David Anthony Durham's Blog, page 46

Fort Freak Sample

George RR Martin has posted a sample from Fort Freak on his website.

HERE'S his post about it.

Look At What's Selling Now

I'm on Mainland Scotland now. After a couple of days in Perthshire we're now hanging out at my brother-in-laws at Kinlochard, in the heart of the Trossachs. Good internet connection, so I'm catching up on things internetish. So here's a link...

I came across this Lou Ander's interview at The Fantasy Author's Handbook. Lou is the editor at Pyr, a terrific science fiction and fantasy imprint. He knows this biz. He's got lots of good advice to offer aspiring authors, including:

Athans: What is...

About To Leave Shetland

Since this isn't exactly a family blog, I'll not offer a complete treatment of the holiday. It included hill and cliff walks, fishing trips, contentious games of Loup Garou, a fashion photo shoot (more on that later), tons of eating and drinking, lots of chat, a trip to Hermaness, the northern most point of the British Isles, lots of family time... Great stuff.

Here are a few images, mostly nicked from my brother in law's family blog:





I also did a little business - an interview with Radio Shetl...

Breaking News From Clarion!

Next year's Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Workshops faculty list has just been released.

You can view the line up HERE. Yes, I'm psyched to be one of them!

Calling all emerging writers - start getting those applications together...

Lev Grossman Says Smart Things

He does. I remember the first time I heard him interviewed, promoting The Magicians. I thought, "I like this guy." And then I met him... and I still liked him!

He wrote a response to the New Yorker's list of "Twenty Best Writers Under Forty". As I'm sure you'd imagine there are no declared genre writers on the list (unless you consider literary fiction to be its own genre, in which case it's a list limited to that genre). Lev finds this frustrating, and a bit silly. Among other things, he wrot...

Of FORT FREAK, He Sayeth...

Just received an email from GRRM. He was confirming that our editor at Tor was pleased with the new Wild Cards novel we turned in. He wrote this:

Of FORT FREAK, he sayeth: "FORT FREAK is terrific. Strongest Wild Cards book in a while, I think. Very pleased with it."

And I'm very pleased with that. Look for it in summer, 2011!

Longswords & Library Cards

Just thought I'd link to a couple of nice short reviews, in case you're thinking about reading Acacia or Pride of Carthage.

Here's one gentleman's thoughts on them.

A Little Bit Of Traveling

So I drove the family two hours to Boston. Parked. Boarded a plane. Flew overnight six hours to Ireland. Changed planes. Flew on a paper airplane to Scotland. Got picked up by my brother in law, Sorley, who drove us three hours north to Aberdeen. Boarded a ferry. Sailed overnight for Shetland. Woke up in the morning, disembarked, drove winding roads out to my father in law's cottage in Bousta.

Ah... we're here!

Gudrun has photos up at her blog, The Shetland Trader. It's going to a good three we...

A Little BIt Of Traveling

So I drove the family two hours to Boston. Parked. Boarded a plane. Flew overnight six hours to Ireland. Changed planes. Flew on a paper airplane to Scotland. Got picked up by my brother in law, Sorley, who drove us three hours north to Aberdeen. Boarded a ferry. Sailed overnight for Shetland. Woke up in the morning, disembarked, drove winding roads out to my father in law's cottage in Bousta.

Ah... we're here!

Gudrun has photos up at her blog, The Shetland Trader. It's going to a good three we...

I Do Give Quarter - To Most People, That Is

I know. An author shouldn't give much thought to negative reviews, but sometimes people say things so stupid I can't resist. Take, for example, my latest three star review of The Other Lands (Acacia, Book 2) on Amazon. It's not very in-depth or anything, but I can't help shaking my head at this line:

"Durham picks up like the names and events might be as familiar as if the reader finished reading the first book the day before, and he gives no quarter to the fact that his readers might need a...