Terry Pratchett is one of the writers I most admire. A few posts ago, I wrote about adding humor to your writing. Pratchett doesn't simply 'add' humor; he weaves social commentary into his impressive body of works -- Discworld and otherwise -- and then proceeds to mask it with satire and sharpness that can kick... Continue Reading →
Thursday Recommendation: Half a King
Joe Abercrombie is a master of subverting expectations. I have yet to touch Abercrombie's most well-known work, the First Law trilogy, although I have only heard good -- Nay, great -- things about it. Now that I've read the first book in the Shattered Sea trilogy, I am more than looking forward to that experience.... Continue Reading →
Book Recommendation: The Way of Kings
Brandon Sanderson is one talented sunuvabiscuit. It's impossible for me to think of a title that has Sanderson's name on it, and is also bad. There's no higher accolade I could give an author. Sure, there's always something to get annoyed about, if you're looking for reasons to do so -- Sanderson's near-constant avoidance of actually... Continue Reading →
Thursday Spotlight: Sins of Empire
Sins of Empire is one hell of a ride. Never had I touched a Brian McCllelan book before this one, although his Powder Mage universe has received critical and fan acclaim alike--enough of both, anyway, even for someone like me, still too bloody busy reading classic works of fantasy (like the wonderful Black Company series. I'm not certain... Continue Reading →
Spotlight Thursday: Uprooted
There is something about the woods, some primordial fear that has been nagging away at all of us, at the entirety of humanity, long before we learned to create fires, long before we began making tools; a fear that's been with us since our very inception, as evident in that most precious of folklore -... Continue Reading →