Lollipop and Grandpa's Back Garden Safari - Penelope Harper and illustrated by Cate James

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Summary:
Back gardens have never been this exciting! Lollipop and Grandpa are intrepid explorers, always on the lookout for the next adventure! It’s often just the two of them against the world in their expeditions, armed only with ham sandwiches and imagination. In this book they set out on an exciting expedition in the back garden where they encounter Chimpan-trees, a Hippo-potta-compost and even a Croco-logus. They’re prepared for action, but will Lollipop and Grandpa make it back home safely?~~~

I was given this book a little while ago and I completely fell in love with it. The story is charming, imaginative and heart-warming. It's great for kids who want to have some adventures in their garden or in the park - instead of a boring patch of grass, they can discover a world full of danger and scary creatures like the Chimpan-trees or the Croco-logus. Any corner of the garden can transform into a scary creature and there really isn't a peaceful place to eat ham sandwiches!
The illustrations by Edinburgh-based illustrator Cate James are simply fantastic. They're very stylish and evocative and play on textures as well as colour. The font is really easy to read and Penelope Harper's story is well-paced, funny and an amazing springboard for children's imagination. 
This is an adorable book for grandparents to read to their own little explorers and this is the start of an amazing picture book series about Lollipop's adventures with her Grandpa. Thumbs up from me!

Lollipop and Grandpa's Back Garden Safari, by Penelope Harper and illustrated by Cate James | 2012 | Phoenix Books | Age 3 to 5 | Gift

Dreamsongs, Volume 2

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When I read and reviewed Dreamsongs, Volume 1 (Canada, USA, Europe) way back in 2007, George R. R. Martin told me that the second volume was even better. Hard to believe, I thought. After all, as a compendium of GRRM's early work, the first installment was a veritable journey through the author's long and celebrated career. What I enjoyed the most, and it's the case in this second volume as well, was that each section begins with an extensive and insightful commentary that allows readers to learn so much about the stories behind the stories. As good as the material is, I often found Martin's commentary to be as fascinating as the tales themselves.

For all you GRRM fans out there, the collection of short fiction found within the pages of both Dreamsongs volumes is the perfect opportunity for you to get better acquainted with the material which allowed George R. R. Martin to win every possible speculative fiction award out there. And believe me when I tell you that at times it gets as good as A song of Ice and Fire. Indeed, in my opinion Dreamsongs, Volume 2 is second only to A Storm of Swords in terms of quality. So for all those clamoring for The Winds of Winter, if you need a GRRM fix, then look no further. Taken as a whole, the Dreamsongs books offer nearly 1500 pages' worth of GRRM awesomeness.

Martin never much liked labels. For him, it's about writing good stories. Maybe this approach is the reason why he somehow managed to work his magic regardless of the genre he's writing in. In Dreamsongs, Volume 2, GRRM comes across as a veritable master storyteller, be it in fantasy, science fiction, horror, urban fantasy, or whatever other label you'd like to attach to any of the tales found between the covers. Yes, it's that damn good!

Here's the blurb:

Dubbed “the American Tolkien” by Time magazine, #1 New York Times bestselling author George R.R. Martin is a giant in the field of fantasy literature and one of the most exciting storytellers of our time. Now he delivers a rare treat for readers: a compendium of his shorter works, all collected into two stunning volumes, that offer fascinating insight into his journey from young writer to award-winning master.

Whether writing about werewolves, wizards, or outer space, George R.R. Martin is renowned for his versatility and expansive talent, highlighted in this dazzling collection. Included here, in Volume II, are acclaimed stories such as the World Fantasy Award-winner “The Skin Trade,” as well as the first novella in the Ice and Fire universe, “The Hedge Knight,” plus two never-before-published screenplays. Featuring extensive author commentary, Dreamsongs, Volume II; is an invaluable chronicle of a writer at the height of his creativity—and an unforgettable reading experience for fans old and new.

In the first section of this collection, "A Taste of Tuf," we are introduced to Haviland Tuf, an eccentric ecological engineer. Not the most endearing of fellows, but nevertheless a very interesting protagonist. Both "A Beast for Norn" and "Guardians" may not be as great as some of the other material that comprises this collection, yet they set the tone and demonstrate how multilayered GRRM's talent truly is. It will become much more evident later in the book, but you immediately realize that Martin is as comfortable writing science fiction stories as he is with fantasy. Having said that, "Guardians" offers a few unexpected surprises that were quite satisfying.

The "The Siren Song of Hollywood" section contains two scripts from two projects GRRM worked on; Twilight Zone and Doorways. When it was aired, The Roads Less Traveled was cut and edited in such a way that it never reflected what the original script was all about. Here we have the full script, so those who saw the show years ago can now discover how it was always meant to be. A pilot was filmed for Doorways, but ABC pulled the plug and production ceased afterward. Again, the full script is found here. Martin refers to Doorways as the great "what if" of his career and it's easy to understand why.

The "Doing the Wild Card Shuffle" section has to do with the Wild Cards project and how it came to be. Since nowadays GRRM edits but doesn't write in the Wild Cards universe, it's interesting to read some older material from him. "Shell Games" features the Great and Powerful Turtle and Dr. Tachyon, and is a good introduction to the Wild Cards universe. But "The Journal of Xavier Desmond" is a powerful tale of a man dealing with cancer and approaching death. To a certain extent, it's also a study of America's foreign policy around the world through the 70s and the 80s and the impact it had on this alternate history. This one contains a number of poignant and touching moments, and was one of my favorite reads.

"The Heart in Conflict" is the section that literally blew my mind, however. Basically every single story found within was incredible! "Under Siege" is about time travel and an attempt to prevent the creation of the USSR. In a nutshell, "The Skin Trade" is a werewolf tale. But it's so much more than that. Essentially, it might be the best thing GRRM has written as far as short fiction goes. It's scary and awesome, and I for one would love to read more about PI Randi Wade and Willie the werewolf collector agent. Hands down the best piece in this collection. "Unsound Variations is an interesting chess and time travel tale that was also surprising.

"The Glass Flower" explores GRRM's science fiction future history. It's got a weird vibe at times, but is also an engrossing read. Most people reading this review are already familiar with "The Hedge Knight," the first tale featuring the unlikely duo Dunk and Egg. If you're not, then know that there are a few more ASOIAF stories out there! The novelette "Portaits of His Children" caps off the collection with a bang. It's a disturbing story about the price paid by writers when they put their ideas on paper.

Fascinating and unforgettable, Dreamsongs, Volume 2 is an amazing collection of short fiction from a man who has become a master of essentially every single sub-genre of speculative fiction. This book deserves the highest possible recommendation. Looking for the best possible Christmas present for GRRM fans everywhere? These two volumes have to be it!

The final verdict: 9.5/10

For more info about this title: Canada, USA, Europe

Ken Liu's Sense of Wonder

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Ken Liu is interviewed over at the Sense of Wonder blog.  Go check it out. 

I can't really turn around these days without running up against something about Liu.  It's not a bad thing.  He's already published several stories this year.  I'm holding off on those until I get closer to being done with the reading for my Hugo ballot.  By that point I expect another handful of Liu to be in the world.  The last year has been intensively prolific. Read him.

19 Books I'm Looking Forward to in 2012

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This is the fifth time I've attempted to put together a list of the books I am most looking forward to in the coming year.  I'm a little bit late on this one, but here you go. 

This is the first year I’ve posted one of these lists without including either a Wheel of Time novel or a George R. R. Martin book. Of course, the only reason for this is that A Memory of Light was pushed back from November 2012 to January 2013. But there it is. On the plus side, we’ve still got some Scott Lynch to look forward to. Maybe. 

More or less in order.  Sort of.

1. Republic of Thieves, by Scott Lynch: Oh, Gentleman Bastards, how I would like to read more of you. And yet, my real desire is for Scott Lynch’s health and well being. Take care of yourself, Scott. The book will come when it does.

2. Caine’s Law, by Matthew Stover (April): How in the world did I not know this was coming until just now? It’s a new Caine novel! You know, Heroes Die, Blade of Tyshalle, and Caine Black Knife. asskicking awesome fantasy/ sci-fi blend. The usual stuff that you simply must read.

3. Range of Ghosts, by Elizabeth Bear (March): New Fantasy Series. Elizabeth Bear. I am there.

4. Touchstone, by Melanie Rawn (February): I have such high hopes for this book. Rawn is the author of the excellent Dragon Prince and Dragon Star trilogies, but after beginning (and not finishing) her Exiles trilogy, Rawn took a long time off (for a very good reason), but returned to write two books in a now cancelled paranormal romance series. This (along with last year’s Golden Key prequel) marks her return to a more traditional epic fantasy series. Can’t wait!

5. The Coldest War, by Ian Tregillis (July): It’s about time that Tor got their stuff together and finally published this second volume of the Milkweed Triptych. Bitter Seeds was an excellent debut and The Coldest War had been on the shelf for waaaay too long.

6. Redshirts, by John Scalzi (June): New Scalzi.

7. Kitty Steals the Show, by Carrie Vaughn (August): Compulsively readable, Vaughn’s Kitty Norville novels are the ultimate summer crack. This is the 10th Kitty novel and Vaughn shows no sign of losing steam.

8. Arctic Rising, by Tobias Buckell (February): I’ve long been a fan of Buckell’s Xenowealth sequence and while he’s taken off quite a bit of time from that, here he delivers a near future climate-change novel.

9. Existence, by David Brin (July): New Brin! This sounds like it has touches of what made Earth such a cool and prescient novel.

10. ad eternum, by Elizabeth Bear (March): This is, presumably, the final Abby Irene novella from Bear.  I shall miss them.

11. Glamour in Glass, by Mary Robinette Kowal (April): It’s a mark of Kowal’s skill that I’m looking forward to the sequel to a book that could reasonably be pitched as “Jane Austen with magic”.

12. Wake of the Bloody Angel, by Alex Bledsoe (July): New Eddie LaCrosse novel.

13. Red Country, by Joe Abercrombie (November):Another tale told in the world of The First Law. All I really ask for is for some face-in-the-mud unpleasantness and battles as told with the evil snark of Joe Abercrombie. Is that too much to ask for? I don’t think that it is.

14. Inexplicable, by Cherie Priest (Fall): The fourth Clockwork Century novel. I need to read Ganymede, but more Cherie Priest is always a good thing.

15. Lowball, by George R. R. Martin (editor): I still need to catch up on Fort Freak and Books 9 – 17, but a new Wild Cards volume is a happy day for me.

16. Eclipse Five, by Jonathan Strahan (May): Strahan’s name on an anthology is enough to make me take a second look, but his Eclipse volumes are an automatic purchase. It’s a fantastic original anthology series and what I like best is that it’s unthemed.

17. Boneyards, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (January): I loved Diving into the Wreck and then somehow managed to not read City of Ruins (the sequel). Here is book three. I’d better get cracking.

18. Devils’s Wake, by Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due: It’s an apocalyptic novel with aliens. And zombies, of sorts. I’m down with that.

19. After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall, by Nancy Kress (April): I tend to enjoy what Nancy Kress writes and here you’ve got some interesting combination of a post apocalyptic world, aliens, and time travel.

I could probably make another list or three of all the books I'm looking forward to.  Here, I've mostly stuck with the SFF genre.  Step outside of the genre, and the list will grow exponentially.

So.  What do YOU want to read this year?

Thunderstorms a'brewin'

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Oh the audacity! The Nerve! I can't even...*splutter* ...it's....humph...

*Rant ahead*

Not much gets under my skin more then people who bully. People who assume their situation is the only space in the universe that matters. I know I don't usually (ever) talk about my job here...but I had a very frustrating phone call happen the other day and I needed to clear the air.

First of all. Is it even conceivable, in this, for lack of a better term, Day and Age, that someone NOT have access to a computer with internet capability? Seriously? If all else fails, the Library? But I get ahead of myself.

There was a "person of interest" quick article of me, in a local here. :) Just a quick bit. On the last page the story gave my contact info for my business. (This is important, trust me.) My phone number, email, and webpage. All good information to have! Yay!

I get a phone call, while I'm driving, from a woman who wanted information about the type of massage I do. Easy enough. She had read the article but couldn't find the FIRST PAGE of the article. The Second page was where all the contact information was so I told her about the webpage. She interrupts me and says very annoyed that she won't be going on to a computer to get any information about my business. Not that she doesn't have access but almost like she won't be bothered. Then she asks me to send her information about my business to her through the mail.  Um, ok? Now I'm confused a bit. So I told her I was driving and could I please call her back in a bit. Sure no problem. She was fine with that.

A couple of hours later, in the midst of a big thunderstorm, which I didn't think anything about, I tried calling her back.

Call 1: Her: Hello!! Yes! Do you have a piece of paper you can write on?
Me: (I'm catching about every other word of this...) I'm sorry you're breaking up...Did you say you needed information on the type of massage I do? (I'm thinking I can just simply answer her questions over the phone...)
Her: Yes! You need to mail it to me!
Me: I need to...
Disconnected

Call 2: Her: Hello? Hello! Yes you need to write my address down. I need you to send me information about your business.
Me: I can just answer your...
Disconnected

Call 3: Me: Are you on a cell phone?
Her: I don't understand why you keep hanging up on me. Do you have a pen and paper there to take down my address?
Me: *Sigh* Sure. Go ahead.
Her: It...Disconnected.

At this point I thought maybe it was my phone so I called my mother in law had a great perfectly crystal clear conversation with her for about 5 minutes . Then put my big girl panties on and called this...person...back.

Call 4: Her: Yes. I'm sorry this is NOT a good time for ME right now. And Obviously you are having a really hard time taking my information down so...good by. *Hang up*.

I had a really REALLY hard time not calling her right back and saying something not very pleasant to this woman.

Oi. People. Sometimes. Sometimes it's just a thunderstorm, you know?

Goin's On's

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This week I am over at Unicorn Bell posting about how we write culture into our stories.

Which sounds way more snobby then it really will be.

Mainly I'll be discussing the background noise that goes into the writing of a book. The 'stuff' the reader doesn't notice, but will if it's wrong.

I'll also be discussing the interesting phenomenon that happens along with this when readers bring their Own culture to your story. When they assume they know what the 'rules' are. But don't. I read a very quick snippet of an article on this in Writers Digest (I think) about how readers will Assume your world is male dominated, unless otherwise specified. How your readers will assume a pregnant woman has a husband, unless otherwise specified. How your readers will assume all sorts of things. It was rather interesting. And frustrating. And explained the old way of doing 'info dumps' at the beginning of fantasy and sci-fi books. Problem is. We don't do that now. So how do we get the rules of our worlds across without boring the pants off our readers?

Head over to Unicorn Bell! :) This is what we'll be exploring this week! Politics! Art! Religion! Weapons! All sorts of fun stuff.

Meanwhile...

WRiTE CLUB is still going on! Don't forget to head over there and vote! Vote! Vote!

Daniel Abraham's The Long Price Quartet is finally available in paperback

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This from Abraham's website:

Well, today’s the day.

To those of you who’ve followed my long and storied career may remember that a few years back, I suffered something of a setback. My first series of books was a four book story called the Long Price Quartet. The sales were decent. I earned out my contract. And the reviews were great.

[. . .]

But one thing led to another led to nothing very good, and not only did Tor decide not to pick up The Dagger and the Coin series or the Expanse books, they also chose not to put the last book, The Price of Spring, out in paperback. And so, Price of Spring — the concluding book in a project that I spent a good solid half decade working on and of which I am really quite proud — has only been available in print as a difficult to track and expensive hardback. Until now.

Tor has re-released the series in two omnibus editions. The first, Shadow and Betrayal, came out earlier this year. The second, The Price of War, is out today. It is the first time that Price of Spring has been in paperback, and that the full quartet can be had in matching editions.

Here's the blurb for Shadow and Betrayal (Canada, USA, Europe):

A value-priced omnibus of the first two novels of Daniel Abraham’s classic Long Price Quartet—groundbreaking, unique fantasy of rare power and originality.

In this omnibus edition of A Shadow in Summer and A Betrayal in Winter, the aggressively expansionist Galt empire has already conquered lands across a huge continent. But the cities of the Khaiem resist Galt’s power with the andat—creatures of magic with godlike powers.

Each andat is brought into being by a “poet” who must say the right words and exert the iron will needed to control gods. The industrialized Galt war machine is helpless against the powers of the andat…but political intrigue and deep treachery combine to shift the balance of power in a world of ancient empires and immortal magics.

One man, Otah Machi, stands at the crossroads of history in these imaginary world fantasies, the fulcrum around which the wheels of epic history rotate through achingly poignant cycles of life and death, love and betrayal.

Shadow and Betrayal marks Daniel Abraham as one of today’s most brilliantly original young fantasy writers.

And here's the blurb for The Price of War (Canada, USA, Europe):

Otah Machi, caught between ancient wonders and a modern empire, has survived more than most men endure in two lifetimes. In Price of War, an omnibus collection of An Autumn War and The Price of Spring, magic and treacherous politics bring a bitter harvest of violence and tragedy to the world he must defend.

But when all is darkest and the world seems utterly lost, there is yet hope for the salvation of a future yet undiscovered. All depends on Otah, and those with the power to shape it, if they can find the courage to forgive their own trespasses and redeem their lost hopes.

This unforgettable fantasy epic series, the Long Price Quartet, marks Daniel Abraham as a unique voice and one of the most enthralling fantasy writers to emerge in recent years.