The Fantasy/Sci-Fi Books Thread Book • Page 149

So my work gave me a $300 reward for my 3 year work anniversary so I used most of it for an Amazon gift card and just bought ebooks for:

Of Blood and Fire
Empire of Silence
The Sword of Kaigen
The Ore Monger (indie release)
The Strength of the Few (preorder)

and physical versions of:

The Curse of the Mistwraith
Splinterleaf & Hollowfrost (what up @OwainGlyndwr )
Solstice Wood (an old Patricia McKillip book)
She Who Became the Sun
One Dark Window
The Many Deaths of the Black Company

hell yeah

 

My long weekend is going to involve finishing up The Grace of Kings and then I'm going to dive into an arc of Operation Bounce House, the new non-Carl Dinniman novel.

 

I finished Best Served Cold and started The Heroes, and I think after this one I'm gonna have to take a break from Abercrombie and read something a little lighter and less grim for a book or two before I tackle Red Country and his newer trilogy. at least now though I'll have his world still fresh in my head when I finish up as opposed to having forgotten almost everything after almost two decades.

 

I realized I was broke when @OwainGlyndwr released the second Garden Knight full length, so I just ordered that and The Servant and I'll be reading those next.

my kids are getting a little older, and they had a playroom that we made for them when they were basically toddlers, so we cleaned that room out and made it more age appropriate for them now, and part of that was getting a real bookshelf, and I've started filling up one shelf with my books which I haven't done since I lost all of them in the fire. I've been almost exclusively getting library books, but I did have a small stack of books right next to my bed of things that I actually bought, but now they have a home.

 

I am super appreciative of you guys buying my books! Too late now, but I will mention to the thread: I have a web store with signed copies of my books available if anyone ever wants one that way. Oh and signed bookplate copies of The Servant are available through The Broken Binding if you’re in that part of the world.

@Brother Beck I didn’t know you had a fire?! That sounds awful.

 

yeah, five years ago. we almost didn't make it out alive. we lost a dog and a cat and everything we owned aside from the clothes we were wearing.

when I give your books to my dad or pass them along to someone else I'll buy the signed copies

 

Yikes man! That sucks. What a horrible thing to have to go through. I’m glad you guys are okay at least.

I’m sure it feels especially good to be filling out a bookshelf again now. I feel like I should send you stuff to help rebuild the collection.

 

you definitely don't need to do that, but I appreciate the thought.

it was tough. the pets dying like that was awful, and aside from the sentimental things that literally cannot be replaced, losing the books was really hard because I had hundreds of books that I had been collecting for decades - but my father always kept telling me to focus on the fact that we were alive and okay, and without being graphic it really was a very close call. and the town we live in is incredible and they helped us out a ton and even did a big parade for the kids' birthday that year which was only a few weeks later.

 

Yikes. That’s insane dude, I can’t imagine. So scary. So cool the town helped out and everything too, that’s really lovely.

Not at all in the same league, but a few years back we moved across the country and about half our possessions were stolen. Losing sentimental/irreplaceable items was hard, and even though the insurance payout was really helpful for repurchasing a lot of the things we needed, it was still strangely sad to just have a bunch of stuff gone so abruptly. It’s weird how having your belongings feels like home even when the things themselves aren’t necessarily special.

 

Have I…have I made it as a writer??

 

!!!!

 

Guess I should probably read DCC now

 

have I not been annoying enough about this for the last two years

 

some might say tooooo annoying.

I kid, you even offered me Audible access haha. I’ll get on them soon for sure now.

 

glurp glurp

 

Brother you have MADE IT

 

That guy can pump out 7 books in four years, @theagentcoma whats your excuse for not having book 2 done

 

The birds aren't gonna watch themselves!!!!

 

got home from work and these were waiting for me on my porch -->



here's hoping @OwainGlyndwr didn't decide to take a hard swerve into brutal grimdark nihilism for The Garden Knight #2... fingers crossed...

 

Well I don't want to spoil things...

 

I believe it was Neil Gaiman who famously and oh so eloquently said 'authors are not your b---h'

 

Woodfire ends with Barrow atop a mound of writhing corpses, muzzle bloodied, while smoke plumes and the god-bastions burn beneath the shattered stars of Mira's broken realm...

 

spoilers!!!

 

Nah, the Garden Knight will always stick with its tone thus far, a nice bled of cozy and spooky. The Servant is somewhat darker, but still high fantasy—influenced by dark fantasy, but not grimdark by any stretch. It should still generally have a hopeful vibe overall.

And thanks again for picking those up dude! Never fails to flatter me when I see pictures of them in the wild haha.

 

Just got done with a weekend at dragoncon in Atlanta and the love for DCC was apparent. So many Carls around the place. That was going to be my cosplay, but I didn't do one in time. Different media, but I went as Jacket from Hotline Miami (like last year) and while I'm sure I wasn't the only one, I didn't see any others. DIdn't really want to be another Carl among Carls. Plus I thought my Jacket was awesome and really well done.

I didn't go to as many panels this year but I did sit in on a Ryan Cahill panel where the audience debated wizards in a bracket style tournament, and lets say people had some opinions - it was quite funny. Ryan is actually at dragoncon most years and I have seen more of his panels / lectures, but this year was less panels and more people watching and to be honest... partying.

Lastly, people give out ribbons that you stick to your badge for certain activities / 'quests' etc - some are as simple as just saying 'Hey, Nice carl' so in return I got this.