Well. It’s been a while. Back to it!

I often get people asking me what I’m reading or if I have any suggestions. So here’s what I’ve either just finished reading or is shortlisted in my To-Be-Read pile:

Starting in the front left: EVEN WHITE TRASH ZOMBIES GET THE BLUES by Diana Rowland. I love these books and it’s not just because the covers are hilarious. The words inside are pretty hilarious too! Angel Crawford has her flaws as a human being (and as a zombie) but she’s also completely endearing and aware that she has problems. You can’t help rooting for her as she tries to solve them. If you haven’t given these a try yet, start with MY LIFE AS A WHITE TRASH ZOMBIE. I saw Diana at San Diego Comic Con and did my best not to fanboy all over her. She’s so awesome. She has this whole other series about demons that I haven’t tried yet, but I’ll get to them soon.

Zipping to the back: THE NIGHT SESSIONS by Ken MacLeod posits a world where humanity has basically kissed religion goodbye…but the robots haven’t. Interesting premise to me on several levels, so I’m looking forward to trying this out. I haven’t read anything by Mr. MacLeod before.

Back up front in the center: THE QUANTUM THIEF by Hannu Rajaniemi. I just recently finished this and I have to say it was SO weird and SO awesome but DAMN. It’s not a light read. He’s doing new stuff here and it’s deep immersion in a bizarre world. I had to put it down to think about it several times. But I always came back, because I did in fact keep thinking about it and needed to know what happened next. I can’t explain half the things that happened in that book, but I finished it and liked it…which makes it the strangest book I have ever read. Usually if I don’t understand something—say, a calculus textbook—I just give up and won’t read it. But I never wanted to give up on this. I actually liked all the stuff I didn’t understand. Both as a reader and a writer, I want to know, HOW DID HE DO THAT? So yeah. This isn’t a “safe” read, but I’d say it’s one of those high-risk, high-reward things. I’m going to read it again because I know I missed a ton of stuff the first time around. And the sequel, THE FRACTAL PRINCE, is coming out in September. I’m excited!

Up in the back on the right: CALIBAN’S WAR by James S.A. Corey. This is the sequel to LEVIATHAN’S WAKE, which I enjoyed very much, so I’m looking forward to this.

Bottom right: TEMPEST’S FURY, the fifth book in the Jane True series. I’ve been a fan of Nicole Peeler’s books since I discovered book one, TEMPEST RISING. Jane True drops these one-liners every so often that get me laughing so hard I can’t stop. I wake up my dogs. My wife. My child. They give me dirty looks and I point at the book by way of explanation, helpless to stop, tears running down my face. So yeah. I like these books, and at some point around book three Nicole’s editor heard about it. If you look really closely at the cover for book five, you’ll see a little something I told her:

My blurb may require some explanation: Jane True is not a telepath and she does not routinely have hot bloody sex, much as she may wish for it. But she is a heroine who’s abruptly thrown into a supernatural world and has to make the best of it, and discovers along the way that she’s a bit stronger than she thought.  So there you have it. I’m on page fifty of this one now and digging it! Hope you all are reading something spiffy and if you’re not, I hope this gives you a starting point.* Cheers!

*None of these was provided to me by my publisher or any other publisher…I bought them all because this really is the sci-fi/fantasy stuff I like to read. :)

My TBR pile keeps growing! Gaah! Can’t keep up! The real world keeps interfering with the time I’d like to spend in fictional worlds—I’m sure many of you can empathize. But seriously, between all the great books coming from authors I already know and love to all the new debuts I’d like to try, it’s getting difficult to keep pace. Here’s what I’m currently working on:

You will notice a dearth of fruit. One lonely Granny Smith surrounded by all those hot books. This indicates my need to go to the grocery store more than anything else.

So I grew up reading Conan comic books, but I could only find a few of Robert E. Howard’s original stories here and there when I was a lad. I now have his complete works on Conan—there are a few more collections like this one put out by Del Rey, following Conan’s career from the beginning to this particular collection, The Bloody Crown of Conan, where he’s king of Aquilonia. If you like sword n’ sorcery, it’s a good idea to get lost in the world of the master—it’s a world full of mighty thews and flagons of ale. (I confess that I giggle a little bit every time he talks about mighty thews.)

Next book is a debut called Sins of the Angels by Linda Poitevin. We chatted a bit on Twitter and she was kind enough to send this to me. Normally I’m not one for angel stories, because both the heavenly and fallen ones strike me as rather flat characters,  you know? White ones good, black ones evil, yeah, we got it. But Linda’s done something different here, cramming the angels into a police procedural, and there’s some mythology (or theology?) that I’m unfamiliar with too, so though I haven’t finished it yet, I’m digging it so far.

Um. I’m a Cherie Priest fanboy, so of course I’m reading her latest Clockwork Century novel, Ganymede.

I got a collection of H.P. Lovecraft stories selected and edited by Joyce Carol Oates because, well, it’s H.P. Lovecraft and Joyce Carol Oates. I’m thinking this will be a felicitous combination like peanut butter and jelly, or peanut butter and chocolate, or peanut butter and bananas, or maybe I should just go make myself a peanut butter sandwich now. Yeesh.

Wayfinder is C.E. Murphy’s follow-up to Truthseeker, a complex world of the Fae and a really mysterious bad guy I gotta know more about. Lots of plot twists in this.

Jenn Bennett’s debut, Kindling the Moon, uses some Greek-based terms for magic that have intrigued me so far (I’m on chapter 3), and I really enjoyed how she made fun of Ghost Hunters. She’s gotten some outstanding reviews for this book; it’s witches and demons, not vamps and werewolves, so if you’re looking for something/someone new, this is probably a safe bet. Also in Jenn’s favor: she has a couple of pugs! This means she’s spiffy. I have a pug too. :)

Last but not least is Phoenix Rising by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris. I’m hoping it’s good; I like steampunk (see Cherie Priest above) and this is clearly a steampunk adventure thingie. But honestly, you need to just spend some time figuring out what’s going on with this crazy cover. (And remember that the cover is often not up to the author at all, and may have very little to do with the actual contents of the book.) Both characters are wearing obligatory goggles in an cobblestone alley (maybe a street?), as if they were going to hop a passing dirigible at any moment, and as if their Victorian attire wouldn’t advertise that this was a steampunk book otherwise. The woman is holding a really large gun of some kind, and there’s actually a piece on it with a smiley face (right underneath her chin). It’s truly huge and there’s no visible holster, so you are left to conclude that she pulled that monster out from under her dress. I mean, why else would she be standing like that with her dress all hiked up? She has another weapon of some sort tucked into the fishnet on her left thigh. I’m unsure how she managed not to rip the fishnet when she stuffed that thing in there, nor am I confident that a heavy, metal weapon wouldn’t shift around in that elastic as she walks, but whatever. This lady carries dangerous weapons underneath her skirt, AND SHE WANTS YOU TO KNOW. But, um, Miss? If you want us to know you’re carrying weapons, why not just wear them outside the skirt? Do we have to look at your legs as you do a little Captain Morgan pose? I think perhaps we’re supposed to conclude this is a woman of action? All kinds of action, hence the spread thighs? The man, meanwhile, is definitely not up for any action. He’s drinking tea with his pinky raised and one leg crossed in front of the other while his companion is busy flashing her goodies at us. Is he a voyeur? A pimp? Lost? Why is he carrying a cup of tea and a saucer around with him in a dark alley, for crying out loud? Now let’s look at the type for a second. The title, Phoenix Rising, is at the very top in a lurid green sans serif. The color is so offensive and the font so plain that you almost don’t want to read it. It’s like they designed it so you wouldn’t read it—anything so small and ugly must be unimportant. But the series title, A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel, takes up perhaps four times as much space, gets fancy little descenders here and there, and it’s a kind of vermillion, I think, a really bright orange-red. Hovering over the woman who looks like she’s working in the red-light district, albeit with more weaponry than you might expect. I think perhaps that they wanted to make the titles pop out from the fog of the cover illustration—and they succeeded!—but it’s a clashing effect more than anything else. On the back you get the cover copy in the same radioactive green as the title. It honestly sounds like a fun book, and I stress that you really can’t judge books by their covers (even though we do it all the time). I’m sure the words inside are infinitely better chosen than the color and font for the title, and I’m looking forward to it.

Hope you’re all reading something spiffy. Feel free to share in the comments! :)

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these: I haven’t been able to, quite frankly, bein’ so busy with trips here and there and finishing up TRICKED. If you didn’t hear it elsewhere, I’ve just delivered TRICKED to my editor and made a start on TRAPPED. There’s a new progress bar thingie on the sidebar and everything! Look!

TRICKED isn’t completely finished, of course; my editor and I will be working on it for a while, and after that the copy editor will take a hack at it and so on. But we’re on schedule for that April 2012 release, and I’ll keep you posted on developments like the cover and all that good stuff as it comes in. :)

I’ll be back to teaching again next week, so my summer’s pretty much over. My back-to-school meetings begin on Friday, so that means I have today and tomorrow to get all my summer reading in! Think I can do it? Here’s what I’m going to tackle:

These authors are all auto-buys for me. If they wrote “Get more beer” on a bar napkin, I would buy it. And then I’d probably follow the instructions on the napkin. L-R, we have Jim Butcher’s GHOST STORY, Kelly Meding’s ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD, Nicole Peeler’s EYE OF THE TEMPEST, and George R.R. Martin’s A DANCE WITH DRAGONS. Like many of the rest of you, I have been waiting for these for quite some time. Hope you’re enjoying your summer reads!

For the uninitiated—and a reminder for everyone—I just do these to share what I’m reading because I’m a happy nerd who can’t stop himself from geeking out in public. You can assume I’m going to like these books without me delving into details. Now that I’m an author, I feel kind of squidgy about critiquing the writing of others. (The exception to this is Charles Dickens. He deserves every critique I can muster.) I do occasionally put something up on Goodreads, but these are usually exceptional bits of praise; you shouldn’t expect me to smack anyone down (apart from the aforementioned Mr. Dickens). These are books I’ve either spent my own dough on or I’ve specifically requested from the Holy Vault o’ Sci-Fi/Fantasy Treasure at Del Rey/Spectra, which is guarded by two gnome paladins and an editorial assistant named Mike. So here’s what I’m enjoying these days:

You might notice that this particular composition is profoundly lacking in fruit. There is an excellent reason for this: I need to go to the grocery store. But I found a jar of this jelly substance in the fridge called Simply Fruit, and apparently it’s composed of naught but smooshed strawberries and sugar, which is clearly the way nature intended us to eat strawberries. To balance things out, I put a cuppa hot chocolate in there. It has schnapps in it to make it edgy.

The books are all continuations of series I’ve been enjoying. The River of Shadows is the third book in Mr. Redick’s epic at sea. If you haven’t heard o’ him yet, start with The Red Wolf Conspiracy—and you’re welcome. :)

I just finished Moon Over Soho, the second book featuring Constable Peter Grant, a London copper who’s out to catch some mighty creepy buggers. You know how you get all worked up sometimes by the events in books or movies and you start talking to the characters like they can hear you? Like “GET OUT OF THERE OR YOU’RE GONNA DIE, YOU FOOL!” or “JUST NUKE IT!” or “WAIT FOR BACKUP, FOR THE LOVE O’ CHRIST!” There were a couple of those moments in this book and I scared the hell out of my wife when I shouted the first line unexpectedly in my house. That got me in a wee bit of trouble, because she was in another room and thought I might be talking to her. I had to explain that no, she wasn’t a fool, and if there was any danger to be faced in our home office then I would run in there to face it and not simply shout at her from a place of safety. I think this is a fun series.

Look at that cover for The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man! I freakin’ love it! I enjoyed The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack so I’m looking forward to this too. I think the chubby dude kind of looks like the Kingpin a little bit. What do you think? And what are you reading these days?

March 1 was quite a big day for me. I rushed to pick up Kid from school and we skipped merrily across the parking lot, dove into the Wee Car and motored to the bookstore with Metallica goading us on.

“Friendly Bookseller!” I cried upon my entrance. “Where is The Wise Man’s Fear? Lead me to it, I beg you, for I have been waiting for years!”

She had no idea what I was talking about. Sometimes I forget that not everyone is a rabid nerd like me. She started to do a computer thing, but I knew I could find it myself. I was just hoping they’d have a giant display thingie somewhere near the front of the store and they could hand me a copy right away. Beckoning to Kid to follow, we sallied forth to the SciFi/Fantasy section, where all the treasures of many worlds are kept…and there wasn’t a single copy on the shelves.

I whimpered. I gibbered. Kid laughed at me.

BUT in days of yore I used to work in a bookstore, and I knew that they might not have stocked everything yet on a release day. So I went in search of a hand truck sitting around somewhere on the sales floor, and THERE IT WAS, waiting to be shelved!

“Victory is mine!” I shouted. And there was River Marked, as well, by Patricia Briggs! “O frabjous day!” I cooed, picking it up and tracing the tats with my finger. Kid laughed at me again and then went off in search of a book she wanted. I traveled back to SciFi/Fantasy to see if they had mah buddy Jaye’s new book in stock, Green-Eyed Demon, and they did—I scored the last copy!

One of those rolling Gollum laughs bubbled out of me as I looked at the books in my hands. “Yes, Precious!” Kid snagged her book and we sped home to “Master of Puppets.” Hell yeah. We staked out our respective territories on the couch, the dogs each picked a lap to sit on, and there was bliss.

I know I’m a few days late with this, but here’s photographic evidence of my recent fantasy purchases:

Can you tell how excited I am by these releases?

I’ve already read The Wise Man’s Fear, and I agree completely with Paul Goat Allen and what he says in his review. No spoilers or anything from me; if you haven’t read Rothfuss yet, you must begin with The Name of the Wind.

I’ve been a fan of the Mercy Thompson books for a while now and Jaye cracks me up, so I have two more fabulous reads ahead of me. But I also have extra books to give away. See, I pre-ordered both The Wise Man’s Fear and River Marked months ago and then completely forgot about it. So I went to buy them on release day, and then my pre-ordered copies arrived a few days later. Brilliant, eh? Rather than return them, I’ve decided to share the joy. I’m giving away my extra copy of The Wise Man’s Fear to a lucky commenter. This will be U.S. only, and I’ll run it until midnight of Wednesday, March 9, with the winner announced March 10. If you’d like to win River Marked, head on over to The League of Reluctant Adults blog and leave another comment under my post there (which will be up on Monday, March 7). If you’re not sure what to comment on…why not share what you’re reading until my book comes out on May 3? :)

THE WINNER OF THE WISE MAN’S FEAR IS SARAH! CONGRATS! Please send me your addy and I’ll get it in the mail to you. Thanks to all for entering!

Like everyone else in the world who cares a whit for fantasy, I’m waiting for the release of The Wise Man’s Fear. And by waiting, I mean pestering my local bookstore employees with constant calls to see if they have it in yet so I can offer them a bribe to sell it to me early. But until then, I need somethin’ to keep me occupied. So here’s what I’m devouring until Rothfuss drops his bomb on March 1:

Truth Seeker by C.E. Murphy, Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch, Game of Cages by Harry Connolly, Perdido Street Station by China Miéville, and Double Cross by Carolyn Crane. Plus: Arizona oranges, with occasional sprouts of bonus stem material.

Do you know which one of these books hasn’t been released yet? No fair asking Google! If you guessed Midnight Riot, then you are allowed to feel smug and I think you should reward yourself with the debauchery of your choice (in case you need an excuse for debauchery). The reason I have this book ahead of its release—indeed, the reason I have these books at all right now—is because my editors are simply cool like that.

“Wauggh!” I cried. “I have nothing to read!”

“Fear not, intrepid writer!” my editor replied. “There is balm in Gilead; I will send thee succor.”

Okay, I know, you can’t suspend your disbelief for that line, and it’s true she doesn’t really talk to me like that. But sometimes I kind of wish she would, because you can DO that with nerds and they will smile beatifically, like you just asked them to roll for initiative on attacking an undead hamburger with +2 pickles.

“Brave editor, what succor canst thou send to stave off the soul-destroying ravages of Kvothe Impatience Syndrome?”

“I will send you books enough for a +5 distraction and a +2 patience boost. And…A SHRUBBERY!”

I have read both Murphy and Connolly before and already know that I’m going to enjoy their books. Looking forward to Aaronovitch because he’s shiny and new, Crane because she’s in The League of Reluctant Adults with me and is completely swell, and Miéville because my assistant editor has a literary crush on him. So how are you spending the time until The Wise Man’s Fear?