Below are the most recent 4 friends' journal entries.

Sunday, December 27th, 2009
sleigh	9:58a	Most Underrated Novel of 2009 Pat of Pat's Fantasy Hotlist has posted his yearly "Hottie" awards. As I've mentioned before, A Magic of Nightfall placed #9 in his Top Ten Novels of 2009. In the Hottie's, he's also listed Nightfall this way: MOST UNDERRATED NOVEL AWARD - S. L. Farrell's A Magic of Nightfall (Canada, USA, Europe) Farrell's The Nessantico Cycle is one of the better ongoing fantasy series out there. You should give A Magic of Twilight (Canada, USA, Europe) a shot. While being "most underrated" is rather one of those left-handed compliments (though it's certainly better than being "most overrated" -- though I'll wager that the 'most overrated' book earns far more money for its author...), I certainly have to agree with Pat on that last sentence! Try A Magic of Twilight in mass market, and if you wait until March, you can get A Magic of Nightfall in it's mass market edition... and then you'll be forced to get A Magic of Dawn in hardcover in April with its lovely new Lockwood cover.... Mwah hah hah --- it's all an evil plot! Current Music: The Gloaming (Softly Open Our Mouths In The Cold) - Radiohead (Comment on this)
Monday, December 21st, 2009
sleigh	5:42p	Oooh, shiny! Just received my contributor's copies of SUICIDE KINGS, the latest Wild Cards mosaic novel. SUICIDE KINGS sports an extremely attractive foil cover by Michael Komarck, featuring good ol' Rusty fighting a crocodile. Contributors to this volume are (in alphabetical order): Daniel Abraham, S.L. Farrell, Victor Milán, Melinda Snodgrass, Caroline Spector, and Ian Tregillis. George RR Martin, ably assisted by Melinda Snodgrass, edited the volume. There have been several nice reviews of the novel already. Pick it up! It's a lovely holiday gift! Current Music: This Will Be My Year - Semisonic (Comment on this)
Sunday, December 20th, 2009
sleigh	9:35a	Avatar Denise, Devon, and I went to see James Cameron's Avatar last night, and since I'm still in grading mode, here's the bottom line: Cinematography: A+ Worldbuilding: B+ Script: C OVERALL SCORE: B+ ( DO NOT click on this unless you're willing to read significant plot spoilers! I'm not kidding... ) I wish Cameron had lavished on Avatar the same care with the script that he lavished on the film's appearance and on building this gorgeous world. The film is well-made, well-acted, and for all its predictability, well worth seeing. So go see it -- if only to view how current CGI can render a fantasy solid and immersive. That's the real accomplishment of this film. Current Music: Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore - Liam O Manaoil (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, December 19th, 2009
sleigh	2:50p	Dead Semester Grades are in as of late last night: the semester is now officially over. Now I have to start looking at putting together a syllabus for the graduate "Advanced Novel Workshop" course, creating another for the Independent Study I'm mentoring next semester, revising the syllabi for the other three courses I'll be teaching, and getting material together for all of them... **** I spent a pleasant hour or so this afternoon chatting with kerinda and being interviewed by her for an upcoming Romantic Times Magazine piece. I enjoyed getting to know her a little better; an interesting person in her own right! And I need to get cracking on the rewrite for George of my story in FORT FREAK, the next Wild Cards volume. It's due in a few weeks... Still waiting to hear on a novel proposal, and I'm working on two other ideas at the moment as well. Which one might actually end up being the next work-in-progress (or whether it'll be something 'completely different'), well, we'll just have to wait and see. Being a writer: like "being a musician," one of the careers to which one seems to eternally aspire, but in which one never entirely feels safe or comfortable. But maybe that's a condition in which a lot of people seem to find themselves. Current Music: History - Michael Jackson (2 Comments |Comment on this)