Pavlov’s Audiophile

I love HEARING a good story; audio books, original audio plays, old time radio episodes, etc.

I also like tuna fish sandwiches.

These two things have combined to turn me into Pavlov’s audiophile.

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My 10 Favorite Fantasy Covers

So, we’ve got that old adage about not judging a book by its cover but, let’s face it, we do. That’s part of why books HAVE covers. Well, cover art that is. Have you ever read a book that had cover art you could just sit and stare at?

I have, and here are are my top ten favorite fantasy book covers (of books I’ve read and have in my collection):

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Dance With Dragons is Actually Real! (we hope)

OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD! My husband went to our local genre bookstore, Mysterious Galaxy, today and guess what he saw in the window:

Could it be? Could the much anticipated last book of the epic and seemingly-never-ending Song of Ice and Fire high fantasy series by George R.R. Martin actually be in sight?

I remember when my taller half and I went to Mysterious Galaxy to see Martin for one of his author events. He said that A Dance With Dragons was always supposed to be the last book in the series. That when we saw that title come out we would know that completion was nigh.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Song of Ice and Fire series … This is one of those beloved fantasy series, like Wheel of Time, that people have been waiting half their lifetimes for the end of the story. The ‘last book’ keeps getting split into multiple novels. A source of major fan frustration.

But look, LOOK! The little bookstore sign says the wait is ending. But… could it be real? QUICKLY, to the author’s website!!! ….

Okay, so it’s not as good as on the shelves. Martin hasn’t actually finished the book. But he says that this publication date is really actually real this time. Unlike the other, previous publication dates from past years.

Clap if you believe.

Re-Read-aholic

Hello, my name is Chriss. And I’m a re-read-aholic.

*hello, Chriss*

I can’t help myself. I love to re-experience great stories.

Having a shelf full of books you enjoy is like having all the seasons of your favorite TV shows on DVD; at any time you can pull one out and re-live all the fun with the gang.

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Name That Book: Unknown Fantasy

WARNING: Contains some adult material. Like the ‘S’ word. You were warned.

You ever read a book but never pay attention to the title or author?

But there’s something in this book, either positive or negative, that sticks with you? And you tell people about this book over the years, but you can’t remember it’s title to tell anyone?

I’ve got that quandary. Largely arising from my early tendency to check books out of the library but never make a mental note of their names.

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Jane Austin’s Fight Club

Literary mash-ups with Jane Austen + popular-monster-here have been quite the genre rage for 2010. Since I posted a review of Mary Robinette Kowal’s historical fantasy Regency romance Shades of Milk and Honey Monday I though I’d continue the Regency theme to the end of this second-to-last month of 2010.

So, in the Regency romance and Jane Austen vein I give you…

“Jane Auten’s Fight Club”

Book “Trailer” For Habitation of the Blessed

This is pretty cool. Especially if you’re both a history and historical fiction lover, such as myself.

Catherynne M. Valente has written a historical fantasy novel starting with the idea of “What if Prester John and his utopian kingdom had been real and not a medieval hoax?”

Than, to market her book The Habitation of the Blessed, Catherynne made herself a book “trailer”.

Using action figures. (Extra geek points)

The “trailer” doesn’t so much showcase the book as explain the novel’s premise. Which is REALLY handy. Because even those of us who recognize the name “Prester John” tend to be a little vague on the details, mainly due to pop culture things like Marvel’s Prester John character and such.

So, here is Catherynne M. Valente’s home made book trailer, with action figures, for her novel The Habitation of the Blessed which explains a) who Prester John was (or wasn’t) and b) how that plays into her new Dirge For Prester John historical fantasy series:

Vampire Fiction Origins

So, books with vampires in them are HOT right now. Though, some readers and purists feel many of these new angsty fangsters don’t deserve the name “vampire”.

Vampires aren’t new to the literature scene, though; the first work of prose featuring a vampire was published about 300 years ago. So let’s take a quick look at where the vampire novel started out:

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Locus Magazine Goes Steampunk For September

For those of you unfamiliar with it, Locus is a book magazine covering the sci-fi and fantasy (SFF) field. It’s popular with writers, genre lovers, and book sellers. It can be purchased at book stores such as Mysterious Galaxy as well as fine magazine purveyors.

My Taller Half (who’s a SFF/Horror writer) is a big fan of Locus and last night he brought home the latest issue. And it is ALL on steampunk. (for those of you unfamiliar with this SFF genre check out my Steampunk Reading List, which includes a fine definition if I do say so myself)

Steampunk is really big right now so when Locus put out a call for article submissions for the September 2010 issue… Heh heh heh. And, being Locus, they got some serious heavy weights in the Steampunk and sci-fi prose scene; from writers like Cherie Priest and Michael Moorcock to editors like Ann Vandermeer.

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Book Trailer Gold

Ah, book trailers. Did one person think “Hey, I’ll make a movie trailer but for a book” one day or was it a case of a “someday we should…” that had been floating around in the industry’s marketing departments until either the geek index or boredom levels reached a critical mass?

Whatever, book trailers are becoming more and more part of the novel and comic book publishing industries. And, to be brutally honest, most are a yawn and some give the wrong impression of the book (like the one for Low Red Moon that makes it look like a tweenie romance instead of horror).

I figured I’d show you a few of the scarce specimens of the good. So, here’s the twenty best book trailers out there, as determined entirely by me searching on You Tube, and presented in alphabetical order.

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