Author's Copies Plus Links
I got my author's copies of The Serpent Sea Friday, yay!
Here is the traditional cat picture to celebrate:
It can be preordered at Barnes and Noble,
Amazon US, Powell's, Mysterious Galaxy, The Tattered Cover, Books-a-Million, Book Depository.com (free shipping worldwide), Book Depository.uk, Amazon UK, Amazon.ca, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de, or look for it it at an independent book store in the US through IndieBound. The ebook version should be available January 1, 2012 in Amazon Kindle Edition, Baen Webscription eBook, Barnes & Noble NookBook, and Kobo.
It also includes some pages of nice things people said about The Cloud Roads, which I am going to list in the cut:
Martha Wells' books always make me remember why I love to read. In The Cloud Roads, she invents yet another rich and astonishingly detailed setting, where many races and cultures uneasily co-exist in a world constantly threatened by soulless predators. But the vivid world-building and nonstop action really serve as a backdrop for the heart of the novel--the universal human themes of loneliness, loss, and the powerful drive to find somewhere to belong.
- Sharon Shinn
* I loved The Cloud Roads so much that I begged Ms. Wells and Nightshade Books to let me tell you--Yes! You! You, the one who is looking for a new book to start!--to read this marvelous science fantasy series. With excellent, inventive world building and wonderful characters I adored spending time with, it is completely fabulous.
- Kate Elliott
* The Cloud Roads has wildly original worldbuilding, diverse and engaging characters, and a thrilling adventure plot. It's that rarest of fantasies: fresh and surprising, with a story that doesn't go where ten thousand others have gone before. I can't wait for my next chance to visit the Three Worlds!
- N.K. Jemisin
* Thus the world is made all the more convincing for the reader, and all the more alien, by Wells's finely tuned instinct for what to explain, and how, always in keeping with Moon's viewpoint, and what to simply show without further clarification; other species with blue skin or horns, treelings, skylings, and waterlings, some sentient, some not, some with magic... It reminds me of the SF/F fantasy I read as a teen, long before YA was categorized. Those books explored adult concepts without 'adult content'; the complexity of morality and the potential, uncaring harshness of life. This story's conclusion satisfies on all those counts as well as leaving me eager for the sequel.
- Interzone, Juliet E. McKenna
* There's so much to like here: multiple sapient species sharing a world (or NOT sharing) with complex gender roles, wildly differing societies, and varying technologies. This is rigorous fantasy without the trappings of European medievalism. And most of all, it's riveting storytelling.
- Steven Gould
* Filled with vivid action and memorable characters, Cloud Roads is a terrific science fiction adventure story with a heart. I read it eagerly and look forward to its sequel with great anticipation.
- Sarah Prineas
* Wells...merrily ignores genre conventions as she spins an exciting adventure around an alien hero who anyone can identify with.
- Publishers Weekly starred review
*The Cloud Roads is an unconventional and genuinely fascinating fantasy book, because Martha Wells avoids clichés and writes fresh fantasy. The Cloud Roads is an interesting and beautiful tale of what it means to be different. It's also a fresh story about love, loss and loneliness. That's partly the reason why this book is charmingly irresistible (when you begin to read this book, you'll soon notice that it's impossible to put it down -- I read this book in one sitting, because I loved it).
- RisingShadow.net
* But this is still a rousing tale of a lost boy who finds his way home and discovers that he has a role to play in saving the world. High-octane fight scenes nicely contrast with Moon's emotional growth and developing romance. Genre fans looking for something different will find this just what they needed.
- School Library Journal Blog
* Part of the enjoyment of this novel was seeing how Wells unwrapped the culture of the colony, as well as the world, like an onion. The further I read, the more depth there was. There are enough characters for a Fat Fantasy. Martha Wells does more with character development in less than 300 pages than many other writers do in twice as many pages. Or even a thousand pages.
- Adventures Fantastic
*I loved this book. This has Wells' signature worldbuilding and wholly real character development, and her wry voice shines through. I can't even explain how real the world felt, in which each race and city and culture had such well-drawn back story that they lived on even outside the main plot.
- Patrice Sarath
***
Holiday Gift Recs: I did a post on collecting holiday gift recs of books and people's etsy and craft and small business shops, and it got caught in a DDoS attack. But there are now more comments with links to great shops and some YA and MG book recs that would make great presents, so please check it out and keep adding more, and I'll link back to it later this week to remind people it's there.
***
We had a cold front come in with some rain, which we very badly need. It really isn't enough to call the drought over though, since we're still 24 inches below normal for rainfall. They think the drought will continue through next year, and probably longer. Augh.
I didn't do much this weekend except work on the third Books of the Raksura. I did go to the farmers market Saturday and got a big bunch of spinach that got converted into a yummy spinach pie yesterday. Or, I used eggs, so I guess it's a quiche. But someone wanted the recipe so here's what I did:
Put about a teaspoon of olive oil in a small pot and cooked four pieces of bacon, removed bacon and put in chopped onions and mushrooms. Cooked those for a bit, then added the chopped spinach to wilt it down. Added some cheese and melted it in with the rest. Crumbled the bacon and added it back in. Turned off the heat, then in a separate bowl stirred up two eggs with some salt, pepper, and smoked paprika. Added that to the pot, stirred everything together and poured it into a pie shell. Baked it for about 40 minutes at 350, with foil around the edge of the pie crust so it wouldn't burn.
Here is the traditional cat picture to celebrate:
It can be preordered at Barnes and Noble,
Amazon US, Powell's, Mysterious Galaxy, The Tattered Cover, Books-a-Million, Book Depository.com (free shipping worldwide), Book Depository.uk, Amazon UK, Amazon.ca, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de, or look for it it at an independent book store in the US through IndieBound. The ebook version should be available January 1, 2012 in Amazon Kindle Edition, Baen Webscription eBook, Barnes & Noble NookBook, and Kobo.
It also includes some pages of nice things people said about The Cloud Roads, which I am going to list in the cut:
Martha Wells' books always make me remember why I love to read. In The Cloud Roads, she invents yet another rich and astonishingly detailed setting, where many races and cultures uneasily co-exist in a world constantly threatened by soulless predators. But the vivid world-building and nonstop action really serve as a backdrop for the heart of the novel--the universal human themes of loneliness, loss, and the powerful drive to find somewhere to belong.
- Sharon Shinn
* I loved The Cloud Roads so much that I begged Ms. Wells and Nightshade Books to let me tell you--Yes! You! You, the one who is looking for a new book to start!--to read this marvelous science fantasy series. With excellent, inventive world building and wonderful characters I adored spending time with, it is completely fabulous.
- Kate Elliott
* The Cloud Roads has wildly original worldbuilding, diverse and engaging characters, and a thrilling adventure plot. It's that rarest of fantasies: fresh and surprising, with a story that doesn't go where ten thousand others have gone before. I can't wait for my next chance to visit the Three Worlds!
- N.K. Jemisin
* Thus the world is made all the more convincing for the reader, and all the more alien, by Wells's finely tuned instinct for what to explain, and how, always in keeping with Moon's viewpoint, and what to simply show without further clarification; other species with blue skin or horns, treelings, skylings, and waterlings, some sentient, some not, some with magic... It reminds me of the SF/F fantasy I read as a teen, long before YA was categorized. Those books explored adult concepts without 'adult content'; the complexity of morality and the potential, uncaring harshness of life. This story's conclusion satisfies on all those counts as well as leaving me eager for the sequel.
- Interzone, Juliet E. McKenna
* There's so much to like here: multiple sapient species sharing a world (or NOT sharing) with complex gender roles, wildly differing societies, and varying technologies. This is rigorous fantasy without the trappings of European medievalism. And most of all, it's riveting storytelling.
- Steven Gould
* Filled with vivid action and memorable characters, Cloud Roads is a terrific science fiction adventure story with a heart. I read it eagerly and look forward to its sequel with great anticipation.
- Sarah Prineas
* Wells...merrily ignores genre conventions as she spins an exciting adventure around an alien hero who anyone can identify with.
- Publishers Weekly starred review
*The Cloud Roads is an unconventional and genuinely fascinating fantasy book, because Martha Wells avoids clichés and writes fresh fantasy. The Cloud Roads is an interesting and beautiful tale of what it means to be different. It's also a fresh story about love, loss and loneliness. That's partly the reason why this book is charmingly irresistible (when you begin to read this book, you'll soon notice that it's impossible to put it down -- I read this book in one sitting, because I loved it).
- RisingShadow.net
* But this is still a rousing tale of a lost boy who finds his way home and discovers that he has a role to play in saving the world. High-octane fight scenes nicely contrast with Moon's emotional growth and developing romance. Genre fans looking for something different will find this just what they needed.
- School Library Journal Blog
* Part of the enjoyment of this novel was seeing how Wells unwrapped the culture of the colony, as well as the world, like an onion. The further I read, the more depth there was. There are enough characters for a Fat Fantasy. Martha Wells does more with character development in less than 300 pages than many other writers do in twice as many pages. Or even a thousand pages.
- Adventures Fantastic
*I loved this book. This has Wells' signature worldbuilding and wholly real character development, and her wry voice shines through. I can't even explain how real the world felt, in which each race and city and culture had such well-drawn back story that they lived on even outside the main plot.
- Patrice Sarath
***
Holiday Gift Recs: I did a post on collecting holiday gift recs of books and people's etsy and craft and small business shops, and it got caught in a DDoS attack. But there are now more comments with links to great shops and some YA and MG book recs that would make great presents, so please check it out and keep adding more, and I'll link back to it later this week to remind people it's there.
***
We had a cold front come in with some rain, which we very badly need. It really isn't enough to call the drought over though, since we're still 24 inches below normal for rainfall. They think the drought will continue through next year, and probably longer. Augh.
I didn't do much this weekend except work on the third Books of the Raksura. I did go to the farmers market Saturday and got a big bunch of spinach that got converted into a yummy spinach pie yesterday. Or, I used eggs, so I guess it's a quiche. But someone wanted the recipe so here's what I did:
Put about a teaspoon of olive oil in a small pot and cooked four pieces of bacon, removed bacon and put in chopped onions and mushrooms. Cooked those for a bit, then added the chopped spinach to wilt it down. Added some cheese and melted it in with the rest. Crumbled the bacon and added it back in. Turned off the heat, then in a separate bowl stirred up two eggs with some salt, pepper, and smoked paprika. Added that to the pot, stirred everything together and poured it into a pie shell. Baked it for about 40 minutes at 350, with foil around the edge of the pie crust so it wouldn't burn.
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