A Young Man Without Magic is very easy to read. While some events seem like they were shuffled around to fit the outline instead of being part of a natural progression, everything works. Every time I found myself starting to get the slightest bit bored with what was happening, something exciting broke the page and I was hooked again.
fantasy
Cover to Cover #416A: David Drake
Interview: This week, Mike and Lorrie Mennenga chat with David Drake about his latest novel, The Legions of Fire. It’s the first in “The Books of the Elements”, a new four-part action fantasy series from Tor, set in fictional realm reminscent of ancient Rome, and Dave talks about how the story was influenced from his reading about the Sibylline Books and the Roman leaders who consulted them throughout history
Review: “Lord of the Changing Winds” by Rachel Neumeier
What is refreshing about Lord of the Changing Winds is that it presents a refreshingly new adaptation of griffin lore. When neighboring kingdom Casmantium begins to threaten their desert with ice, the Griffins are forced to flee, taking their desert with them. Griffins are so intimately bound with the element of fire, it has become their own life essence, their spirit.
Cover to Cover #415A: Tracy Hickman
Interview: Tracy Hickman joins Mike and Mike this week to talk about his many varied projects. His most recent book is Song of the Dragon, the first in a new trilogy, “The Annals of Drakis”, being published by Daw Books.
Review: “Chalice” by Robin McKinley
I think Robin McKinley is one of the best fantasists writing today and if you are a writer; interested in writing meaningful, engaging and moving fantasy, then she is a writer to study. If you are a reader, then her books are a joy to read and re-read again.
Cover to Cover #409A: Brandon Sanderson
Interview: Brandon Sanderson joins us this week with much to talk about! He tells us about working on finishing “The Wheel of Time” series, and having to look at the story in a different light from when he was a fan reading the stories.
Brandon also talks about the Writing Excuses podcast, about some of his own projects that will be coming along soon, and the evolution of his own writing ever since his first book was published.
Cover to Cover #405A: George R. R. Martin
Interview: This week, Mike and Mike talk with GRRM about the anthology Warriors, about how much fun he has with fiction anthologies, and his hopes for more core genre anthologies.
George also talks about the latest updates on his “A Song of Ice and Fire” series, including the progress on A Dance with Dragons, how his working pace contrasts with the impatience of his more ravenous fans, the development of the series on HBO and his gratitude about the show being done by HBO, and more.
Cover to Cover #397A: L. E. Modesitt, Jr
Interview: Lee Modesitt joins us to talk about the 16th book in his “Saga of Recluce” series, Arms-Commander, and the world that the epic is set in.
He talks about how he grew this world after initially never intending to go beyond the first story, by taking the threads of the back story and world history that were dropped along the way and tying them together and expanding them as he wrote more and more stories in the setting.
Cover to Cover #393A: Gail Z. Martin
Interview: Gail Z. Martin, author of “The Chronicles of the Necromancer” series, revisits the Dragon Page to chat about the most recent volume Dark Lady’s Chosen.
Gail also talks about the social networks surrounding her books and universe, and about her spring Con and Festival travel schedule… if you drop by, tell her you heard her on The Dragon Page!
Cover to Cover #389A: Lou Anders
Interview: This week, Lou Anders, Editorial Director at Pyr, joins Mike and Mike to talk about some of his many projects coming up: With Great Power… is an anthology of superhero stories; Swords and Dark Magic which is a major swords & sorcery anthology co-edited with Jonathan Strahan
Review: “Green” by Jay Lake
Jay Lake is best known for his steampunk series of novels, and yet by weird coincidence (for I am a steampunk myself), the first book of his that I’ve read is Green, which is a standalone fantasy. I cannot judge how this novel ranks against those others.
Green seems to me to be very much a blending of two books: Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel’s Dart and Karen Miller’s Empress.
Cover to Cover #379A: Tom Lloyd
Interview: Tom Lloyd, author of the “Twilight Reign” series, joins Mike and Mike to talk about the latest book in the series, The Grave Thief.
Tom tells about how this story turned into 5 volumes, discovering the story along the way, and standing at the starting gate, staring at the mountain that is the start of a 200,000 word novel waiting to be written, and of course, the plethora of new story ideas that just won’t leave a writer be.
Cover to Cover #376A: David Anthony Durham
Interview: David Anthony Durham returns to the show to talk about his “Acacia” series, and the recently released second book in the series, The Other Lands.
David talks about using the second book as a bridge to the final book in the trilogy, and to explore part of the world that was only touched upon in the first book, and to explore depths in the characters affected by what they’re discovering about their history and responsibility for a dark secret.
Cover to Cover #371A: Jane Lindskold
Interview: Jane Lindskold joins Mike, Summer and Mike to talk about Nine Gates, the latest installment in her “Breaking the Wall” series, and the follow-up to Thirteen Orphans (listen to that interview in Cover to Cover #339A), and about shaking up the expectations of readers by not giving them another variation of the typical quest adventure.
Cover to Cover #364A: James Enge
Interview: James Enge joins Michael and Michael this week to discuss his new book, Blood of Ambrose from Pyr. They chat about story outline and structure, intentional and circumstantial comedy and planning out multivolume series.
Chaos enters, hilarity ensues!
