One of the podcasts I listen to in my spare time (or rather, while I’m mowing the lawn or doing laundry or in the car, because really: who has spare time?) is Writing Excuses, which includes Mary Robinette Kowal. She is the author of the Glamourist Histories, which I hear is something like Pride and […]
Archives for July 2014
Andy Weir’s The Martian Should Get a Hugo Nomination
2014-07-14 · by ·
If Andy Weir isn’t up for the Hugo next year, then scifi fandom doesn’t deserve good fiction anymore, because The Martian is pure awesome sauce. Left behind on Mars after a freak dust storm puts a hole in his suit and buries him, Mark Watney–astronaut, biologist, engineer–knows that the odds are against him returning back to Earth […]
Review | Cress by Marissa Meyer (The Lunar Chronicles #3)
2014-07-12 · by ·
Cress is an extremely savvy techie that has been stuck in a satellite for years. When she’s not doing Queen Lavana’s evil bidding, she’s usually glued to Earth’s satellite feeds, gathering information or pining over the infamous human, Captain Carswell Thorne. Now that Cress has reached out to Queen Lavana’s nemesis, Linh Cinder, she’s flirting […]
Review | Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson (The Reckoners #1)
2014-07-11 · by ·
As a boy, David had a terrible experience with the most powerful Epic of all: Steelheart. But through this experience, he may be the only person with a clue as to what Steelheart’s weakness is. All Epics have some sort of weakness, but Epics go to great lengths to conceal them. David hopes to join […]
Review | We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
2014-07-10 · by ·
Cadence Sinclair Eastman comes from some serious family money. Cady spends the summer months on her Grandpa’s private island with her cousins, aunts, and grandparents. The ‘Liars’ consist of two of Cady’s cousins that are her age and a boy who has been coming to the island every summer since Cady was eight. The Liars […]
Review | To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
2014-07-09 · by ·
Lara Jean is a bit of a romantic; a pragmatic one though. Whenever she likes a boy with whom, for whatever reason it doesn’t work out, she writes them a love note. Lara Jean’s love notes are actually much more than just love notes, they are more of a purging of her love so she […]
A Two Minute Review: Nation by Terry Pratchett
2014-07-08 · by ·
I’ve never made a secret about my love of Terry Pratchett‘s writing. In the lottery of picking a good novel, choosing one with Pratchett’s name on the cover dramatically increases the odds of winning. Nation is no exception. Title: Nation Author: Terry Pratchett Genre: Young Adult – Fantasy Publisher: HarperCollins Release Date: October 6, 2009 Format: Audio Pages: 396 […]
David Farland Nails It: Drawing on the Power of Resonance in Writing
2014-07-07 · by ·
Writing about a book on writing is perhaps an odd challenge. On the one hand, I read the book because I wanted to become a better writer. On the other hand, I’m reviewing the book, telling where the author (of a book on writing, if you recall) has succeeded or failed at their attempt. Fortunately, […]
Book Review | Guy Stuff in the Scriptures by Mike Winder
2014-07-06 · by ·
And now, something completely different from my typical reviews… Mike Winder is a friend, so when he asked if I would take a look at his newest book (he’s written several, including Presidents & Prophets. The Story of America’s Presidents and the LDS Church and When the White House Comes to Zion), I was more […]
Salt Lake’s Fantasy Con 2014 is a Magical Crowd Pleaser
2014-07-05 · by ·
If Salt Lake’s Fantasy Con is a sign of things to come, than fantasy fans can look forward to good times. In his book Drawing on the Power of Resonance in Writing, David Farland speculates that the fantasy genre sells as much as six times as many books at science fiction. Over the years, especially since the […]
