlanta (Book promo, Excerpt)
Musings From An Addicted Reader (Book promo)
My Weekly Book (Guest post) 
United Indie Book Blog (Book promo, Excerpt)
Starry's Books (Daily offer!)

Don't miss the daily offer on Starry's Books!




Thursday, April 10, 2014

The Impaler Legacy Omnibus Blog Tour - Day 4

The Impaler Legacy Omnibus Blog Tour has started!

Here are today's participants:

I Read Indie (Book promo, Excerpt)
Kitty Muse and Me (Book promo)
manda-rae reads a lot (Book promo, Review)
My Husband's Watching TV While I'm Watching the Baby (Character interview)
Niahara's World of Books (Book promo, Review, Excerpt) Starry's Books (Daily offer!)


Don't miss the daily offer on Starry's Books!


Wednesday, April 9, 2014

The Impaler Legacy Omnibus Blog Tour - Day 3

The Impaler Legacy Omnibus Blog Tour has started!

Here are today's participants:

Books Are Love (Book promo)
Diane’s Book Blog (Book promo, Review, Character interview)
Moon Shine Art Spot  (Book promo) 
Mythical Books (Author interview, Excerpt) 
Nocturnal Predators Reviews (Book promo, Excerpt)
Starry's Books (Daily offer!)
Vonnie's Reading Corner (Book promo, Excerpt)

Don't miss the daily offer on Starry's Books!




Tuesday, April 8, 2014

The Impaler Legacy Omnibus Blog Tour - Day 2

The Impaler Legacy Omnibus Blog Tour has started!

Here are today's participants:

Carti nemuritoare (Review)
Fang Freakin' Tastic (Reviews, Guest post)
Indy Book Fairy (Book promo, Excerpt )
Minding Spot (Book Promo)
My Husband's Watching TV While I'm Watching the Baby (Author interview)
Pretty Little Pages (Review, Excerpt)
The Avid Reader  (Book promo)
The World of Contestpatti  (Book promo, Review, Character interview, Excerpt)  
Starry's Books (Daily offer!)

Don't miss the daily offer on Starry's Books!




Monday, April 7, 2014

The Impaler Legacy Omnibus Blog Tour - Day 1

The Impaler Legacy Omnibus Blog Tour has started!

Here are today's participants:

Butterfly-o-Meter Books  (Book promo, Excerpt)  
Christy's Cozy Corners  (Book promo, Excerpt) 
Moonrise Book Blog  (Author interview)   
multitaskingmomma - gets her head out of the oven!  (Book promo, Review, Excerpt)
Nerd Girl  (Book promo, Excerpt)
Shattering Words  (Excerpt) 
Starry's Books (Daily offer!)
T. Michelle Nelson  (Author interview) 
Three Degrees of Murder (Book promo)

Don't miss the daily offer on Starry's Books!




Sunday, April 6, 2014

The Impaler Legacy Omnibus Blog Tour

It starts tomorrow! No, not the new season of Game of Thrones (although Jaime... squee! lol). No, I meant The Impaler Legacy blog tour. Can you feel the excitement rising? :D

For a week, between April 7 and April 13, The Impaler Legacy Omnibus will be featured on 40+ blogs. There will be book promos, excerpts, reviews, interviews, character interviews, and guest posts written by yours truly.

All of the links to the participant blogs will appear in daily posts here on the blog.

Also, don't miss the daily offers on Starry's Books. You won't regret it!

Until then, here are the links where you can find The Impaler Legacy Omnibus:
Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iTunes, Smashwords

Thursday, April 3, 2014

My Writing Process Blog Tour

I've been invited by Dorothy Dreyer to participate to My Writing Process Blog Tour. Apparently it's been going on for a while, and many writers have been part of the tour already. I wasn't aware of the tour's existence, so many thanks to Dorothy for including me.

The rules are simple: I'm supposed to answer the following 4 questions and then nominate 3 other writers to continue the tour.

1) What am I working on? 

I'm on the last leg of writing the main novel in the Broken People series. It started with an idea for a novella, but as I wrote on it during the last year's NaNo, it turned out there was enough story for a whole novel. What I hadn't envisaged was the series of short stories focused on the characters' background. I honestly hadn't thought they'd be so interesting, but while writing about them, I discovered they were. So the good news is the novel will come out accompanied by a short story collection called The Nightingale Circus Collection. Yes, the story deals with a heist and a very special circus crew. As usual, there's quite a bit of action and drama, and why not, a bit of romance, too.

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre? 

I usually try not to compare myself or my work with other people as we all come from a specific background, and it's normal for us to be different. I have been told, however, that my stories tend to vary from the norm quite often, exposing the readers to worlds and ideas they hadn't thought about. I guess there's a good reason why my screen name is Weird Vision.

In the case of the Broken People series, the circus crew builds and repairs prosthetics as a side business, and all of its members are outcasts in one way or another. It's a story about fixing people, not only on a physical level, about perseverance, fighting for your goals, changing them when it doesn't work out, acceptance, and finding your place in the world, a place where you can be happy even if it's not the one you have been consciously looking for.

3) Why do I write what I do? 

This is going to sound like a cliche, but I write what I enjoy reading. It's mostly sci fi and fantasy, but I've been known to go astray and try other genres too. At the end of the day, I write for myself, not for the readers or the critics. If something feels right to me, then it will go in the story, regardless of how others will receive it. As far as I'm concerned, if in six months or a year from now I re-read something and still find it entertaining, then I'm happy.

4) How does my writing process work?

I write 1,000 words per day, except for the weekends. Since I usually know from the start how a story begins and ends, the first draft consists of getting the two of them connected through action and dialogue. The second draft adds descriptions and character development. The third draft is reserved for polishing the language. Then the manuscript goes to my beta readers. The fourth draft incorporates their suggestions, followed by one last read through. I constantly feel like I could do one more draft, but I know when to stop or I would never get to write anything else. I keep ideas in a text file and one-line scene descriptions in an Excel file. I don't plot everything in advance, but I have a good idea of the overall arch and, most times, I know what's going to happen in the next three or four scenes before getting to actually write them. Odd habit: while writing something, I plot a completely different story at night before going to sleep.

Next week, look for answers coming from:

Ardyth DeBruyn - Ardyth DeBruyn is a native Oregonian with a restless nature and a degree in Anthropology. After hiking over 1500 miles across Europe and living on the Mexican border for a year, she settled back in the Pacific Northwest (for now) to write fantasy stories. She has decided she can type herself into adventures faster than walk.

Alina Popescu - Writer, traveler, and coffee addict; Alina Popescu has been in love with books all her life. She started writing when she was ten and even won awards in local competitions. She has always been drawn to sci-fi, fantasy, and the supernatural realm, which explains her deep love for vampires and is also to blame for this trilogy.

Travis Sullivan - Travis Sullivan has lived in Tokyo, Japan for the past six years and writes urban fantasies based there. His call to action (writing) was the big earthquake in 2011 that pushed him down the path of awesome. He graduated from the University of Alabama — Roll Tide — with a degree in political science which helps him interweave complex secret histories into his worlds.