The Dragon Page "Cover to Cover"
Conversations with Authors of Science Fiction and Fantasy
Interview: Gail Z. Martin returns to the show to talk about the third book in the “Chronicles of the Necromancer” series, Dark Haven.
Gail also chats about her writing process when dealing with such a deep and vibrant world and a large number of characters.
Sometimes, the outline just has to be left behind in order to get the story told properly.
Interview: Evil Ways, the second book in the Morris/Chastain Investigations series is out, and Justin Gustainis joins us to talk about where the characters have gone since the first book, and a few things he has planned for them in future books. We also touch on the fact that Quincey Morris, the main protagonist, doesn’t have any supernatural powers, and how readers have responded positively to that different take on the urban fantasy setting.
“Dragoneye” is the first of a two-part story set in Goodman’s universe. Thankfully, Goodman is able to resolve enough of the storylines to keep readers satisfied and make this a complete novel, while creating a cliffhanger and situation that will leave you wanting to pick up the next installment as soon as possible and find out what happens next.
I began reading this book with a question of my own: would infusing magic into a novel of manners produce a book that I would enjoy reading? Because in all honesty, although I have read Pride and Prejudice and Wuthering Heights, I didn’t enjoy either.
Interview: Mike and Mike chat with Elizabeth Bear about her latest book, All the Windwracked Stars.
It’s the story of the last surviving Valkyrie after Ragnarok, and her quest 2000 years later to finish the battle against the darkness and save the world from a final apocalypse. They’re calling it a periapocalyptic Norse noir steampunk cyberfantasy.
Interview: This week, Mike and Summer talk with Jane Lindskold about her newest book, Thirteen Orphans: Breaking the Wall, a tale about the new generation of avatars, descendants of the ones exiled from the Chinese Zodiac, and their journey to discover their powers in time to save themselves from the effects of a war their ancestors thought they’d left behind…
Jane also shares with us her writing choices, especially her adamant avoidance of web surfing and most of the pitfalls associated with the online time sinks.
Hi, first I need to say that there are going be spoilers in my review. I can’t help it, there just no way to talk about it and not spoil the first book for you. So if you have not read it yet, I’m just letting you know.
Ysabel is my first Guy Gavriel Kay book. He’s one of those authors that I’ve always heard about. Maybe it’s the memorable name, I don’t know. But he was always just kind of out there as one of those authors that I knew I was supposed to read and simply hadn’t.
In case I was wondering, I guess, if he was worth the hype, Kay opens Ysabel with a 3-page prologue that was, simply, stunning.
Interview: Michael, Summer and Michael talk with Peter David about his latest novel, Tigerheart, which is a fairy tale written in the spirit of J. M. Barrie, but not directly about Peter Pan.
Peter also talks about the Barrie legacy, and about how many more stories about Peter Pan may be coming out since the story and characters have now moved into public domain.
Hekat, in Empress, is a difficult woman. And while I know that a part of me should cheer for this woman who raises herself up from a nameless no one to a ruler of her country, the other part of me can’t stand how difficult she is. Hekat is touched by the god. She is not inventing this. She really does have her deity on her side, protecting her as she slaughters the people who get in her way. Everything she does is fated. But I cannot get beyond how completely cold and ruthless she is to everyone around her.
Oh, Yelena. You crazy, headstrong, impulsive, bleeding heart, acrobatic trickster, I have missed you. I hope Ms. Synder takes it as a compliment that I have read each of her books in no more than two days. For all the work that goes into them, part of me feels that I should somehow be savoring them more. But if I did, then I wouldn’t find out what happens next as quickly as I need to.
Interview: Michael, Summer and Michael talk with Maria V. Snyder about, Fire Study, the third book in her very popular “Study” series. The series follows Yelena, who starts out as a slave who’s been condemned to death, but is offered a chance for reprieve by becoming a commander’s food taster.
It’s full of mystery, magic, intrigue and romance that grows from Poison Study, and follows through Magic Study and now into Fire Study.
Up until now, steampunk has been, for me, an aesthetic. It makes the great heroes of my childhood even cooler. And it makes for computers that are beyond sexy. Something in the synthesis of technology and analog mechanisms strikes just the right chord with me. It’s like the most elegant Rube Goldberg imaginable, with style. And yet, I had never read anything from the genre that inspires these creative works of fabrication fancy.
Until now.
Interview: Michael and Summer talk with Gail Z. Martin about The Blood King, Book 2 of The Chronicles of the Necromancer, and the developments around her series since we talked to her last year.
Hear about the epic series Gail has planned, the renaissance fair book signing tour, and more!
Have you ever read a book that is SO good, that you can’t wait to read the next one? That’s this book. It’s the best book I have read so far! The City of Ember is far underground. Which I thought, wow this be really cool to read about.
