Sarah Chorn's Blog, page 74

The Dark Between the Stars – Kevin J. Anderson

About the Book

Twenty years after the elemental conflict that nearly tore apart the cosmos in The Saga of Seven Suns, a new threat emerges from the darkness. The human race must set aside its own inner conflicts to rebuild their alliance with the Ildiran Empire for the survival of the galaxy.

Galactic empires clash, elemental beings devastate whole planetary systems, and factions of humanity are pitted against each other. Heroes rise and enemies make their last stands in the climax of an epic tale seven years in the making.

672 pages (hardcover)

Published on June 3, 2014

Published by Tor

Author’s webpage

This book was sent for me to review by the publisher.

—

I loved The Saga of the Seven Suns, so when I heard that Anderson was releasing another series set in the same universe, I was all over that like flies on… well, never mind.

There are a few things that readers should keep in mind before embarking on this new series. First, it does help (immensely so) if you’ve read The Saga of the Seven Suns first. You can start on this book, but I think a lot of the cultures, history, and character’s stories will lose their impact if you don’t have that first series behind you. Secondly, as you can probably deduct from that previous point, you’ll run into a lot of the same characters (only later in their lives). Yes, there are plenty of new people to get to know, but you will run into a large chunk of the primary characters that stuck with you in that previous series.

If that’s something you’re anticipating, then read on, my darlings.

Automatically going into this series, Anderson is going to face an uphill battle. Fans of the Saga of the Seven Suns will want something just as amazing, just as epic, just as poignant, and no matter how hard they look, they won’t ever be quite as satisfied as they want to be. That’s a problem that any author faces when re-entering an already established world or universe. Societies and cultures have evolved and adapted since the huge conflict that Anderson previously focused on, and some readers will, undoubtedly, be disappointed with some of the characters and cultures, and how they’ve changed in the years that separate his first series with this one.

That being said, part of what I really enjoyed about The Dark Between the Stars was just how well Anderson portrayed the lives of so many characters, in the future that they fought so hard for. It’s realistic to see how some of them have grown, and the choices they’ve made. The new characters that are introduced fit perfectly into the cultural stew that he’s created. After such a huge war in Saga of the Seven Suns, everything is different, and people are still dealing with what happened, and Anderson really portrays that well.

Anderson didn’t shy away from any of the uncomfortable cultural details, either, and he does make them quite important to some aspects of the plot, which I truly appreciated. For example, the mixed race children in the Ildiran Empire are a point of contention, and it’s quite interesting to see just how pivotal they have been and they are developing to be, in the impending and developing drama. It’s those details that have always made Anderson come alive for me. He never overlooks the cultural contention, and it adds so much realism and compelling depth to his books.

It might take some readers a little while to really get into the book. The interest in the characters and their developments is almost instant, but much of the first third of the book is spent setting up families, characters, politics, and showing readers just what happened to some of their favorites, rather than developing the plot. However, once the plot does really get going, it goes fast and it is intense.

The plot, however, is probably a point where most tried-and-true Anderson fans will have a little bit of an issue, as it feels like, in many ways, it mirrors the basic setup of Saga of the Seven Suns. There’s another intergalactic, never before seen creature-thing, and people must figure out how to combat it. It feels very, well, similar to his previous series.

And it is, in truth. The bones of this book are very similar to Saga of the Seven Suns, however, where Anderson really changes things is just how important of a role the shifting cultures, the raw wounds from the previous battles, and the people who are tired, confused, and still sore from the previous intergalactic struggle. In fact, in this book, people and cultures play a much bigger role than I expected. Anderson does his characters and his cultures well, so the dynamic, personal aspect of The Dark Between the Stars was just as addicting as the plot, if not more so.

Is this going to rival The Saga of the Seven Suns? No, but I’m not sure it is meant to. While there are plenty of similarities between the two, this book felt a bit more intimate somehow, more focused on families, people, relationships, cultures, and change than the other. Everything that happens here seems to have a more emotional impact than I expected. It’s personal, and people are tired, and that makes the struggles and developing challenges that much more emotionally intense.

I’ve tried to figure out how I want to rate this book, and I think it sits somewhere comfortably between three and four stars. It has a sort of done-before feel to it, but it was an absolute joy to revisit this universe and see what has happened to all the characters that made such an impact on me years ago. The plot moves fast, but it’s the people that make this one worth reading. This is an incredibly solid start to a new series that leave me anxious for more.

 

3.5/5 stars

Child of a Hidden Sea – A.M. Dellamonica

About the Book

One minute, twenty-four-year-old Sophie Hansa is in a San Francisco alley trying to save the life of the aunt she has never known. The next, she finds herself flung into the warm and salty waters of an unfamiliar world. Glowing moths fall to the waves around her, and the sleek bodies of unseen fish glide against her submerged ankles.

The world is Stormwrack, a series of island nations with a variety of cultures and economies—and a language different from any Sophie has heard.

Sophie doesn’t know it yet, but she has just stepped into the middle of a political firestorm, and a conspiracy that could destroy a world she has just discovered… her world, where everyone seems to know who she is, and where she is forbidden to stay.

But Sophie is stubborn, and smart, and refuses to be cast adrift by people who don’t know her and yet wish her gone. With the help of a sister she has never known, and a ship captain who would rather she had never arrived, she must navigate the shoals of the highly charged politics of Stormwrack, and win the right to decide for herself whether she stays in this wondrous world . . . or is doomed to exile.

336 pages (Hardcover)

Published on June 24, 2014

Published by Tor

Author’s webpage 

This book was sent for me to review by the publisher.

— 

Child of a Hidden Sea is the kind of fantasy book that usually leaves me very aggravated, not because it’s bad, but because parallel world/portal fantasy (whatever you want to call it) usually doesn’t work. There are too many leaps of logic that I never really buy into. Things feel clunky, and a good plot seems to be messed up by the complexity that a secondary world alongside our world creates.

I went into this one with a huge amount of skepticism, but I decided to give it a chance anyway because the strong female protagonist really interested me. I’m glad I gave it that shot, because Dellamonica nicely sidesteps most of the speed bumps that so many other authors get slowed down by.

Firstly, Sophie, our protagonist, is far from perfect. She’s a fairly flawed person, in most senses of the word. She’s no pillar of perfection, and many readers will instantly bond with her due to that. She’s a little lost, slightly stalker-ish, has a serious case of being overshadowed by her genius brother. She’s lost, and that sort of lost feeling is something that I instantly bonded with. So many authors fill their books with characters that don’t feel, well, human, and Sophie was incredibly human. She was flawed, and her flaws kept her believable and interesting.

Furthermore, Sophie is nicely balanced by her secondary characters, all of whom have distinct voices and truly feel like individual people. They give the world(s) a broader, more real sense. They also make a lot of the more complex plotlines feel much more grounded. In short, I can tell Dellamonica focused a lot of attention into creating realistic, well rounded, intensely believable characters, and her book really thrives for it.

The plot is quick moving, and full of complex family, and political depth that I really didn’t expect. The world of Stormwrack was very well created, full of culture and depth, plenty of traditions that go back ages, languages that change and make things complicated, weather and lifestyle issues, and magic. The legal and political drama that Sophie finds herself navigating is really made even more complex by the really dynamic world building. It was easy to see how Sophie could be overwhelmed by it all, and it was very empowering to see her grow and adjust to her new situations. Furthermore, many of the “ah ha” moments in the plot are nicely paced, nothing is revealed all at once. I really appreciate when authors pace their plots this well.

There are, however, some issues, which I expected with this kind of portal fantasy. The language barrier, while in place, is a little too easily overcome with some waving-of-the-hands type of magic. There is an issue regarding the transfer of technology between Earth and Stormwrack that was never really explained. For example, why does Sophie’s phone not work, but her camera does? Sophie’s brother is a genius, and I often felt that his genius-like tendencies can be a little too convenient. He learns the languages really fast. He reads books and knows all the answers. He tended to function as an “easy answer” button in the case of conflict that doesn’t really have an answer.

I have to hand it to Dellamonica, though. In the face of so many challenges – portal fantasy, lots of boats (I really don’t do well with books that involve lots of ships and sailing), lots of cultures and characters, and a surprisingly complex drama – she really did well with it. Despite some world building issues, which I expected (I expected more than what I found, to be honest), the plot is tight, and the characters really balance each other well. Furthermore, I found the sibling relationship between Sophie and Bram, and the budding relationships with Sophie and the family she never knew, to be rather endearing. It is rare that I find really realistic, close family relationships in books, and I’m really glad that Dellamonica showed how important family ties are, not just through Sophie’s relationships, but through the plot itself.

I left Child of a Hidden Sea feeling very, well, satisfied. This book is a lot of fun, and many of the complex topics are handled with poise and grace. The world building was well done, despite the fact that some points will require readers to leave their questions at the door and just accept some things as they are presented. However, Dellamonica did the impossible by making portal fantasy work this well. I’m not sure if this is the first book in a series, but I hope it is. There is plenty of room for Dellamonica to grow the world and develop the characters and situations, plenty of questions that could be answered while more questions are presented. There is a lot of potential here.

Bravo, Dellamonica.

 

4/5 stars

Books I’m Eyeing

These past few weeks have been busy, and intense. The busy part I’ve added myself. I am trying to keep myself as absorbed in other tasks as I possibly can be – to keep myself from dwelling on cancer. For the most part, it works. Things in the cancer sphere are dragging on and on and on. I am *still* waiting for insurance to approve the tests I need done so we can determine what kind of treatment I need. It’s incredibly frustrating, and a touch disheartening. I think the waiting can be just as bad as the actual disease.

On the book side, I’ve had a lot of guest posts come through here, which was something I planned so I could have some time to sort my mental processes. It has helped. In the meantime, I’ve been reading some mental-vacation type books, also what I need right now. I’ve finished some good ones, and have a gigantic stack of books waiting to be reviewed.

Special Needs in Strange Worlds has had some great guest posts. Check out this one by Jaye Wells on addiction, and this one by Juliet McKenna on writing characters with disabilities then, and now. Speaking of SF Signal, I was also on a Mind Meld where I divulged my bad book habits.

I crashed the Adventures in SciFi Publishing podcast (again) and got to interview an author who has absolutely rocked my world in a most hardcore way – Will McIntosh. You can listen to the interview here.

Michael J. Sullivan is doing a Ride to Conquer Cancer. He wrote a post to bring some attention to his epic quest, wherein he announced that I am one of the people who he is riding for, and he said some intensely nice things. I am still just absolutely humbled and in awe of his incredible spirit. Read more here.

Kevin J. Anderson sent me a message earlier today asking if I’d share the word about Storybundle. Storybundle is kind of like The Humble Bundle. This one is full of nine different SciFi books from very hard hitting, well known authors. A portion of the proceeds go to the Clayton Memorial Medical Fund, which Jay Lake was fond of. Learn more here.

Speaking of Kevin J. Anderson, the winners of the giveaway for The Dark Between the Stars are:

Thomas W. From Ohio and Conal O.  from California.

Congratulations to both of you!

And, the last bit of personal news is something that tickled the dark recesses of my heart. Speculating on SpecFic, a website you really should all be paying attention to, has started a new feature called Books to Look Out For, based on, you guessed it, Books I’m Eyeing. Seeing that made me feel all warm inside.

Now, onto Books I’m Eyeing.

What books are you eyeing?

—

The Incorruptibles – John Horner Jacobs

Discovery blamed on: Civilian Reader

About the Book

In the contested and unexplored territories at the edge of the Empire, a boat is making its laborious way upstream. Riding along the banks are the mercenaries hired to protect it – from raiders, bandits and, most of all, the stretchers, elf-like natives who kill any intruders into their territory. The mercenaries know this is dangerous, deadly work. But it is what they do.

In the boat the drunk governor of the territories and his sons and daughters make merry. They believe that their status makes them untouchable. They are wrong. And with them is a mysterious, beautiful young woman, who is the key to peace between warring nations and survival for the Empire. When a callow mercenary saves the life of the Governor on an ill-fated hunting party, the two groups are thrown together.

For Fisk and Shoe – two tough, honourable mercenaries surrounded by corruption, who know they can always and only rely on each other – their young companion appears to be playing with fire. The nobles have the power, and crossing them is always risky. And although love is a wonderful thing, sometimes the best decision is to walk away. Because no matter how untouchable or deadly you may be, the stretchers have other plans.

—

Thorn Jack – Katherine Harbour

Discovery blamed on: Fantasy Book Critic

About the Book

They call us things with teeth. These words from Lily Rose Sullivan the night of her death haunts her seventeen-year-old sister, Finn, who has moved with her widowed father to his hometown of Fair Hollow, New York. After befriending a boy named Christie Hart and his best friend, Sylvie Whitethorn, Finn is invited to a lakeside party where she encounters the alluring Jack Fata, a member of the town’s mysterious Fata family. Despite Jack’s air of danger and his clever words, Finn learns they have things in common.

One day, while unpacking, Finn finds her sister’s journal, scrawled with descriptions of creatures that bear a sinister resemblance to Jack’s family. Finn dismisses these stories as fiction, but Jack’s family has a secret—the Fatas are the children of nothing and night, nomadic beings who have been preying on humanity for centuries—and Jack fears that his friendship with Finn has drawn the attention of the most dangerous members of his family—Reiko Fata and vicious Caliban, otherwise known as the white snake and the crooked dog.

Plagued with nightmares about her sister, Finn attempts to discover what happened to Lily Rose and begins to suspect that the Fatas are somehow tied to Lily Rose’s untimely death. Drawn to Jack, determined to solve the mystery of her sister’s suicide, Finn must navigate a dangerous world where nothing is as it seems.

—

The First Stone – Elliott Stone

Discovery blamed on: Mithril Wisdom

About the Book

Private eye Felix Strange doesn’t work homicide cases. He saw enough dead bodies fighting in Iran, a war that left him with a crippling disease that has no name and no cure. So when Strange is summoned to a Manhattan hotel room to investigate the dead body of America’s most-loved preacher, he’d rather not get involved. Strange has a week to find the killer, and even less time to get the black-market medicine he needs to stay alive. In an America where biblical prophecy is foreign policy, Strange knows that his hiring is no accident. He can’t see all the angles, and he knows he’s being watched. In a race against time Strange must face religious police, organized crime and a dame with very particular ideas, while uncovering a conspiracy that reaches the very heart of his newly fundamentalist nation. One of the most stunningly original debut crime novels ever written, The First Stone is both an epic of the imagination and an action-packed mystery set in a time and place too chillingly close to our own. It is the first in an ambitious trilogy that pays homage to the genius of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and James Ellroy, while offering a wholly original take on the noir genre.

—

Tomorrow and Tomorrow – Thomas Sweterlitsch

Discovery blamed on: My Bookish Ways

About the Book

Yesterday cannot last forever…

A decade has passed since the city of Pittsburgh was reduced to ash.

While the rest of the world has moved on, losing itself in the noise of a media-glutted future, survivor John Dominic Blaxton remains obsessed with the past. Grieving for his wife and unborn child who perished in the blast, Dominic relives his lost life by immersing in the Archive—a fully interactive digital reconstruction of Pittsburgh, accessible to anyone who wants to visit the places they remember and the people they loved.

Dominic investigates deaths recorded in the Archive to help close cases long since grown cold, but when he discovers glitches in the code surrounding a crime scene—the body of a beautiful woman abandoned in a muddy park that he’s convinced someone tried to delete from the Archive—his cycle of grief is shattered.

With nothing left to lose, Dominic tracks the murder through a web of deceit that takes him from the darkest corners of the Archive to the ruins of the city itself, leading him into the heart of a nightmare more horrific than anything he could have imagined.

—

Those Who Wish Me Dead – Larry Koryta

Discovery blamed on: The Speculative Scotsman

About the Book

When 13-year-old Jace Wilson witnesses a brutal murder, he’s plunged into a new life, issued a false identity and hidden in a wilderness skills program for troubled teens. The plan is to get Jace off the grid while police find the two killers. The result is the start of a nightmare.

The killers, known as the Blackwell Brothers, are slaughtering anyone who gets in their way in a methodical quest to reach him. Now all that remains between them and the boy are Ethan and Allison Serbin, who run the wilderness survival program; Hannah Faber, who occupies a lonely fire lookout tower; and endless miles of desolate Montana mountains.

The clock is ticking, the mountains are burning, and those who wish Jace Wilson dead are no longer far behind.

 

—

 

White Heart of Justice – Jill Archer

About the Book

Since Lucifer claimed victory at Armageddon, demons, angels, and humans have coexisted in uneasy harmony. Those with waning magic are trained to maintain peace and order. But hostilities are never far from erupting…

After years of denying her abilities, Noon Onyx, the first woman in history to wield waning magic, has embraced her power. She’s won the right to compete in the prestigious Laurel Crown Race—an event that will not only earn her the respect of her peers but also, if she wins, the right to control her future.

However, Noon’s task is nearly impossible: retrieve the White Heart of Justice, a mythical sword that disappeared hundreds of years ago. The sword is rumored to be hidden in a dangerous region of Halja that she is unlikely to return from. But Noon’s life isn’t the only thing hanging in the balance. The sword holds an awesome power that, in the wrong hands, could reboot the apocalypse—and Noon is the only one who can prevent Armageddon from starting again

304 pages (paperback)

Published on May 27, 2014

Published by Ace

Author’s webpage

This book was sent for me to review by the publisher.

—

The Noon Onyx series is one of those fantasy series that I read when I need a mental vacation, but I’m not quite in the mood to turn my brain off completely. Think substantial popcorn with this one. The world is truly unique, and that’s half the draw. The apocalypse happened, and this is the world after that’s happened, and generations have passed.

There’s plenty of magic, angels and demons, both of which are shockingly and fantastically human. No angelic choirs here. Some angels are just as corrupt as you’d expect a demon to be, and some demons are more angelic than most of the angels. It’s quite a mixed bag, and it’s that mixed bag that keeps me coming back.

Now, the series itself has some issues. For example, in the first book, Noon is starting college and is in her lower twenties, but she has a locker in the hallway outside of her classes. That’s fine, but it just made the book feel much more high school than it was probably supposed to.

But this is considered “New Adult” (I assume) and I have very little experience with that, so maybe that’s normal for the New Adult sub-sub-genre-thing.

White Heart of Justice is the third book in the Noon Onyx saga. In each book she gets a little more independent. In the second book she made some important decisions regarding who she is, and in this third book she really latches onto those decisions and loses a lot of the angst that permeated parts of the plot before.

As with the previous books in the series, I know what to expect here. Noon has to prove herself, not just to herself, but to her school. She can’t be hidden anymore. The hiding is over. You get more of the badass-chick-who-kicks-ass-and-takes-names here. It was a lot of fun to see Noon really owning up to who she is, and becoming a powerful woman in her own right.

On the other hand, I lamented a bit of how that was accomplished. Noon seemed to take a step back into the stereotypical urban fantasy woman role a little bit. While she does deviate from that, I lamented the slight loss of the unique woman who fit into her unique world so perfectly.

There is a bit of a love triangle that happens in this book, another thing that can be checked off of the Elements in Urban Fantasy checklist. There is some angst that goes with that, and it muddies the romantic waters a bit. Honestly, this was probably my biggest bone of contention in the novel. It’s obvious who Noon is going to (eventually) end up with, so lets cut the drama and angst, and just focus on the plot.

The plot, itself, moves at a fast pace, and the writing sucks me in. That’s what I love about this series, and that’s something I can say about every book in it so far. No matter what the flaws are, regardless of predictability, or any elements that are less-than-believable, the writing and the plot will always pull you along. It’s just easy to sink into, and it does have that mental-vacation quality I’m looking for right now, without really turning off my cognitive function.

The world feels a little larger in White Heart of Justice, and the secondary characters that come and go keep things colorful and interesting. I enjoyed seeing how the cultures change in different locations, and learning more about the lore and setup of locations as Noon traveled around. Furthermore, Noon takes a trip and gets to see her brother, and where her mother was from. That added some nice background to her and to her family.

Mysteries are uncovered, and questions are answered. There’s enough that is hinted at regarding magic systems and the like that I makes me want to know more. I really like the fact that, three books into a series, Archer is still developing her world and the cultures and magics that are in it. It keeps things feeling fresh and new with each and every book.

White Heart of Justice is a solid installment in this series, and fans are sure to love it. While I did enjoy it quite a bit (I read it in a day), it left a little to be desired. The romantic angst felt drawn out and unnecessary. Points of the plot were very predictable, and Noon felt less unique and more UF lady-with-a-weapon-wearing-leather. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it just didn’t feel as unique as this series deserves. In fact, I felt like this book checked off a lot of bullet points on a checklist, and that did disappoint me.

That being said, this third book in the series ends in a perfect way that gives Archer a ton of wiggle room for the next development in Noon’s life. I’m looking forward to more time spent away from school and in the wide world. Noon isn’t done growing and developing, and neither is her world.

So I’ll keep coming back.

 

3/5 stars

GUEST POST | Kevin J. Anderson on Returning to his Home Universe

I am a huge Kevin J. Anderson fan. The Saga of the Seven Suns was the first science fiction series I ever read (indeed, Hidden Empire is the very first science fiction book I ever read). I re-read it a year or so ago, and I still loved it. It’s just a fantastic series, and the universe that Anderson created is so incredibly dynamic.

With that being said, you can probably understand why I was so excited when I heard about The Dark Between the Stars. More fantastic stories in the Seven Suns universe? Yes, please! I just finished the book today. My review will post within a few days, but suffice it to say, fans of Anderson won’t be disappointed.

I was thrilled when Anderson’s publicist asked if I’d be willing to host the author on my website. I had to pinch myself to see if it was real. Kevin J. Anderson, on MY website? Will wonders never cease? (Bonus: I’m going to get to meet him at Westercon in a few weeks!). I am beyond thrilled to have one of the authors who started me out in SciFi on my website. I sincerely hope you’ll welcome him warmly.

About the Author

Kevin has written spin-off novels for Star Wars, StarCraft, Titan A.E., and The X-Files, and is the co-author of the Dune prequels. His original works include the Saga of Seven Suns series and the Nebula Award-nominated Assemblers of Infinity. He has also written several comic books including the Dark Horse Star Wars collection Tales of the Jedi written in collaboration with Tom Veitch, Predator titles (also for Dark Horse), and X-Files titles for Topps. You can learn more about him by checking out his website. 

Anderson serves as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest.

Back to My Home Universe

by Kevin J. Anderson

In 2003, I published Hidden Empire, the first book in my Saga of Seven Suns, an immense interconnected space opera with dozens of main characters–heroes, villains, lovers, traitors, con-men, soldiers, killers, scientists, and just everyday people.

Over the seven volumes of the series, the plotline spiraled into a broad and tangled tapestry, with countless worlds and many space battles, racial conflicts, political entanglements, killer robots, strange alien planets, romances, battles. The Saga of Seven Suns has been called, “Game of Thrones, with planets.”

I wrapped up that entire seven volume series with a grand finale that tied up all the loose ends, ending the epic with The Ashes of Worlds in 2009.

That was five years ago. I was exhausted from holding that entire universe in my head and putting my poor characters through the paces. (Some of them definitely didn’t appreciate the nasty things I did to them.) I had developed the cultures and the characters organically, using a special language for alien empires, societal quirks, personality traits. I’d lived in the Seven Suns universe for seven years, non-stop, writing one book after another. I had it all there in my head.

But, I turned to other things for a while: I wrote a massive “sailing ships and sea monsters fantasy trilogy, Terra Incognita, and I produced two all-star rock albums associated with that story. I wrote several more Dune novels as well as a new science fiction trilogy, Hellhole, with Brian Herbert. I wrote a steam-punk fantasy adventure, Clockwork Angels, based on the new concept album by legendary rock group, Rush. I wrote a slapstick comedy fantasy, The Dragon Business, about medieval con men selling their services as dragon slayers, even though there was no dragon. And finally, a whole series, (four novels and six short stories so far) featuring the humorous adventures of Dan Shamble, Zombie PI.

So, when I finally decided to return to the Seven Suns universe with a “next generation” trilogy set twenty years after the end of The Ashes of Worlds, I experienced a bit of culture shock. Thanks to completing all those other projects in the meantime, I had cleared my creative palate. I’d been mentally wrung out after writing seven volumes in a row.

Now I could approach the universe and the characters, fresh.

The Seven Suns universe called me again. I had always planned to return with a new trilogy, and I had planted seeds for a new story throughout the original seven volumes.

The Saga of Shadows.

I knew there would be a tremendous cosmic threat. I knew the whole host of new characters who would take center stage–they had been babies or young children in the earlier books, and twenty years later they were ready for their own adventures. Of course, a Seven Suns novel wouldn’t be the same if I didn’t include some of the old favorite characters, so they had roles as well; some in advisory or supportive positions, while others grabbed me by the creative collar and insisted that they had much more adventuring to do.

Unfortunately, after all that time, many of the details had slipped out of my mind. I’ve always felt that Seven Suns was my “home universe,” the place where I felt most comfortable as a writer. I knew the political situation of all the races, clans, and families; I knew all the planets by heart; I knew the cultures; I knew the characters; I knew the tiny esoteric details of the cities, and the names of all the extended connections of all my characters.

But, you tend to forget things like that over the course of five years.

So in returning to my home universe, I had to reload all of those old details into my memory. It was like cramming for an exam in college . . . no, more complicated than that. It was like preparing to defend my doctoral thesis.

Over the course of writing and editing those seven novels, many details had grown and changed. Character names were altered at the last minute, and so the published versions of the original novels might not exactly reflect what was in my mind from when I had conceived them in the first place. Yes, I had more than a hundred pages of notes from when I had done my original world-building—but that would have been much more useful if I had expended the time and effort to keep all the tiny details up to date in my notes! Once I get started, I am totally immersed in a project, and I don’t want to be derailed by making annotations when there are space battles to win and abandoned alien ruins to explore.

So, I had to start from scratch, going back to Hidden Empire, reading through it with a highlighter, reminding myself of important aspects. Then, on to A Forest of Stars, then Horizon Storms, then Scattered Suns.

Unfortunately, I suffer from what might be called “Slow Reader Syndrome.” I have to read every sentence, since I never learned how to skim, and so it took me a long time to work through those seven volumes. To speed up the process, I listened to the unabridged audio editions, playing them for hours as I took long drives or during my daily workout in the gym.

As I reread those chapters and re-familiarized myself with the characters, it was like meeting old friends after a longtime away. I also got more and more ideas of what to do with storylines in The Dark Between the Stars, the first volume in The Saga of Shadows (just released in hardcover from Tor Books).

On the one hand, it was a tedious job to reread so many pages—time consuming and requiring a great deal of concentration—but on the other hand, it was quite enjoyable. I’d been away from these books for so long that I could read them like a new fan, since I couldn’t remember everything that happened.

My excitement grew and the new story came alive in my mind, as I kept writing down notes expanding my outline for The Dark Between the Stars, building on characters, wondering what they had been doing during the twenty year gap since the last book.

Once I got up to speed, I was ready to go back to my home universe.

I started with a clean canvas and wrote The Dark Between the Stars so that newcomers to the Seven Suns universe can enjoy it as much as the original fans. It’s a standalone space opera trilogy, a colorful and accessible science fiction epic.

And now that I’ve built up a head of steam, I’m not stopping. The Dark Between the Stars just came out, and I’m already well over halfway finished with Book Two, Blood of the Cosmos, and I have lots of notes and ideas for the grand finale of the trilogy, Eternity’s Mind (at least that’s what I’m calling it this week).

I hope you’ll come visit me in my home universe.

The Boost – Stephen Baker

About the Book

Ralf is a software prodigy. He works in the US government office that updates the software in the population’s boosts—networked supercomputers contained in a chip implanted within the brains of 99 percent of the world’s population. Invented by Chinese researchers in 2032, the boost is credited with leading humanity to its most significant cognitive leap since the discovery of fire.

Days before a national upgrade, Ralf notices that the update includes an open surveillance gate—meaning that Americans, who had negotiated high levels of privacy with the Chinese manufacturers, will now be subjected to the invasive Chinese standard. Ralf attempts to hack the boost, but is caught by agents working for Washington’s preeminent lobbyist. His boost is ripped from his head, and Ralf barely escapes with his life.

Pursued by the lobbyist’s mercenary cadre, Ralf flees to the US–Mexico border, where there are others like him—“wild” humans on the fringes of society, unenhanced by technology. It’s a frightening and backward world controlled by powerful drug lords. Ralf’s only hope is to somehow work with these wild bosses of the analog world—in hopes of winning back freedom in the digital one.

336 pages (Hardcover)

Published on May 20, 2014

Published by Tor

Author’s webpage

This book was sent for me to review by the publisher.

—

I have an admission to make.

I’m a sucker for social SciFi.

There. I said it.

I love the stuff. I really think it is interesting to see how authors visualize technology and society progressing, the relationship between the two, and how they will influence each other. Our world is such a dynamic place, and the future is full of possibilities. I love the authors who aren’t afraid to toy with what is over the horizon.

The Boost takes place in a fairly near future where everyone has computers (known as “Boosts”) in their heads. Everything we have at our fingertips is instantaneous in their minds. GPS, the internet, social networking, and so much more is right there, constantly. Life is lived as much in the virtual realm in our minds as in the real, three-dimensional world around them.

The premise is fascinating. The interplay of society and technology is nearly flawless. Woven into this tapestry are some incredibly believable, like culture wars between countries regarding their Boost software, issues with privacy (just how much is the government allowed to spy on what citizens do with their Boosts?), and a sort of technological revolution much like the Industrial Revolutions just upgraded a bit.

There is also plenty of mystery surrounding the Boost, how they came to be, and just what their primary function really is. The power play between governments, and the potential for unlimited access to the very thoughts of citizens (not just words or actions) proves to be a temptation that is, well, tempting to many.

As you’d expect, factions form, and people act and react to developments, also in very believable ways.

Basically, all of this is my way of saying that the technology, the boost itself, the way it impacts society and people, is absolutely riveting.

Ralf, the protagonist, was one of the software geniuses who helped make the Boost what it became. Then, it got taken away from him. He lived with a computer in his brain, and suddenly he didn’t have one there. The impact of the sudden loss of his Boost was incredibly interesting. He couldn’t find his way home on simple streets because suddenly he didn’t have GPS. He had a hard time remembering the past, because he couldn’t recall video clips saved on his Boost anymore. It was very well done.

His journey to find his brother is also illuminating. The world he lived in slowly loses some of its allure. He realizes how sterile things are, how distant his relationships with people he cares about really are once he loses the virtual aspect of things. It’s an interesting shift, and it’s a shift I really wanted to experience more of.

The plot itself moves pretty quickly. Unfortunately, I wanted to learn more about the technology, the social and societal impact of it, the changes that Ralf went through, and less about, well, everything else. I’m not saying that the book isn’t interesting, but it is rather unbalanced. The further the plot went, the more forced things felt. The humor felt more forced, the characters started to feel less real. The ending itself felt very rushed, and left me a little baffled.

The characters managed to stray from being cookie-cutter. They were all believable and dynamic. I enjoyed their perspectives and seeing things through their eyes. Despite the fact that the main characters are so well done, there is a fairly stereotypical corporate baddie which disappointed me for numerous reasons. I’m sick of corporate baddies. They tend to feel very cardboard and pastel, very predictable, and in such a fascinating world, this one felt even more so.

The Boost is one of those books that had me rather torn. The premise is so interesting, absolutely fascinating. I really wanted to know more. The plot started out tight, and while it moves at a fast clip throughout the book, it starts unraveling at the halfway point. Things start to feel a little forced. Dialogue and humor starts to feel a little too much like a parody than something serious. The ending was disappointing.

Is this worth reading? Yes. Regardless of the flaws, this really is a fantastic exploration of the relationship between humanity and technology. If you’re interested in seeing what could happen in the future where computers become part of us, which is something I could visualize happening, then take a look. I’m anxious to see what sort of novel Baker writes next.

 

3/5 stars

GUEST POST | Ria Bridges on Genre and Gender

Ria Bridges is a speculative fiction reviewer I pay a lot of attention to. Ria’s reviews are very thoughtful and she reads a ton of books that catch my interest. However, the one of the main reasons why she interests me so much is because of her openness regarding gender and sexuality, and her struggles with conforming to a rather binary society when she isn’t really, well, binary. Ria has opened my eyes regarding gender and sexuality, and made me realize just how incredibly ignorant I really am regarding this.

I asked Ria if she would be willing to write something about gender and the genre for my website, because I think it is an incredibly important issue. I was absolutely beyond thrilled when she didn’t laugh me out of the park, and instead jumped on it and sent me this absolutely fantastic, completely thought provoking post.

Thank you, Ria.

About the Author

Ria Bridges is an ex-pat Brit currently living on the east coast of Canada, along with 5 cats and a glorified budgie named Albert. When not reading and reviewing books on bibliotropic.net, Ria can often be found obsessively playing video games, being an amateur photographer, or experimenting with various fibre arts. Ria dreams of someday writing something of publishable quality, and then finding the courage to actually follow through and try to get it published.

Genre and Gender

By Ria Bridges

When Sarah first asked me to write a post for Bookworm Blues about my views of gender identity and its relation to SFF, I was thrilled. My gender identity is something that’s very important to me, a bone of contention and something that I’ve struggled to discover and name and finally work to carve out for myself, and I have no problems talking about it. I leapt at the chance to talk. But how it relates to SFF? What could I possibly say that hasn’t been said a dozen times or more, and by people with far more reach and influence than myself?

On the other hand, I continually run into people who, while they may understand the idea of being transgendered, don’t understand that the story is much more varied than it looks at first glance. So maybe I do have something worth saying.

When most people think of gender, we think of male and female, the binary, opposite ends of a spectrum. Most people fall happily into those categorizations, for they are quite broad. Being female, for example, doesn’t have to mean that you always wear dresses and enjoy cooking and makeup and are attracted to males, and all the other stereotypical traits that we attach to that one identifying word. Ditto for men. Men don’t have to be macho and watch sports and play with power tools all day in order to still feel comfortable being called men.

But just as black and white are on opposite ends of the spectrum, with many shades and colours in between, so too is gender. The world isn’t as simple as black and white, male and female.

Years ago, I used to joke that I was a nonentity. I stopped this, largely at the request of friends who felt that I was devaluing myself by saying that. But in a weird way, that was part of my point. By most of the labels we can give ourselves to help identify who we are and thus how we relate to others, I didn’t exist. There wasn’t a label that I knew of at the time that applied to me. I couldn’t say, “Hi, I’m Ria, I’m straight, and I’m okay with being a woman.” Nor could I say, “I’m Ria, my DNA says I’m female but my mind and heart tell me I’m male, so I’m a transman.” The ways that people tended to self-identify didn’t apply to me. There were no check boxes for “none of the above.” How do you give a value to something that, for all the signs you see, doesn’t actually exist?

When I read genre fiction, I read it for 2 reasons. First, I read it because I love sinking into new worlds, new settings, letting them wash over me and wrap around me and just bury me in the wonder of a world that isn’t this one, a life that isn’t my life. And second, I read it because genre fiction has a unique opportunity to explore so many issues in so many ways that not only bring to life what could be but also serve to expand on what already is. It’s fertile ground for exploration, for experimentation, for taking a look at the hard-hitting issues of today in unexpected ways.

And what hits harder than personal identification? There’s something powerful about reading a book and seeing yourself reflected in a character. It lends legitimacy to a personal issue. It might lead to that “a-ha!” moment when someone struggling with their identity discovers that somebody else out there has thought the same things they have, wondered the same things about themselves, wrestled with the same questions and came out the other side.

When we don’t get that chance, we feel like nonentities. When we look into the mirror of media and see only people unlike ourselves staring back, it starts to feel like we really don’t have a presence, like we’re islands, disconnected and alone. When the rest of the world tells us we’re invisible, it sounds an awful lot like we’re wrong, like we’re abnormal and freakish and that to have any connection, we need to change our fundamental identities.

Honestly, I’m still hearing that from many sources. Many people have accepted that there are genders other than simply male and female. Third gender, fourth gender, dual gender. There are options. But for me, I don’t identify with any gender. I’ve given it a lot of thought, tried to call myself an androgyne, which felt wrong because that’s a mix of male and female by its very literal meaning, or third gendered, which seems to have nebulous definitions last time I checked and seems most often applied to those who don’t identify with male or female but still feel like they have a gender. Me, I don’t. Assigning a gender to myself just feels incorrect, like I’m doing what I did when I was a teenager and just grasping for the closest word that defines what I feel even when it’s not accurate.

It took years for me to discover the term “agendered.” No gender. And it was a revelation, a validation that what I felt was something that other people also felt, that I wasn’t unique and therefore incomprehensible. There wasn’t something wrong with me.

Genre fiction is doing wonders to promote the spectrum of sexuality. It’s starting to do more in regard to gender, too, which is awesome to see. But where I see it fall down is in the expression of non-binary gender when it comes to humans. Most characters who are neither male nor female are often non-humans, some other species in both science fiction and fantasy. There’s still that subtle message being passed across that those who identify as non-binary gendered are not human. It’s probably not intentional. It’s not malicious. But it still results in looking into the mirror and seeing nothing that resembles us. There’s a gap that still needs to be filled.

And I understand why it’s hard to fill that gap. If someone asked me to list the defining characteristics of being agendered, I really wouldn’t be able to give a concrete answer. Most of all it’s a feeling that other gender identities don’t apply. I don’t identify with being female, nor male, nor a mix of both, nor some as-of-yet unnamed third or fourth of fifth gender. On multiple tests for personality, perspective, gendered traits, multi-tasking versus spatial relations, I come out firmly in the middle, sometimes with a slight leaning toward the female side of the spectrum. But even that would be a flawed way of describing it, since everyone’s different and tests like that are biased upon the binary to start with. A trait is either male or female, and no two ways about it.

So how best to write about something that’s so hard to describe? How do you create a realistic character who identifies with a non-binary gender when so much of our way of thinking is geared toward as a default, even when we’re not consciously aware of it?

My body is never going to look the way I want it too. I might be able to come close by shelling out a bunch of money out-of-pocket for some cosmetic surgery and sitting through a lecture about how changing my chest will ruin my self-esteem and make me feel like less of a woman (which is kind of the point…), but that’s not happening any time soon. Gender reassignment treatments do exist, but it can still be difficult enough to find a doctor who will take the idea of transitioning seriously when it’s a male-to-female or female-to-male switch. We’re living at a time where increasingly we’re allowed and encouraged to live outside traditional gender roles if that’s what suits us, but those roles are still prevalent and still make their presence known. It’s fine to go from A to B or B to A. But there’s still no check box for “None of the above.”

But the joy of genre is that there’s a greater hope here than just about anywhere else that I’m going to see someone very much like myself looking back at me from the pages someday. I experienced this once in regard to my sexual preferences (Tori, in R J Anderson’s Quicksilver, is asexual, and it’s presented there as a legitimate preference rather than the result of trauma or religious vows), and it was an amazing feeling. Someday it’ll happen with my gender. The thought that I and many others like me will be able to look into that mirror and see ourselves and so many others staring back, so many positive representations of that fundamental identifier we attach to ourselves… That is an encouraging thought.

 

GUEST POST | When in doubt, call in a woman – Jaime Lee Moyer

Jaime Lee Moyer is a rising star in the genre. She has just recently released the second book in her Delia Martin series, A Barricade in Hell, was released on June 3rd. Moyer charmed me with her first book, Delia’s Shadow, which is completely against my nature with all things bookish. That’s a testament to her skill as an author. I’m very excited to see where she goes next, as I’m sure her successful career is only starting. I’m even more thrilled that she decided to grace my dusty corner of the internet with this truly fantastic post.

Side note: Whoever is doing the cover art for her books needs some sort of recognition. These covers slay me. So beautiful.

About the Author

Jaime Lee Moyer lives in San Antonio, land of cowboys, cactus, and rhinestones. She writes books about murder, betrayal, friendship, magic, and kissing, an activity her cats approve of (even the kissing).

Her first novel, Delia’s Shadow, was published by Tor Books September 17, 2013. The second book in the series, A Barricade In Hell, comes out June 3, 2014, and the third book, Against ABrightening Sky, in 2015.

Jaime’s short fiction has appeared in  Lone Star Stories, Daily Science Fiction, and the Triangulations: End of the Rainbow, and Triangulations: Last Contact anthologies. She was poetry editor for Ideomancer Speculative Fiction for five years and edited the 2010 Rhysling Award Anthology for the Science Fiction Poetry Association. A poet in her own right, she’s sold more than her share of poetry.

She writes a lot. She reads as much as she can.

You can find out more about her on her website, or connect with her on Twitter.

When in doubt, call in a woman

by Jaime Lee Moyer

Women characters—as heroines and villains—and the different ways women are strong is an ongoing topic among both writers and readers. My personal opinion is that women can be strong in all the ways anyone is strong: physically, emotionally, displaying courage in the face of danger, protecting a child—anyway at all. If a woman character has status and agency, how she chooses to display that self-determination is usually fine with me.

I also know that in the real world there are novels where women have as much status and agency and personality as a lamp on the hall table. Those books are out there. They exist and people read them.

I think about these things a lot.  First, because almost all the books I read and end up loving have well rounded characters that just happen to be women. I do concede that I probably self-select for that, both in what I choose to read and the authors that are my favorites. Tell me a book has great women characters and I’m there.

Second, because as a writer women characters of all kinds, in all roles, are often my default. That was certainly the case for Delia’s Shadow and A Barricade In Hell. I never think that what I do is exceptional.  We are all the heroes of our own story, after all, and to ourselves, what we do is never unusual.

Then someone points out that such and such book doesn’t have any women, or that this other novel only had one woman in a walk-on minor role. And I think Why is this so hard? The world is made up of more than men.

Deep down, I know all this stuff, but it still pulls me up short. The choices I’ve made as a writer aren’t the choices other writers make. (Yes, I am Captain Obvious today.) Out in the big, bad real world, I’m not certain how those choices will fare long-term.

Delia’s Shadow has five major women characters: Delia, Isadora, Sadie, Esther and Annie. Six if you count the ghost, which I should.  That was a deliberate choice, one I made before I started writing. While that seems perfectly normal to me, for some readers? Not so much. The second book in the series, A Barricade In Hell, has three major women characters…and a female ghost.  Not as many as book one, but there are valid story reasons for that. The third book (out in 2015) is back up to five women, a little girl, and a young woman haunting Delia.

Another deliberate choice I made was to paint all these women as products of their time. They are smart and oh so strong, independent, resourceful and brave, but they are not 21st century women.

Dora smokes and delights in wearing fur coats, and dares anyone to question her lifestyle choices. Sadie is content with motherhood in A Barricade In Hell, but at the same time, she’s a stanch suffragette. Delia is Gabe’s partner in life, and Dora’s partner in dealing with the occult aspects of Gabe’s cases, but she also deeply mourns the loss of their first child. She wants what Sadie has and she wants other things too. Dora wants what Delia has, but on her own terms. She’s not willing to give up herself to have it.

Well rounded, strong women characters are complex, human. Their strength can be—should be—shown by how they support each other and the people they care about, in how they cope with loss and go on, in growing into their chosen role and facing fear, or nurturing their child.

Women have always been strong. Writers shouldn’t be afraid to show all sides of that strength.

And women characters can also be evil, greedy and do a great deal of harm. They can be true believers and worthy opponents. Nuanced is the word I’m going for here.

I understand why readers make a point of commenting on well-written women more than a micron deep, or making a point of pointing out books and stories with strong women. I do it myself. I can’t wait for the day that’s no longer true.

That reaction is a type of rejoicing, an instant recognition that yes, here are people I recognize, empathize with. Here is a character like me, my sister or mother, my best friend.

And it’s an emotional reaction, at least for me, because seeing women portrayed with all their different strengths, their ways of coping and surviving tells readers that women matter.

That shouldn’t be such a rare thing. Really and truly.

GUEST POST | Marie Brennan on Time, Writing, and Tricks of the Trade

Marie Brennan is an author that I pay very close attention to. She has some serious skill. I love her worlds, the way she uses words, the characters she creates. She has this incredible ability to make me feel like I’m taking a literary vacation, and she manages to make me think at the same time. Those two qualities don’t usually go hand-in-hand in books, but they do with Brennan. She’s thoughtful, deep, fun, lively, and makes me look at the world I live in completely differently.

If you haven’t read her books, you really should.

She contacted me recently about her Kickstarter project (full disclosure: I got an email from her while I was at work, and I swear to god I squeaked. My coworkers thought I was nuts). I asked her if she’d like to write a post for Bookworm Blues to try and get her Kickstarter more attention. She agreed, and I just about passed out because Marie-Freaking-Brennan was writing something for my dusty corner of the internet.

Her kickstarter is to fund Chains and Memory. Here’s what it’s all about, from her Kickstarter page:

Chains and Memory is the long-awaited sequel to Lies and Prophecy, an urban fantasy of the near future in a world where half the population has psychic gifts. It continues the story of Kim and Julian after the events of their junior year in college, when the balance of power has changed out from under them and Kim is fighting to escape the grip of the government itself.

This is a version of our world where magic has been common for only a few generations, and the scars of its sudden arrival are not yet fully healed. Psychic powers are an inheritance from the sidhe; human beings are still working to understand them, explore them . . . and control them. Wilders — people born with unusually strong gifts — are at the center of the conflict now, as they and those around them struggle to chain their gifts in the coming war, or else break them free forever.

And that’s about as much as I can say without spoiling Lies and Prophecy . . .

Please check out her kickstarter page. She has some very cool stretch goals, and she’s an author I really want to see more of.

About the Author

Marie Brennan is a former academic with a background in archaeology, anthropology, and folklore, which she now puts to rather cockeyed use in writing fantasy. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she spends her time practicing piano, studying karate, and playing a variety of role-playing games.

You can learn more about Marie Brennan, and her work on her website, or chat with her on Twitter.

—

When I sat down to write Warrior and Witch (the novel now known simply as Witch), I thought I had my work cut out for me. Not only was it the first sequel I’d ever attempted to write, but it was the sequel to a book I had written five years previously, at the age of nineteen. I’d revised Doppelganger (now known as Witch — please forgive the confusing titles) a few times over the intervening years, but there’s a big difference between revision and putting yourself back into that world and that voice for the purpose of writing an entirely new book.

I look back at my twenty-four-year-old self and I laugh and laugh. She had no idea what she’d find herself doing a decade later.

Now I’m writing the sequel to a book I first wrote fifteen years ago. The first draft of Lies and Prophecy was completed the year before Doppelganger, and now here I am, trying to get back into the world and the voice to write an entirely new book, Chains and Memory. It’s a story I’ve been wanting to tell for years; that’s why I decided to run a Kickstarter campaign and squeeze it in between the novels I’m actually contracted for. But it turns out there’s a big difference between planning to tell that story, and putting the words on the page at last.

Some things help. Unlike its predecessor, Chains and Memory doesn’t take place at Welton University; the characters are on vacation from their studies, and Kim is working at an internship in Washington, D.C. The change of venue and context means that a certain amount of change in tone is to be expected. And of course the events of the previous book have had an effect on my protagonists, so if they sound a bit different, I can chalk that up to them having grown as people.

But it’s still a challenge, and I’m pulling out every trick in the book to get myself back in the groove. I re-read Lies and Prophecy, of course, before starting work on the sequel. I’m fortunate in that I created an entire “novel soundtrack” for it, so I can listen to that and, through the wonders of Pavlovian conditioning, re-engage gears I haven’t used in a while. I think I need to do more, though: maybe diagram some of my sentences from the previous book and figure out what structures were characteristic of Kim’s narration. I’ve been writing pseudo-Victorian third person for several years now; getting out of that and back into the voice of a twenty-first-century college student is a bit of a trick. If revising Lies and Prophecy for publication was slipping back into my favorite pair of comfy jeans, this is rummaging through stacks of Levi’s, trying to find the current style that is most like the ones I already have.

It could be worse, though. I could be writing something with a cast of thousands and an invented world. But the good news is, this story is fairly simple, and I learned the hard way while writing the Onyx Court novels that you should start keeping a record of pertinent details before you’re several books into the series. I know writers who have had to pull this trick with books for which a setting bible was both vitally necessary and completely nonexistent.

I’m not really complaining. Like I said, I’ve been wanting to write this story for years, and the fact that now I have a chance to do so is making me absolutely giddy with joy. But man, if I’d known at the tender age of eighteen that I would be revisiting that world at thirty-three, I would have drawn myself a better map!

Who is going to….

I have a headache tonight. The kind of headache that’s making me want to drill a hole in my head so I can let off some of the pressure. Or stick a fork in my eye to give me something else to think about.

So you aren’t getting a review. I can’t think straight. You don’t want me reviewing anything when I’m like this.

Instead I’m going to ask you all a question.

WHO IS GOING TO WESTERCON? 

Anyone?

Anyone?

Buehler?

Westercon (happening July 3-5 in Salt Lake City in conjunction with FantasyCon) will be my very first con, and I am kind of nervous/excited. I’m nervous for a few reasons:

1. I have no idea what to expect.

2. I suck at being social, so I have a feeling I’ll walk around for ten minutes feeling lost and then leave because I don’t know what the hell to do with myself.

3. I think I’m going alone. My husband might come with me, but he cares about books roughly as much as I care about games (not much) so I think I’m probably going alone.

I’m excited because I rarely, if ever, get to actually connect with other people in this genre IN PERSON, and the opportunity to do that is something I can’t pass up.

Some very cool authors will be there, but so far I haven’t heard from anyone else going to it to visit said authors. I’m afraid that it’s going to be me in a room with a bunch of authors who look at me like I’m crazy. I know there has to be more than one reader (me) attending. There have to be more people going.

THERE HAS TO BE.

So I’m wondering who you are, fellow genrebuffs who are going to Westercon. Who are you? What are you excited about? In general, what should I expect?

Enlighten me, my readers, because so far the radio silence regarding Westercon is scaring me.