Alex C. Telander's Blog, page 75
August 13, 2012
Cover Tease #3 to “Kyra: The First Book of Enchantus”
It’s the beginning of a new week which means a new piece of the cover to Kyra: The First Book of Enchantus. If you missed the second piece, you can find the post here. And now for the third piece:
Kyra: The First Book of Enchantus is my young adult fantasy novel that will be released on August 21st, 2012. For more information and updates, go to and “like” the Facebook page.
August 10, 2012
“A Bridge of Years” by Robert Charles Wilson (Tor, 2011)
Bestselling author Robert Charles Wilson’s book, A Bridge of Years, recently re-released in paperback, has an interesting play on the idea of time travel, but remains true to its “rule” that there are always repercussions when one plays around with time travel, even when someone thinks they’ve been given a second chance.
Tom Winter has made a right old mess of things, now without a job and a wife who’s left him; he’s hit rock bottom. With some leftover inheritance money he buys a simple little house in the secluded Pacific Northwest, looking to just get away from things for a while, and try to figure his life out. The only problem is the simple house he bought turns out to be a prime example of real estate where everything isn’t as it seems or should be. It begins minutely with his unclean plate with a few leftovers that he leaves by the sink overnight; in the morning it has been licked clean by something.
At first he thinks it’s nothing, but it keeps on happening and he tries to film it but the camera mysteriously shuts off during the filming. Then there’s the weird sounds he keeps hearing, like little machines zooming around his house; a flickers of minute movement out of the corner of his eye. Then in the basement he discovers an extra room that leads to a tunnel that takes him back to another time and another place: 1963, New York City.
Wilson has fun playing around with time travel in this short novel, building the mystery and setting up a far more complex story than readers will be expecting. As to the answer of what is eating the leftover food and why, it is both gruesome and shocking, but at the same time makes perfect sense.
Originally written on April 9, 2012 ©Alex C. Telander.
To purchase a copy of A Bridge of Years from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.
August 9, 2012
“After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall” by Nancy Kress (Tachyon Publications, 2012)
In Nancy Kress’ short, new science fiction novel she combines two very interesting subjects for the genre – time travel and ecological disaster – weaving the story together from three different timelines. After the fall takes place in 2035 when the world is in a very different place environmentally; before the fall is 2013 when the minor events that will become devastating are just beginning; and during the fall is in 2014 as the events are happening beneath the surface of the planet.
The future is told from the viewpoint of 15 year-old Pete, who is living in the Shell with the others of the Six. Each of them will eventually get sick and die in this ravaged world. They aren’t allowed outside and their anger for the Tesselies who created all this grows daily. Their only hope is passing through a time portal into the past where they kidnap children to keep their population alive.
Meanwhile, in 2013 things are just starting to turn bad for the planet, though no one really knows or comprehends this yet, except for one brilliant mathematician, Julie Kahn, who has been working on her algorithms for the FBI, charting these recent strange child kidnappings and trying to predict when and where the next one will occur. She is also pregnant herself and can imagine how terrible this would be for the parents.
After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall seems like an experimental book that doesn’t quite reach the correct solution in what it was trying to do. The separate timelines are interesting, but feel rushed and limited in the confines of the short book, making Kress’ original intention with the book not completely clear. Nevertheless, the story is definitely an interesting one that makes the reader think and wonder.
Originally written on May 14, 2012 ©Alex C. Telander.
To purchase a copy of After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.
August 8, 2012
BookBanter Column: Get Lost in a Good Fantasy Series, Part 3: King Raven
Pretty much everyone is familiar with Robin Hood in some way, whether it’s thanks to the wonderful Disney movie (still my favorite!) or various stories heard as a kid, or the well-known old text by Robert Pyle, or the various movie versions of this enigmatic figure, shrouded in history and intrigue. We all know the basic story of this unusual hero coming from very little, living out in Sherwood Forest with his band of merry men, robbing from the rich to feed the poor. But for the most part this story is one of invention and imagination, as there is very little evidence to support this.
Stephen R. Lawhead, bestselling author of many books including his Song of Albion series and his Pendragon Cycle, does something a little different in his King Raven trilogy, pulling from various sources and melding a world of eleventh century turbulent history and Welsh mythology. It is again very much a what if, but one steeped in research, making it a fascinating read. It also, perhaps for the first time, puts Robin Hood on an epic stage with these three long and detailed books, giving this mysterious character of history the recognition and respect he deserves.
Hood: There are a couple of “legends” in British history that many people worldwide know about: one of them is King Arthur and the other is Robin Hood. Arthur has an entire bookshelf of history and fiction written about him, and many of those fiction books profess to be as accurate as the possible truth, even though it is still not fully known if there ever was such a living person. As for Robin Hood, much of the same story and lore shrouds this figure, and yet the amount written about him is small in comparison. There are many seminal works that are considered part of the “King Arthur Cannon,” such as Malory’s Morte D’Arthur, Chretien de Troyes romances, Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Mists of Avalon, Bernard Cornwell’s Warlord Chronicles, and Jack Whyte’s Camulod Chronicles, to name a few. In fact the author, Stephen R. Lawhead, has even written a series about Merlin and Arthur, known as his Pendragon Cycle. There have been mediocre to poor TV shows about he who robs from the rich to feed the poor, but there has never really been an equivalent book series or trilogy about Robin Hood of a high caliber; until now.
August 7, 2012
Book Report: Book News for the Week of August 5th on Forces of Geek
Today I Got Up and I Did Not Have a Wheel of Time Book to Work On
At moving heartfelt blog post from bestselling author Brandon Sanderson on coming to the end of writing the Wheel of Time series with A Memory of Light, due out January 8th, 2013.
Cold Days is Done
And a short note from bestselling author Jim Butcher on the completion of the fourteenth Harry Dresden novel, Cold Days. No release date has been set you, but it will likely be some time this fall.
Tribute Paid to Maeve Binchy
With the sad passing of bestselling author Maeve Binchy, the Irish Times pays a moving tribute to this author who will be missed by many.
August 6, 2012
Cover Tease #2 to “Kyra: The First Book of Enchantus”
It’s the beginning of a new week which means a new piece of the cover to Kyra: The First Book of Enchantus. If you missed the first piece, you can find the post here. And now for the second piece:
Kyra: The First Book of Enchantus is my young adult fantasy novel that will be released on August 21st, 2012. For more information and updates, go to and “like” the Facebook page.
August 2, 2012
Face of Publishing Interview with Kevin Smith, Editor
Kevin Smith is a freelance editor, specializing in commercial fiction and nonfiction. Some of the authorshe’s worked with on a freelance basis are: Alan Jacobson, Stephen J. Cannell, Nevada Barr, Kyle Mills, and C.J. Lyons. He’s been associated with the publishing industry, in various capacities, for more than twenty years. Most recently, he was a Senior Editor at Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, where he worked with, among others, New York Times bestselling author Matthew Reilly.
Alex C. Telander: When did you know you wanted to become an editor?
Kevin Smith: I started out in publishing in an administrative capacity–assistant to the managing editor of Dell Publishing. Whereas most managing editors don’t get involved in the editing process, I was fortunate that my boss acquired and edited movie and tv tie-ins, which allowed me to get some editing experience. I was eventually promoted to Managing Editor; my duties, however, were strictly administrative. A couple of years later I was offered and accepted an editor’s position at Dell, working primarily with health, reference, and crosswords books.
Alex: How did you get started in publishing?
Kevin: Shortly after graduating college, I became friends with the managing editor of Dell Publishing. This was in the early ’80s. He offered me a job as his assistant. At the time, I was working full-time at a bookstore in the World Trade Center, toying with the idea of law school. Reading Scott Turow’s first book, One L, where he detailed his first year at Harvard Law School, put a damper on that ambition. Great book. Scary ordeal, though! So, I accepted the job at Dell. Adios, legal field.
August 1, 2012
Cover Tease #1 to “Kyra: The First Book of Enchantus”
You may be wondering what this graphic is and what it all means. Well, my young adult fantasy novel, Kyra: The First Book of Enchantus, is scheduled to come out this month. I have set a release date for August 21st. And this marks the countdown to the release of the book. The cover is done and ready but to build some excitement for the release of the book I’m not going to just show you the full cover now, no, I’m going to titillate you with a portion of the cover. Each week I will release another portion until a hazy version of the final cover is shown, and final version will be revealed.
Here is the first portion:
There is also a Kyra Facebook page which you can head on over and Like, for all the news and discussion and comments and whatever else people feel like doing there.
July 31, 2012
BOOK REPORT: Book News for the Week of July 29th
Eric Van Lustbader to Self-Publish
In more surprising news, bestselling author Eric Van Lustbader, noted author of the current Jason Bourne series, is jumping on the self-publishing band wagon.
Barry Diller and Scott Rudin Explore Ebook Venture
Hollywood important peeps Barry Diller of IAC/InterActive Corp. and producer Scott Rudin are looking into starting their own ebook publishing company.
How Does Your Publisher Make Money?
In another fascinating blog post from the popular literary agent, Rachel Gardner, she goes into detail, breaking down where publishers make their money and how this is changing with ebooks.
The DOJ Strikes Back
In the continuing case of the Department of Justice versus Apple, Inc. and some of the big publishing houses, over 800 letters and briefs were brushed aside as the DOJ continued to insist that it would be taking the corporations to court over the matter of ebook pricing collusion.
July 30, 2012
“Wyrd” Progress Report XX
WORDS WRITTEN: 2663
TOTAL WORDS: 96,714
REASON FOR STOPPING: Finished part three of the book!
It seems fitting to hit a big progress report of number twenty for completing Part Three of the book. I knew this part was going to take a long time and be a big and focal part of the book, but little did I know it would take over two hundred and fifty pages. Guess my characters had a lot to say and do that I wasn’t fully aware of when I began that part. And I’ve now hit page 455 with the start of Part Four of the book. I know this book is easily going to be the longest project I’ve ever worked on and the end is nowhere near in sight, with I’d say at least a couple years left to go. And you may ask: Do I feel like I’m halfway through the book with the end of this part, and my answer would be: no.
My goal for the year with Wyrd was to hit page 500, but sometimes goals don’t always get reached like you want them to, at least at this point at the end of July. I feel I have satisfied what I set out to do with this book at the beginning of the year, and while I may not have hit that specific page number, I’ve reached my goal with the manuscript and am happy with that. I may not return to this project for the rest of the year, so starting the new part just to hit that page number and then abandon it doesn’t feel right. Of course, there’s still a lot of the year left to go and I may hit my other goals and still have time left over to come back to this one. The future isn’t written in stone, which is certainly one of the themes of Wyrd.
