Tag archives for Fiction - Page 9
Bloodline Feud by Charles Stross [Book Review]
The Bloodline Feud by Charles Stross My rating: 5 of 5 stars Bloodline Feud is a reworking of the first two books in the Merchant Princes series. Charlie Stross explained why he'd rewritten them on his blog. Basically he'd written them this way and was asked by the publisher to split them into smaller books because the fantasy doorstop wasn't in fashion. The Bloodline Feud I'd already read the entire series so I was wary of buying the Bloodline Feud. The only reason I did was because it was on special offer from Amazon for 99p. At that price almost anything is worth trying. Bloodline Feud is mostly the same story, but it is better than I remember either of the two books being. Also the combining them into one volume works very well. The story has a better pace…
Command the Raven by M J Logue [Book Review]
Command the Raven by Logue My rating: 5 of 5 stars Command the Raven is the second in the Uncivil Wars series by M J Logue. It follows on from Red Horse starting with the siege of Reading in Spring 1643. Command the Raven Although set during the first English Civil War, the Uncivil Wars books are more social history than military. Like its predecessor Command the Raven has its focus on the people, and horses, in Captain Hollie Babbitt's troop and their associates. Command the Raven opens with the siege of Reading and the troop's ennui with it. Luce Pettitt takes bad news from his widow very hard, and Hollie Babbitt wants away from the siege. A transfer from Essex's army to Fairfax in the north sees Babbitt change his fortunes. After a short period of recovery in Essex Babbitt marries. He then…
The Shepherd’s Crown by Terry Pratchett [Book Review]
The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett My rating: 5 of 5 stars The Shepherd's Crown is a fitting end to the Discworld stories. There was no diminution of the characters or story telling, despite Pterry's illness he kept this one up to his usual standard right to the end. I'm sure he knew that The Shepherd's Crown would be his last Discworld book, there are some interesting nods to that in the story. The Shepherd's Crown This is a Tiffany Aching story, although it also includes the other witches, and the Lords and Ladies too. There are some interesting new characters too, not just old favourites. I particularly liked Geoffrey, the calm weaver, and the old boys of Lancre who helped with the denouement. The Nac Mac Feegle are in there too, along with some of the lyrics from the Steeleye…
Author Interview – Greg Smith
Greg Smith, author & graphic designer This interview is with Greg Smith, a graphic designer turned novelist who has written two quite different novels in different genres. Greg is an Australian who has spent most of his life living in the US, but not quite enough to stop him signing off G'Day. Here are Greg Smith's answers to my questions. How long have you been writing for and what made you start writing? I’ve been writing seriously for several years now albeit sporadically, but it’s been something in the back of my mind to try way long before that. And to answer your question as to what, or in my case who, made me start writing ... I can thank my wife for that. One day I mentioned an idea for a story and she quipped, “That would make a…
Editing Perfects
Over the last few weeks I've been editing Perfects for a second draft. I finished it over two years ago and it has sat in the metaphorical drawer waiting until I had time between uni courses to focus on it and apply what I learned from A215 to it. As a re-cap, Perfects is an evolution of Exodus, which was my multi-threaded NaNoWriMo 2012 story of a mid twenty first century exodus of people from Earth into space as space travel became an order of magnitude cheaper. I decided when I re-looked at it that there was an interesting world there, but that the strands needed loads of work to knit together. One of the strands became the novella Crisis Point, which I released in 2013. Perfects followed a group of genetically engineered teenagers and twentysomethings living mainly in Cambridge.…