A Quick Update about a Beard and Book Covers (for some reason)

Well seeing as the WFC has released a much more detailed schedule let’s talk about that!

You can now see the details of the wonderful things that they have on rather than just the glorious titles!

So I thought that today I would chat about some of the ones that have jumped out at me (apart from Terry Pratchett and Patrick Rothfuss)

There is to be a panel about book covers, now this may not sound all that exciting. But think about it, that’s a single image, sometimes not even that when all you can see is the spine of the book, that has to ensnare and sell a book to everyone. I think it’s a very important part of the production process and can easily, easily make the difference between making a book look professional or something you’ve thrown together.

I think that’s the same reason it’s quite hard to make your book as professional when you’re publishing, especially in fantasy. And I have seen some books which go from looking professional (although similar to others on the market .... but it was like a best-seller so is that a bad thing?) to, at least what I see as, looking more like a self-published book. This is I think an important distinction to make purely because I think that it can be off putting for some people to go with self-published works.

It is nice to give your money to the little guy and support writers who may well be just getting into the wacky world of writing, but then there’s the flip side from a sales point of view that some people just won’t want to spend their money on something that will be a bit of a gamble. Of course you can have some fantastic self-published works, Michael J Sullivan is one of those very people! But of course a lot of people won’t necessarily see it that way and will look out for covers as easy targets to discern whether they want to spend their hard earned cash.

Anyway! That turned into a bit more of a rant than I was expecting on that topic!

Just a short blog post today because I (and others!) are busy in preparation for the WFC as it starts today! I am finalising my train ticket and don’t you worry, I shall be sticking my head out of the window like an excited dog the whole way!

There will be lots of updates on here throughout the convention and then I’ll also do a nice round u.

BREAKING ROTHFUSS NEWS!

On another note dear reader, we find that Patrick Rothfuss is doing a bit more of a tour around the UK! Well to London at least, for the moment. Upon his facebook page he has created several groups and is traversing Europe to do signings! I thought that this would be a very important piece of information to share with you and I suggest you go to whichever is closest! There are a  few in the UK and also a couple in Spain! Unfortunately (but not surprisingly) the extra event in Brighton has sold out, but you can’t say that wasn’t going to happen! They’ve got all the fantasy fans in the world there right now!

But, let us part ways once more and I shall keep you posted about the hippenings and happenings throughout the convention! (And yes I promise never to say ‘hippenings’ again...)

Good hunting!

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The Battle of Pratchett and Rothfuss

So this week we’re going for something a little bit different (again). Instead of a review we’re going to be looking at the exciting (and I’m not going to lie slightly irritating) scheduling for the World Fantasy Convention as it looms on the horizons of our calendars.

For those of you who don’t know what I’m going to be dithering on about this time the World Fantasy Convention (we’ll call if the WFC for the sake of laziness and brevity) is an international convention for the publishing industry focusing on the fantasy genre. So perfect for me! It’s usually held in the USA but will sometimes make its way to Canada, and so this year marks only the third time that the convention has been hosted outside of North America. Great news for me!

If you go to the WFC website you can see a long list of attending members many of whom are delegate parties from publishing companies from around the world (Gollancz, Orbit, HarperCollins to name but a few) and many others are authors, old and new, famous and infamous. The rest are likely made up of people like me, keen enthusiasts and only just stepping foot into the industry! There’s panels, discussions and awards ceremonies so a little bit of everything that you could want!

So there was excitement abound recently as the WFC website placed up its first official line up of programming, with only a few short weeks to go! Of course, not all of the programming will be as fascinating as others to every single attendee but it all looks rather fabulous and my mouth is already salivating with the prospect of this fantastical buffet.

So I look down through the days and give a chuckle here and a coo there at various amusing and interesting panels. But what’s this!? “Sir Terry Pratchett: In Conversation” I am not ashamed to admit that there was a little bit of hyperventilation when I realised that Terry Pratchett is going to be an attending member of the WFC this year! It is not often that you are offered the opportunity to meet a man who is as much as part of British culture as he is an international best seller.

But, now! What is THIS!?

It turns out that the Conversations with Terry Pratchett happens to be scheduled for the same hour that the readings by Patrick Rothfuss is scheduled! This is a most unpleasant and undesirable turn of events. Mr Rothfuss is perhaps my favourite author, not only because of the lyrical and beautiful books he has produced but if you follow his blog you’ll see that he’s a very kind and humorous man who really does a lot for charity.

I am super super miffed at this, but I know that if it weren’t Patrick Rothfuss then it would be someone else and I’m sure another attending member would be just as upset as I was when I found out. But thankfully the scheduling does appear to have 2 readings per hour slot so I am hoping that this means the readings start every half an hour. This at least gives me half an hour of basking in the reflected glory of Terry Pratchett before I sprint to absorb the mighty awesomeness of Mr Rothfuss’s beard.

There are many other reasons to be going to the WFC and I am going to a small meeting with Tor UK the book publishers which I am also very much looking forward to. I am also hoping to get some meeting time with other publishers to get their take on what I can do to get into the fantasy game within the publishing industry.

But that’s all my news for now, no doubt I shall batter your peepholes with more news as it comes forward! And rest assured that I am deep into the second instalment of The Gentleman Bastard Sequence so there shall be a blog about that soon enough!

Until then my teary-eyed viewers, readers and reviewers; Good hunting!

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Review: The Lies of Locke Lamora

I was hesitant to post this review as soon as I finished it, mainly because it was actually for something! So you can actually find it on the Gollancz blog right here!: http://www.gollancz.co.uk/2013/10/geeks-friday-reads-the-lies-of-locke-lamora/

So quite excited about that, I don't mind telling you! But now onto the review (which seems slightly pointless as I've just shown you a link to where you can read it... Never mind!):

Two things struck me when I first beheld The Lies of Locke Lamora. Firstly, the book itself. And secondly, that the quote from Richard Morgan contained the word ‘swashbuckling’. With regards to the book itself, I would like to give a quick nod to the look of the book. It’s easy to overlook but it has been crafted into a gorgeous piece with a golden script proudly pronouncing the title underneath an intriguing picture of a vaguely Venetian landscape. This is enough to draw the eye (quite apart from the quote from George R.R. Martin) and the back cover of the book only serves to create further intrigue and of course, that’s where we find ‘swashbuckling’. All of this together makes the perfect precursor to the book itself, a slightly dark, well polished swashbuckling story.

With a series that’s called ‘The Gentleman Bastard Sequence’ and being promised swashbuckle aplenty one expects a certain tongue-in-cheek attitude from the writing. And that is exactly what you get. The Lies of Locke Lamora is a wonderfully spun tale of the Gentleman Bastards a group of first rate confidence tricksters in the city of Camorr, much like a fantastical Venice. Lynch’s creation is a wonderfully constructed world with colourful characters with language just as colourful as they are (although the main characters mainly have silver tongues).

We meeting Locke at the start of his illustrious career and we learn with him very quickly that mixing his lack of restraint and his shady career path is a very dangerous thing to do indeed. Shady is, indeed, also a good word to describe the world that Scott Lynch has created. The city of Camorr (or at least the side we see of it) has its own twisted charm with its own rules and system of honour. Lynch introduces us to the dangerous world that Locke lives in steadily but surely, you never feel as though you’re out of your depth but there’s always something new to explore.

Similarly, I also found that the way Lynch introduces Locke Lamora’s backstory to you as the reader was different but refreshingly it kept the pace of the story without succumbing to the dreaded information dumps that the fantasy genre can be danger to. But was also infuriatingly successful at keeping you suspended above the cliffhangers. Instead of running through Lockes’ story from beginning to end, we see the beginning of his story and then jump forward. At certain points Lynch gives us an interlude to show us how Locke Lamora came to be. I found that this was a good way to get to know the character, we don’t suffer through what can be annoying character develop as we metaphorically shout at the screen about what the character clearly should do.

Lynch’s tale of Locke Lamora is well told, stylishly written and compellingly structured. The characters are thoroughly lovable, well developed and utterly devious. The story will drag you in, tickle you, perplex you and confound you. Lynch isn’t afraid to slap you in the face with a big meaty plot twist but it never happens to to shock just for the sake of it. The writing is reminiscent of Pratchett in that it is entertaining without sacrificing any of its loquacious charm. Overall I would thoroughly recommend this book, it is well written, the story plays out exceedingly well and the characters absolutely bring the book to another level. Swashbuckling adventure is promised and that is precisely what you get, a fantastic swashbuckling tale.

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