The Chronicler’s Tale: Jeff Salyards’ Scourge of the Betrayer

On June 4, 2012, in Book Review, Paul Weimer, by Paul Weimer

A military unit outside of the boundaries of its Empire, messing around in client kingdoms and bordering polities. A motley group of soldiers and gritty veterans,  more than a bit war-weary. Some of those soldiers are burdened with dark secrets, and a mission and purpose unclear to anyone around them. Standard Sword and sorcery stuff, […]

Book Received: Triggers

On June 1, 2012, in Books Received, by Patrick Hester

Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Ace Hardcover; 1 edition (April 3, 2012) Language: English ISBN-10: 1937007162 Official Description: On the eve of a secret military operation, an assassin’s bullet strikes President Seth Jerrison. He is rushed to the hospital, where surgeons struggle to save his life. At the same hospital, researcher Dr. Ranjip Singh is experimenting […]

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Book Received: Armored

On May 31, 2012, in Books Received, by Patrick Hester

Mass Market Paperback: 608 pages Publisher: Baen; Original edition (March 27, 2012) Language: English ISBN-10: 1451638175 Official Description: Armor up for a metal-pounding feast of action, adventure and amazing speculation by topnotch writers (including Nebula-award winner Jack McDevitt, Sean Williams, Dan Abnet, Simon Green, and Jack Campbell) on a future warrior that might very well […]

Book Received: So You Created a Wormhole

On May 30, 2012, in Books Received, by Patrick Hester

Paperback: 336 pages Publisher: Berkley Trade; Original edition (April 3, 2012) Language: English ISBN-10: 0425245586 Official Description: Welcome, intrepid temporal explorers, to the world’s first and only field manual/survival guide to time travel! DON’T LEAVE THIS TIME PERIOD WITHOUT IT! Humans from H. G. Wells to Albert Einstein to Bill & Ted have been fascinated […]

Guest Post: Tools For Worldbuilding by Bryan Thomas Schmidt

On May 30, 2012, in Guest Post, by Patrick Hester

Worldbuilding lies at the core of good fiction writing, particularly for those of us writing in genres like Science Fiction and Fantasy. We’re fortunate to live at an age where the Internet makes research much easier and faster. There are plenty of resources. Of course, verifying their reliability with more than on source (i.e. offline […]

Book Received: Bleeding Out

On May 28, 2012, in Books Received, by Patrick Hester

Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages Publisher: Ace (May 29, 2012) Language: English ISBN-10: 1937007634 Official Description: From the author of Infernal Affairs comes a story of murder. mayhem, and demon relations. Is this really the vacation Tess was looking for? Though she’s on leave from the Occult Special Investigations squad, Tess Corday is still grappling […]

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Book Received: Noctuary

On May 25, 2012, in Books Received, by Patrick Hester

Hardcover Publisher: Subterranean; Deluxe Hardcover Edition edition (June 30, 2012) Language: English ISBN-10: 1596064706 Noctuary is the third volume of Thomas Ligotti’s horror stories to appear in a revised, definitive edition from Subterranean Press. The first two collections in this series, Songs of a Dead Dreamer (2010; 1986; expanded edition, 1989) and Grimscribe: His Lives […]

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Book Received: The Impossible Cube

On May 23, 2012, in Books Received, by Patrick Hester

Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages Publisher: Roc (May 1, 2012) Language: English ISBN-10: 0451464508 In an age where fantastic inventions of steam and brass have elevated Britain and China into mighty empires, Alice Michaels faces a future of technological terrors… Once, Gavin Ennock sailed the skies on airships and enchanted listeners with his fiddle music. […]

Gimme that Old School Sword and Sorcery: The Hammer and the Blade by Paul S Kemp

On May 21, 2012, in Book Review, Paul Weimer, by Paul Weimer

Egil and Nix are thieves.  Good thieves, as a matter of fact.  True, they have side interests and pasts. Nix knows something of magic.  Egil was trained as a priest of the Momentary God. Both of them have pasts and long careers as thieves, years of tomb robbing and other unsavory jobs. Now, the results […]

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Book Received: Pod

On May 18, 2012, in Books Received, by Patrick Hester

Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: Ace; Reprint edition (April 24, 2012) Language: English ISBN-10: 193700743X Official Description: When the black spheres filled the sky, anyone caught beneath them would vanish in a flash of blue-white light. Huddled indoors, the survivors were unaware if what was happening in their neighborhoods was happening worldwide. Josh is […]

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Review: Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig

On May 17, 2012, in Book Review, Cathy Russell, by Catherine Russell

  In Blackbirds, Chuck Wendig tells the story of a modern day Cassandra. Miriam has had the visions for years. All it takes is the touch of another person’s skin on her own, and she sees their death. When she meets a trucker named Louis, she sees him call her name before he dies. Can […]

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Book Received: The Thirteenth Sacrifice

On May 16, 2012, in Books Received, by Patrick Hester

Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages Publisher: Signet (April 3, 2012) Language: English ISBN-10: 045123636X Official Description: When young women start dying, Boston cop Samantha Ryan is the perfect person to investigate, for only she knows what the archais symbol carved into their flesh means. The last in a long line of ruthless witches, she grew […]

Intrigue in Elizabethan England: Anne Lyle’s Alchemist of Souls

On May 14, 2012, in Book Review, Paul Weimer, by Paul Weimer

  It’s the early 17th century. Elizabethan England. The scene is London,  a diverse and eclectic metropolis.  Maliverny Catlyn is a skilled but down on his luck swordsman and gentleman who is trying to scrape together a living on the hard streets of London, manage his relationship with his lover Ned, and keep his tortured […]

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Rediscover (or discover for the first time) the works of Diana Wynne Jones — in audio

On May 10, 2012, in Guest Post, by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

I listen to a lot of audiobooks (nine last month; 70 last year), but recently I was having one of those “I have 400 books on my to read list and still can’t pick what to read” bouts of choice paralysis. Then I stumbled across my copy of Howl’s Moving Castle, bought on sale a year or two ago, […]

Safeguarding Your Privacy Online, Even When You Need An Online Presence

On May 3, 2012, in Carrie Cuinn, Tech Nerd, by CarrieCuinn

Many of us not only do our socializing online, but we also work online as well. Whether we’re employed in the creative arts as artists, writers, or musicians, or we’re self-employed (plumbers, landscapers, babysitters) there’s a Internet site to promote our services. While web-savvy businesses have been working online for years, even more traditional companies […]

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Skill beats Will: Myke Cole’s Shadow Ops: Control Point

On April 30, 2012, in Book Review, Paul Weimer, by Paul Weimer

  The magic returns (or comes into being) to our technological modern day world is not a new idea in fantasy.  Rachel Pollack’s Unquestionable Fire. The novels of Alyx Dellamonica. The roleplaying games Shadowrun and GURPS: Technomancer hypothesize what would happen if magic erupted into the modern world. Other novels and stories ponder a return […]

ATFMB – eBooks

On April 26, 2012, in ATFMB, by Patrick Hester

Welcome to All Things From My Brain. eBooks. Ugh. Recently paid $13 for an eBook. I know, I know – you’re thinking, “What the Hell?”  Me too. I did it because I was curious about the author, Elmore Leonard, whose stories about a U.S. Marshall named Raylan Givens, served as inspiration for the FX TV […]

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Image of a Halfbreed Puca:And Blue Skies from Pain by Stina Leicht

On April 23, 2012, in Book Review, Paul Weimer, by Paul Weimer

  When last we left Liam Kelly, the slow revelation of who and what he was had left him if not in a happy place, at least a relatively stable place. True, he had lost much in discovering his true heritage, lost his wife, lost friends, lost (or should we say, walked away) from his […]

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Book Received: Lies and Omens

On April 18, 2012, in Books Received, by Patrick Hester

Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated Publication date: 4/24/2012 ISBN-10: 1937007502 Official Description: Sylvie Lightner is a P.I. specializing in the unusual—in a world where magic is real, and Hell is just around the corner. After escaping secret government cells and destroying a Miami landmark, Sylvie’s trying to lay low—something that […]

Songs of the Earth by Elspeth Cooper

On April 16, 2012, in Book Review, Paul Weimer, by Paul Weimer

  Book Review: Songs of the Earth by Elspeth Cooper. Gair has been keeping a secret. Although he a good warrior for the Church, he has a talent for magic that the Church decries as witchcraft. It comes as a terrible song that he cannot stop hearing, and when it manifests too strongly, the magic […]

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Book Received: Magic Without Mercy

On April 13, 2012, in Books Received, by Patrick Hester

Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages Publisher: Roc; Original edition (April 3, 2012) Language: English ISBN-10: 0451464486 Official Description: Allison Beckstrom’s talent for tracking spells has put her up against some of the darkest elements in the world of magic. But she’s never faced anything like this. Magic itself has been poisoned, and Allie’s undead father […]

Book Review: MM9

On April 12, 2012, in Book Review, Carrie Cuinn, by CarrieCuinn

“The work is challenging, the public is hostile, and the monsters are hungry, but the MMD crew has science, teamwork … and a secret weapon on their side. Together, they can save Japan, and the universe!” – from the back cover Hiroshi Yamamoto’s novel, about an alternate history where all of those rubber suit monster […]

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