Writer's Grove

All the cool things in September

Behold! People who call themselves experts on Internet thingies say people like lists! And so I have made one for you! Now with even MORE exclamation points!!!!

I should probably insert a disclaimer here that this might not actually include all the cool things in September. It will just include things that I think are cool. But ONWARD.

1. CHEW, a monthly comic by John Layman and Rob Guillory. For my money it’s the best comic on the shelves today. Many people agree: it’s won an Eisner Award (kind of the Oscars for comics) for both writing and artwork. Soon to be a TV show. Issue #28 comes out Sep. 12. You can easily snag the trade volumes and catch up. Please catch up so we can geek out about it together, okay?

2. STORMDANCER by Jay Kristoff. It’s Japanese steampunk! Patrick Rothfuss blurbed it. Scott Westerfeld blurbed it. Even I blurbed it! This bad boy is coming out on Sep. 18 and it is Sofa King cool. But they don’t let me put things like “Sofa King cool” on the back covers of books. So here’s what I wrote instead:

“Kristoff’s debut is a lyrical triumph of chainsaw swords and thunder tigers that steampunk fans and mythology buffs will devour.”

Swank, right? Look, it’s beautifully written world you can get lost in. There is a girl, a griffin, and lots of blood. Preorder now and thank me later. :) And of course Jay is an amusing dude to follow. He’s on Twitter as @misterkristoff and you can find him on Facebook too.

3. There’s a book that came out earlier this year but I’m just reading it now so it makes the list. It’s called CALIBAN’S WAR by James S.A. Corey. It’s the sequel to LEVIATHAN WAKES, which I also really enjoyed. My favorite character so far in this book is a grandma named Avasarala who’s an intelligence guru for the UN defense forces. According to her, her job is “to keep civilization from blowing up while the children are in it.” She does it with a rather foul mouth behind closed doors but then looks so sweet in public, eating her wee pistachio nuts. I love it.

4. Are you a Browncoat? If so: Do you only wear the shirt that says “Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal” or do you have other shiny doodads proclaiming your disdain for the Alliance? Here is something shiny for you: a Serenity keychain. Or if that doesn’t fire your rockets, there are so many other pretties at thinkgeek.com I would begin to doubt your nerdhood if you didn’t find something you loved there.

Lately I’ve been re-watching Firefly with my daughter and enjoying her reactions. She likes Kaylee the best. And she loves it when they swear in Chinese. She makes me go back and play those bits over and over so she can swear in Chinese too. Okay, I admit it: I practice with her. I sure hope we’re not saying anything TOO heinous.

5. You know what this list needs? A shameless plug! Unsurprisingly, I happen to think TWO RAVENS AND ONE CROW is pretty cool. It’s an Iron Druid novella that’s available now at your favorite eBook retailer thingie in the USA, Canada, UK and affiliated territories, as well as Australia and New Zealand. The audio version, narrated by Luke Daniels, is also available in the US/Canada only, through sites like Audible and iTunes.

It’s set six years after the events of TRICKED and gets you all set up for TRAPPED. Some people die and some people get nekkid. More details here, but all the details are in the novella itself. :) Hope you have fun!