Colin's comments (member since Apr 28, 2009)

Colin's comments from the Fantasy Book Club group.

I just started The Crown Conspiracy by Michael J. Sullivan and have found it a good read so far - certainly straight into the action.

I picked up Glen Cook's The Black Company today (inspired by the thread in General Fantasy). It'll be something I look forward to getting into towards the end of the month.

Picked it up today. I'm looking forward to diving in once I finish my current crop of reads!

I loved (when I read them twenty years ago) ERBs Barsoom adventures with John Carter. I wonder if they'd hold the appeal if I dug them up and did a re-read...

...probably not.

Z was a great read. Lots of fun, lots of interesting quirks. One of the most fun books I've read this year.

I've heard a lot about these books on various forums. I've got to add these books to my reading pile.

Jim, quite the classic!

Thanks for sharing that.

No worries, Libby.

I do agree that the kinds of stories we're seeing now and how they're told is not so much as new, but that the numbers of them coming out and their popularity is.

I think that also has a lot to do with the maturity and broadening of the market.

In the end, there will no doubt be attempted rip-offs. I'm sure that after Rothfuss' A Wise Man's Fears becomes available (and no doubt becomes a bestseller) that publishers will start stamping trashy phrases over book covers like, "In the spirit of The Name of the Wind". Eventually, despite the hype, those books will still have to prove themselves.

I have a cover quote on the new Australian edition of my own book from Sara Douglass, "I stayed up all night." Now, as far as cover quotes go, I'd rather (as an author and a reader) see something that's timeless and an opinion, versus some kind of comparison from a publisher's marketing department.

We'll all just have to keep an eye out for the rip offs.

Sandi, you're on to something there, I think.

Many of the old formula elements are still there, just used in different guises or to lesser degrees. In the end, the by product of doing so, usually, is an increase for the reader in unpredictability.

Cameron and Jon, I agree.

I think Urban Fantasy is a different cup of tea.

Thanks for all the comments!

My own work was compared to Rothfuss, which I took as a great compliment. I always felt that I was writing because I couldn't stand reading the tired old stuff out there clogging the shelves of bookshops. In the end, whether it is or isn't is something for others to judge.

I've looked at Ruckley's work and am keen to take it for a spin (it'll be joining the to-be-read pile). What I can say about it before I get to read it, is that it does have a growing buzz about it, but not something quite as lively as what surrounds the others mentioned, but maybe that's just a matter of time.

Is there any other authors people would like to add to the list?

My latest purchases are Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy.



I'm quite enjoying book 1.

Here's a question to stir your thoughts:

Over the last few years we've seen a steady trickle of new authors who are tackling fantasy in a new and refreshing way. Some of the stuff that they're coming up with is quite simply 'mature' while almost all of it is taking at least one good and long stride away from what's come before it. In the end, for me, they've managed to hook me back to a genre that I'd all but lost interest in.

Who am I thinking of?

Patrick Rothfuss

Joe Abercrombie

And perhaps (this is based on the buzz about them, but their books are on my to be read pile):

Scott Lynch

Brandon Sanderson

Brent Weeks

Is something new emerging, or am I wrong?

I'm sure that there have always been some strong books out there that have been fresh, but the numbers coming through now make me wonder if the audience has matured enough to demand something more than the pulp copies of what's come before.

What do you think?

Me, I'm still trying to find time to get through Abercrombie's First Law trilogy.

I've been drowning in too much work related reading and research.

Hey there fellow Goodreaders,

My book, The Fall of Ossard, is now available on Amazon.com and is being released through major book retailers in Australia and New Zealand in August.

International bestselling author, Sara Douglass, had this to say; "I stayed up all night - set a side plenty of time."

Industry columnist (Australian Bookseller and Publisher), Stefen Brazulaitis called it, "Brave... Innovative... Bold..."

The blurb for this dark epic fantasy follows:

Ossard is falling...

Growing up in a city of Merchant Princes, Juvela discovers she can see what others can't. The very currents of the celestial are open to her, and that includes the truths they hide: An escalating series of unsolved kidnappings have been haunting the city-state, leaving its shadows pooled deep with innocent blood.

Has Juvela been cursed with Witches' Kiss - or perhaps something worse?

Yet more is to come, for not only has she witnessed an abduction, but she will have to endure a role in the victim's ritual death. For Juvela is about to become forsaken, and that's before she learns the real truth of not just the crimes plaguing Ossard's bloody streets, but the wider world: A world at war, and governed by gods whose highest pleasure is to sup on the taste of death.


Click here for reviews, or check out the website at www.fallofossard.com for sample text.

The Fall of Ossard is also up for the current September/October poll for the next GoodReads author book to be read.

Thanks, JJ.

And thanks for the link to the review!

Ummm...

Would it be rude to put myself forward? I'm Australian too.

My book, The Fall of Ossard, is available on Amazon.com now, and gets a national release in Australia next month.

You could also add Bevan McGuiness who's also in WA to the list.

Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind has the potential to do the same. It is early days, of course, but the initial volume did show great promise - and now book two is finally with the publisher undergoing editing.

I second the general fantasy title The Blade Itself by Abercrombie. I've heard it's good and well worth a read.

For the GR author, I'd like to offer my own title The Fall of Ossard. It's a recent title, and got some great reviews. It's also a little different to most fantasy out there at the moment, by going deeper as it builds a tale out of many layers.

Hey fellow Goodreaders,

My website is up (it's a bit minimalist), but I have a page for my book's maps.

Fall of Ossard Maps

They're shrunk down, but clear enough to give you the idea. I love a good set of maps.