Alex Epstein's Blog, page 2

Chapters

Did a book signing at a Chapters in Toronto. I sold some books, but man, that is doing it the hard way. Some people are open to hearing about your book ("Hey, do you like magic?"), but others give you that look they reserve for beggars and other people they're afraid will talk to you. It is draining!

Victoria

I spent an hour and change this morning at Victoria Park Collegiate Institute, teaching The Circle Cast, and King Arthur, and post-Roman Britain, and my theories of character and storytellinger, to a 9th Grade class of honors students. That was fun.

I hope I didn't leave them completely bewildered. I've been thinking about this story for over a decade, and I think I sort of gave them a 5 gigabyte upload all at once! I should probably have stopped more often for questions.

It's a pleasure talk...

Lacuna Interview

Megan Arkenberg interviewed me in Lacuna: A Journal of Historical Fiction about some very interesting questions. I'll give you the questions here; you must go to the interview for the answers!

Q. While The Circle Cast stands out from many Arthurian retellings in its thoroughly historical Irish setting, it also reminded me of two of my favorite Arthurian novels: Bradley's Mists of Avalon, with its focus on the women of Arthurian myth, and Douglas Clegg's Mordred, Bastard Son, with its focus on...

Gennifer Albin interview

How did I forget to post this? Gennifer Albin kindly interviewed me on The Apocalypsies blog . I talk about my influences, and my biggest challenge writing the book ("The Sucky Point"), my journey to publication, and my advice to debut authors.

(She also liked the book!)

Class Visit

I'm going to be talking to an English class Friday morning. What sort of pictures should I bring?

At Last It Can Be Blogged

Bravo!FACT has posted YOU ARE SO UNDEAD on their site, so up it goes here. Enjoy! Best seen fullscreen, in 720p HD.

The Cunning of the Dove

I'm not loving Alfred Duggan's The Cunning of the Dove. It's another one of these historical books where the main character is the least interesting of all the historical personages bouncing around. It's all about the grand sweep of events, seen through the eyes of the passive and uninvolved king's chamberlain. Even the saintly King doesn't seem like much of a hoot. Ah, well.

I really need a great new novel to read.

Quebec Writers' Federation Shortlists TCC

I am proud to tell you that the Quebec Writer's Federation has shortlisted THE CIRCLE CAST for Best Children's and Young Adult Literature, along with my friend Alan Silberberg's MILO and Geneviève Côté's WITHOUT YOU.

Fantasy Book Chart

NPR crowdsourced a little of people's 100 favorite SF&F books. SF Signal arranged them in a handy flowchart. Check it out.

The Secret Circle, and Constraining Magic

We're enjoying THE SECRET CIRCLE on the CW. By episode 3, the characters and even the acting have got a bit more nuanced. We stuck with it because it gets magic mostly right: it's not waving around wands and shouting Latin, it's willpower and talent, and a coven has more power than a solo witch. It's not THE CRAFT, but it's warming up.

At the end of episode 2, the teen witches bind their circle, which in the show's mythology means that none of them can do any magic alone. It's a clever storyte...