Chris A. Jackson's Blog, page 12
April 4, 2011
Another award nomination for the Scimitar Seas Novels
Scimitar Sun, second in the series of Scimitar Seas novels has made the finalist list for the ForeWord Reviews, Best Books 2010 awards. I'm happy to say that the first in the series, Scimitar Moon, took the gold medal in last year's competition, and this year I've got some very stiff competition, especially from fellow Dragon Moon Press author, P.G. Holyfield. His highly acclaimed novel "Murder at Avedon Hill" is one of several on the finalist list for this year's award, so good luck to...
February 10, 2011
Ahhh Terry, you kill me…
Thud! by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Love Terry's sense of humor… the Brit comedy always slays me. I do, however, have to take it in small doses. Too much at one time and I get a little numb.
The Discworld books are legend, and there are so many, one never knows where to start. This one gives the faint hint that there was a prequel, but you are not missing anything by jumping in at this point.
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January 18, 2011
Preliminary Cover for Jundag
Here is the preliminary cover for the final novel in The Cornerstones Trilogy, Jundag.
Noah Stacey once again amazes me… The final version should be up and on Amazon in a couple of weeks… Cross fingers.
My kind of SF
I just finished Spin, by Robert Charles Wilson… Deserved the Hugo it won, IMHO.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is an awesome book, very science oriented, though there appear to be a few glitches here and there when he starts going on about how many years or millions the earth has existed, or the epochs lasted.
I loved it because it is primarily about the characters, though the SF elements are there, and predominant, the real story is about the people… That's what I love in a novel…
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November 13, 2010
Kronos left me cold…
Kronos by Jeremy Robinson
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
This is one I could not finish. Too many errors. I love a good sea monster book as well as the next guy, but there were too many errors in this one for my taste, and I tire of the "perfect" character who is both a kick-ass warrior and a brilliant scientist. I got about 100 pages in and put it down. Sorry Jeremy, but you lost me. Do your research a little more thoroughly next time and I might hang in there to find out how it ends.
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November 10, 2010
Ron Russell Middle School Mashup!
We did a great talk at Ron Russell Middle School in Portland, Oregon yesterday. Here's yours truly with the class. I did a talk on writing, and we brainstormed on a short story project – they provided the ideas, characters, genre, plot and setting, and I get to write it! Awesome fun! I'll be doing a Science/Fantasy/Horror/Humor story about a cemetery-space station orbiting Saturn where a genetically modified Sasquatch and a talking monkey find a magical tome that animates a dead veteran...
November 7, 2010
The Sword of the Templars by Paul Christopher
My rating: ...
The Sword of the Templars by Paul Christopher
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Other than gratuitous physical descriptions of every rock, tree, bush, piece of furniture and stitch of clothing, a pretty good "treasure hunt" story. There were no huge surprises, and I got a feeling that I was watching "National Treasure", but there were no major flaws that I could see. Paul Christopher is obviously very proud of his research, which seems accurate. His characters are a little two-dimensional, but his...
October 25, 2010
Necronomicon, St. Petersburg, FL; A great little "small town" convention.
The three ingredients for a great convention: an inspiring city, great people, and a worthy cause. For 29 years the people of Stone Hill Science Fiction Association in Tampa, FL have been putting on a great convention. For the last four years, it has been held in the downtown Hilton, in St. Petersburg Florida, and let me tell you, with the new Dali museum,
Dali Museum, St. Pete
and the new Chihuly museum both just right down the street, a great city marina, where we stayed with friends...
October 3, 2010
Catching up… Dragon*Con
Okay, so we've got some catching up to do…
DragonCon was, as always, awesome. I did two spectacular panel discussions: the first was an Elizabeth Moon showcase, so this meant I got to sit with one of my all-time favorite authors and discuss her work. It was a treat, let me tell you. And, of course, I got her to sign a copy of her most recent release, Oath of Fealty, the newest in the Paks World books, and a new series! So excited about her return to fantasy!
The next panel was "Science in S...
July 5, 2010
Scimitar Sun ARC's are going out!
Let the nail biting begin! The Advance Review Copies for Scimitar Sun, the second in The Scimitar Seas Series, and sequel to the award winning Scimitar Moon, are going out to reviewers as we speak. This is a nervous time, and I always try to forget about it and move on, start another project, read, etc, but it never works. It is a necessary element of building credibility, and something all authors have to live with; good review, and not so good reviews… Would be easier, in my opinion...
