Caitlin Kittredge - Street Magic

When 16 year old Pete let her older sister's boyfriend Jack Winter lead her into a tomb in Highgate Cemetary she was afraid of the shadows, but not of Jack and not of the magic they were planning to perform. Pete didn't really believe in magic.
Twelve years later Pete is an Inspector for the Metropoliton Police, the events in a tomb in Highgate half forgotten and half nightmare hardly seem possible now, magic banished to the realm of fantasy again. Then a child goes missing and Pete finds herself drawn back into a world she tried to forget and a darker side to the haunted London Streets.

Kittredge knows how to draw you in, by the end of the second chapter it was evident that I was not moving until I had finished and knew what really happened to Jack and Pete in the tomb twelve years earlier. Even though some elements of the plot may seem obvious and inevitable from the begining there are twists that you will not anticipate and the delivery is bang on target.

Street Magic is Urban Fantasy at it's best, strong characters to confuse and delight you in the familiar London Streets and the less familiar places behind them. The tension is drawn through beautifully and the humour that made the Luna Wilder novels such a delight is present, as is a typically delicately handled relationship between protagonists. There are one or two minor affectations of some characters that will amuse those readers familiar with London but they don't impact on the enjoyment of the book at all and if you aren't familiar with the City and it's inhabitants you won't even notice (so i'm not going to name them here).

All in all I would say for fans of Urban Fantasy, particularly Jim Butcher, Kat Richardson and Caitlin Kittredge's earlier novels, this is a must and the best thing? It's subtitled Black London Bk 1, so there will be more! The bad news, it's not out until June so you'll have ot wait a little while but you can bet a pristine paperback will be making it's way to my bookshelves.

Undead and .... - Mary Janice Davidson

While I was off work ill I had time to read more. Woohoo. They are some benefits to the misery of head colds and daytime tv. So I read two of Davidson's Queen Betsy books, the first one, Undead and Unwed & Undead and Unpopular. The queen is dead, long live the queen. Betsy is attacked in the street and about a week later she gets hit by a truck. Betsy has the unusual experience of waking up dead, in the morgue, but it takes her a while to get used to the idea and worst of all her evil stepmother has stolen her Manolo's! Betsy is sweet and ditsy, nothing like the other vamps, and it turns out she was "fortold".Now she just has to figure out how to not turn her prey into drooling idiots, otherthrow and evil vamp running her city and decide what to do about a particularly charming vamp that she is determined to hate. The books are light hearted and charming with enough excitement, peril and treachery to satisy any vamp fan with half a sense of humour. I shall definately sink my teeth into the rest of this series.

Weekly Geek Challenge #3

Hagelrat has thrown down the gauntlet for the Weekly Geeks challenge and I'm more than happy to respond!

For those just joining, Weekly Geeks is a website where each week a new challenge is posted. Everyone is invited to link their answers to the site where you can then go and peruse dozens of different takes on the various questions and challenges.

This week the Challenge revolves around Classic Literature, something that's always held a special place in my heart. So, instead of choosing the minimum two to answer, I'll do the first three, and invite the readers to post their own at the site, as well as read some of the others (Hagelrat's answers are just a few posts below mine, but are linked here if you're too tired to scroll down).

1) How do you feel about classic literature? Are you intimidated by it? Love it? Not sure because you never actually tried it? Don't get why anyone reads anything else? Which classics, if any, have you truly loved? Which would you recommend for someone who has very little experience reading older books? Go all out, sell us on it!

Love it. L-O-V-E it. I majored in English Lit in college, and found that as I get older the relish of classic works is two-fold. The first is the joy in finding the foundations that were laid for many of my favorite contemporary novels and films. I'm not a proponent of the "this is better because it came first" argument, but then neither am I am a believer in the "why read something so old when there's so much that's new" style. And second, there's just so much meat in many of the great works of literature that you simply don't get nowadays. I personally love wading through a lot of the language, learning new words, and often finding passages and that perfectly echo moments in our lives that are universal.

Classics I've loved? Well, we'll base the answer on Weekly Geek's definition of a classic, which reads: "written over 100 years ago and still in print." That leaves a tremendous amount of room for practically everything by Mark Twain (but Huckleberry Finn first and foremost), Moby Dick by Herman Mellville, The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the collected works of Franz Kafka, William Shakespeare, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, just to name a few...

Little experience reading older books? Try Tom Sawyer by Twain: it's a rambunctious adventure that's heavy on the comedy and mystery that's geared to younger crowds, but the language is pure genius, full of the life and lilt of America during the 1800's.

2) A challenge, should you choose to accept it: Read at least one chapter of a classic novel, preferably by an author you're not familiar with. Write a mini-review based on this chapter: what are your first impressions? Would you read further?

Done. I read the first chapter of Washington Square by Henry James, an author I've always meant to try but, despite having numerous books, haven't. The first chapter gives a brief sketch of a Doctor Sloper, a man balanced in both his learning and his skill in the field of medicine, apparently the perfect combination. However, his skill doesn't translate to his personal, and we unfortunately learn that both his wife and son both died young. However, his daughter remains, and Doctor Sloper vows to look after her despite, something, that's not named in the first chapter.

It's a great first chapter; I especially like the style of narration, which seems to be personally involved with the characters even though the narrator doesn't actually exist in the story. I'll definitely be finishing the entire novel eventually.

3) Let's say you're vacationing with your dear cousin Myrtle, and she forgot to bring a book. The two of you venture into the hip independent bookstore around the corner, where she primly announces that she only reads classic literature. If you don't find her a book, she'll never let you get any reading done! What contemporary book/s with classic appeal would you pull off the shelf for her?

Oooh I get to cheat!!!! Back in August I was asked to recommend some books for a friend of mine who just got out of college and was looking for some books both contemporary and literate. The link to the entire post is here, where I give brief summaries of why I picked each of the 25 novels I recommended. For this space I'll simply list the books in alphabetical order by author, with a link to Amazon for those interested further:

Edward Abbey - The Monkey Wrench Gang / Nicholson Baker - The Fermata / Ray Bradbury - Dandelion Wine / Mikhail Bulgakov - The Master and Margarita / Italo Calvino - If on a Winter's Night a Traveler / Truman Capote - In Cold Blood / Don DeLillo - White Noise / Mark Dunn - Ella Minnow Pea / Harlan Ellison - Deathbird Stories / John Irving - A Prayer for Owen Meany / Jack Kerouac - On the Road / Jonathan Lethem - As She Climbed Across the Table / Norman Mailer - The Executioner's Song / James Morrow - Towing Jehovah / Haruki Murakami - Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World / Vladmir Nabakov - Lolita / Ayn Rand - Atlas Shrugged / Tom Robbins - Even Cowgirls Get the Blues / Philip Roth - The Counterlife / Jose Saramago - Blindness / Hunter S. Thompson - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas / John Kennedy Toole - A Confederacy of Dunces / Kury Vonnegut - Cat's Cradle / David Foster Wallace - Inifinite Jest / Jeanette Winterson - The Passion

Newbery

Just a bit of quick news before I settle in to post my response to the Weekly Geek challenge:

For those of you wavering on whether or not to read Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book which, as noted in a previous, this (not so) humble blogger listed as a very close runner-up to his Book of the Year and, truth be told, if he were counting only books written in 2008 would then be the actual Book of the Year...

That book?

Yeah, it was just awarded the Newbery Medal, which is about the most prestigious award a children's book can get.

But why take my word for it? You can read the great post from Mr. Gaiman himself as he relates the news.

A day of moustaches

I can't help, if I see someone has come to Un:Bound via a blog I visit said. I was delighted to discover in this case the blog was that of author Chris Killen whose first novel "The bird room" we reviewed recently and are discussing over on BookGeeks forum.
Anyway although Killens novel is darkly witty it is also quite bleak, his blog i'm pleased to say leans more to darkly witty. Anyway, it's worth checking out, as is the novel.

The Last Wish - Andrzej Sapkowski

"Geralt is a Hunter". The cover and title of this book drew me and before i knew it I had it on my shelves at home. Which is where it stayed untouched for about six months. I finally sat down to read it and I am very glad I did.
The book moves in time, every other chapter is "the voice of reason no. ?" and in between are flashbacks to jobs and events that are key to Geralt's life and choices. I don't want to tell you about the present chapters as those and some of the flashbacks give away too much. Others are just jobs Geralt did as a witcher, starting with how he got hurt. A witcher is different, not entirely human and Geralt is the best of them. They hunt the monsters and make the world safe for the rest of the humanoids and humans.
A number of familiar fairytales appear in an alternate guise in this book, beauty and the beast, snow white and the seven, umm, gnomes but definately not the Disney versions. It's a strange book for it's genre, it doens't cover Geralt's life or a particular journey, it's just his recuperation from injury and a number of related incidents from his life, it doesn't really have a start, middle and end. It's almost like a short story in that you feel you have dipped into the Witcher's life for a while and you still wonder what else went before and what will come after.
Sapkowski is a superb writer so in spite of it's being a little incomplete the book leaves you satisfied, I could revisit Geralt and his world, but I don't in any way feel cheated that there was no neat ending.
If you like your fairytales Grimm and like to see the lines between man and monster blurred I would strongly recommend this book.

The Weekly Geeks - My first challange

For your assignment this week, choose two or more of the following questions:

1) How do you feel about classic literature? Are you intimidated by it? Love it? Not sure because you never actually tried it? Don't get why anyone reads anything else? Which classics, if any, have you truly loved? Which would you recommend for someone who has very little experience reading older books? Go all out, sell us on it!

2) A challenge, should you choose to accept it: Read at least one chapter of a classic novel, preferably by an author you're not familiar with. Did you know you can find lots of classics in the public domain on the web? Check out The Popular Classic Book Corner, for example. Write a mini-review based on this chapter: what are your first impressions? Would you read further? (For a larger selection of authors, try The Complete Classic Literature Library).

3) Let's say you're vacationing with your dear cousin Myrtle, and she forgot to bring a book. The two of you venture into the hip independent bookstore around the corner, where she primly announces that she only reads classic literature. If you don't find her a book, she'll never let you get any reading done! What contemporary book/s with classic appeal would you pull off the shelf for her?

4) As you explore the other Weekly Geeks posts: Did any inspire you to want to read a book you've never read before—or reread one to give it another chance? Tell us all about it, including a link to the post or posts that sparked your interest. If you end up reading the book, be sure to include a link to your post about it in a future Weekly Geeks post!

Ok, so I have chosen 1 & 3 to answer.
1)I've read a range of classic literature, a little Jane Austin, Bronte, Dickens, a few of them I even read voluntarily instead of at school. My reaction is mixed. In some cases i've loved the books, I adore Wuthering Heights, the writing style and characters are easy to read today and from time to time I like to wallow in this book. Even more classic I studied Classics at school for four years and still get tremendous pleasure out of the Odyssey and sections of the Iliad. Many classics, I can see why they are considered classic but they don't appeal to me. Dickens was the pop culture of his time and I probably would find him more readable in weekly sections frankly, Tess of the D'ubervilles I hated (there is a whole post on that somewhere) and many classics i've simply avoided. There are still some on my TBR pile, Morte D'Arthur, Don Quixote, I kno the stories but want to read whole book sometime. My feeling is that some classics deserve to be so, others maybe not so much, but they tell us something of the time in which they were written and they obviously still do have massive appeal. I once fell foul of the book snobbery, oh you read so much have you read blahdy blah classic, nope I read mostly fantasy, OH. Not anymore, if the story appeals i'll give it a shot. Otherwise, I won't feel guilty for not doing.
3) Well,. if I can pick books for my Dad who only reads one a year, i'm sure I can handle Myrtle. Not convinced i'd ever holiday wit the sort of person who'd forget to bring books. So, newish releases that might appeal to the ole stick in the mud?
Jasper Fforde - The Eyre Affair, she won't be able ot resist because it's based around one of her favourite novels, but it'll totally twist her melon and hopefully knock her into the century of the fruitbat.
The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski, it's a brilliant book that draws lots of familiar fairy tales into it subtly, what classics fan doesn't know her Grimm?
Then i'd grab something off the paranormal romance shelves because it's my pet theory that a girl who has nothing but classics on her bookshelves keeps nothing but mills & boon under the bed.

Pop on over to Weekly Geeks to join in the fun or read other people's respnses.

The Bird Room - Chris Killen

This is the first book for Book Geeks book club, which if you are looking to join one and don't have a local one, i'd recommend.

Anyway, this is Killen's first novel and in spite of an enticing cover, not something i'm likely to have picked up normally. That would have been a shame. It's an uncomfortable read, dealing with the despair and emptiness that can happen when life loses it's routines and focuses. I'm getting ahead of myself. William has a girlfriend who he feels unworthy of, the relationship is breaking down and Williams artist friend Will is not helping matters. The novel jumps in time and is very disjointed, which is deliberate, we experience events from Williams perspective, never given all the information or all sides of the story, it's a bit like a drunken pity party for one. I'm not making it sound very appealing, and in fairness it's not exactly fun, but it is excellent, interesting, well crafted and stops far enough short of harrowing that I had no problem finishing. Actually I was pulled through fascinated by William's state of mind, not liking the characters but seeing something understandable in all of them. I'm left wondering are the two Wills, Alice and Helen all so damaged that there is nothing soft and affectionate left in any of them, or is it simply that William feels that way and so that's what is portrayed to the reader?
Book Geeks have posted a fantastic review of this book and I can't really go on without simply re hashing that, so head on over for more. http://www.bookgeeks.co.uk/

Accidental Sorcerer - K.E.Mills

I picked this book up on spec. The cover looked good, it was on offer and, well, what the hell really. I didn't expect great things, so I was pleasantly surprised. It's a delightful book, a bit frivolous and silly with really evil villains and some lovely warm characters. So, something about the plot, Gerald Dunwoody is an inept third grade wizard, he gets fired and heads off to the colony to lay low for a while. Through the ensuing events Dunwoody begins to learn what he is capable of, how to take responsibility for his actions and what kind of man he really is. That's part of the charm really, at first, reading the novel it felt a little Harry Potterish in it's world builing, and I was concerned. Mills developed things nicely though as the book progressed and her characters were well developed and consistent, their personalities leading the plot rather than being forced into compliance with it. I'm looking forward to reading more of this series and would recommend it to fans of Terry Brooks magic kingdom stories.

Bitten By Books interviews Rachel Vincent

I have an ulterior motive, I want the book, but that said it's an excellent interview by an author I enjoy. Pop by and take a look. http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=3963

Book Blogger Convention

Ok, there have been murmurs for a while, is it possible for the book bloggers to set up a book blogger convention, and if we do should it be physical (where) or online and so on and so forth.

Anyway point is, we set up a ning network for the planning, plotting and related chitchat and you should all get your butts over there and sign up. I know there are several social networks for "our kind" out there at the moment and I always sign up, but there really is a good reason to join this. Whether we go with physical or online the ambition is a real convention, with all the aspects of real conventions (author panels and so on). We need the support and input of the community before we can even think about approaching publishers and so on for sponsorship and authors for their time.

http://bookbloggerconvention.ning.com/

An Aside

I just wanted to chat with you all really, no review. I want to share a recent obsession. I added site meter recently, just to the blog itself, not to the 'zine and I have become obsessed with the results. I check it two or three times a day, I look at number of viewers, but more obsessively I look at the world map. Five different regions of Australia visit Un:Bound on a semi regular basis, four locations in Romania, one is Saudi Arabia (who are you?), more than I could have imagined across Canada and America (congrats on Obama btw America), a few in the UK, one in Malta, and so it goes on. Fascinating. I also love to view how they end up on the site, especially google searches. Whenever I see google in the referral I go and see, so far the most useful searches for me have been Richelle Mead and Brent Weeks. It really is fascinating, if i'd had to rely on comments i'd have no clue I had such a varied audience. All of a sudden I feel I should be offering you a more professional product. Although that's why I have Geek Monkey around. ;)
Anyway thank you to everyone who visits and if you don't already have it get sitemeter for your blogs, it's hours of fun.

A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess pt 2

Ok so I finally settled down to finish A Clockwork Orange. My feelings are mixed. I still don't like it, didn't enjoy it, wouldn't read it again. It was intriguing though, particularly towards the very end. After all the violence, imprisonment, losing his home, being brainwashed, being unbrainwashed and so, what really changed Alex, and certain some of the surviving droogs, was simply getting older. He outgrew the lifestyle and moved on. I know it's supposed to be a classic, but honestly, meh. There we go. Done with it.

(edited due to my persistence in calling it "the" rather than "a" being pointed out. Also, I should probably add, this was the promised final comment, the fuller post on the book is a few days older)

Chris' Year in Books (admittedly, a bit late)

Hard to believe we're already almost a month into 2009. And as I looked through the various reviews, articles and comments posted on Un:Bound I realized I had made a grievous error: I somehow had not seen fit to post some kind of year-end list! Which may not seem like a big deal to you (and who could blame you?), but if I am known for anything among my friends and family, it is that I squeal and dance like Snoopy in a Peanuts comic over making lists.

That, and for unconsciously making mewling, contented sighs whenever I am eating something particularly divine. Or, so I'm told. Just sayin'.

So, consider this post the remedy to the vile admission written above. The list thing, not the food thing.

2008 was a slow year personally for book reading. I wound up reading 49 books this year - not too bad considering all the other things that were occupying my time:

1. My son
2. My son
3. XBox 360 in general and specifically Rainbow Six: Vegas, Gears of War I and II, and currently Fable II
4. My wife/blogging (tie)
5. My son

My Fiction Book of the Year for 2008 was hands-down Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (reviewed here). From a literary and emotional standpoint it knocked me flat on my feet. Plus it has the benefit (I think, anyway) of being recommendable to anyone interested in a good book - Gilead is one of those rare instances where the story and the language transcend genre.

There were two runner-ups for fiction, and to my surprise they were both fantasy novels - a genre I hadn't paid a lot of attention to for a number of years. Both The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (reviewed here) and The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (reviewed here) combined a masterly love of language, humor, and beautiful imagery to tell wonderful stories that stayed embedded in my head for days and weeks afterward.

Ironically, my Nonfiction Book of the Year for 2008 was the first book I read in 2008 and the first book I reviewed at Un:Bound. Consider the Lobster (reviewed here) is an eclectic array of pieces by the late, great, David Foster Wallace, who tragically took his life back in September. Wallace was and still is one of my literary heroes, and his death hit me like a ton of bricks. I wrote about his suicide over at Geek Monkey, and to this day I still think about his essays and stories whenever I begin to write anything of length or consequence.

Although I didn't review it for any blogs, I wanted to also give a special mention to American Movie Critics: An Anthology from the Silents Until Now. It's a fantastic overview of how the art of film criticism has evolved from the silent era to the Internet era, and is full of incredible essays and reviews from people as diverse as Carl Sandburg, Pauline Kael, Roger Ebert and Nathan Lee. As I start up my film blog I've been using this book as my bible for how I want to structure and express my thoughts on film. But it's much more than textbook examples of how to write about film - it's also a collection of superb writing from any standpoint.

That's it for 2008. 2009, here we come!

Dana Fredsti Contest

We are a little halfway through the month now and I just wanted to remind everyone our Dana Fredsti contest is still open.
The giveaway is a copy of her Noir mystery novel "Murder for Hire - The Peruvian Pigeon", and signed bookplate and of course a couple of un:bound bookmarks. It's a delightful and entertaining read I would happily recommend to anyone. The contest is open to entrants anywhere, no location restrictions, so send in a bookpile/shelf/stack/heap, photo and a short sentence explaining what it is (to be read, top ten etc) before midnight GMT on 1st Feb and i'll pick a winner.
For more information on the author and the book check out our review and interview.
the email address is unbound@unboundblogzine.com

Watchmen - Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons

Ok, I have a few graphic novels and comics and I love comic book movies. However, my reading tastes, in terms of comics, run to The Crow, Sandman, and a selection of the old Chaos comics (Purgatori, Lady Death). I tend not to read Hulk or Spidey. I found Watchmen hard work in places and not that entertaining (I know blasphemy, get your beards here). It's true. There are aspects I really enjoyed, the idea that people would decide to become masked crusaders and get their little gang going fitted delightfully with the middle aged slightly sad cases we found at the beginning of the comic. I thought the characters were well thought out, deeper and more human than a lot of superheroes are. The artwork was excellent, the concept was solid and the plot was intriguing. So why am i not skipping around singing the praises of this obvious classic. Subplots and strange threads. The guy sitting next to the newsstand reading a comic didn't make any sense to me, I realise I probably missed the point, but still. It was little things like that, and all the random articles between chapters that broke into the flow of the book and distracted me from the plot. In weekly installments they would probably have been delicious extras, but trying to sit down and read the novel it threw me off. So there we are, not going into my favourites pile as far as graphic novels go, but worth a read and I am very much looking forward to the film.

A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess

This is not a review first of all. In spite of it's being such a slender volume I have yet to finish the book, but I wanted to talk about it here before I finish it and go to book group. An opportunity to organise my initial thoughts if you like.

I don’t know why I have never read A Clockwork Orange before, the film made a huge impression on me as a child. I remember being confused, fascinated and a little appalled, whilst being utterly gripped by it. Part of the appeal was that of being probably too young to watch it,, but my Dad normally inclined to follow age certificates on video’s for whatever reason, decided I could sit up late and watch with him.

Recently then, I answered an ad. in the village circular from a newcomer who wanted to start a book club. We met and looked over a couple of lists and selected this novel to begin the club. A strong start chosen because it isn’t a serious worthy read, but frivolous and strange. Both of us (we expect the group to grow in time) have wondered at times whether this book is worthy of its almost mythic status and we intended to find out. I went and joined the Library , got my shiny plastic card and made A Clockwork Orange my first loan in 13 years.

It’ s a thin volume, especially after the 500 pagers I’ve been reading recently. My thought was “this won’t take long”. Then I started it.

The book contains a lot of made up slang, some of which is obvious, much is less so. Clothing descriptions are peculiar, made more so by not being entirely in real words, but once I stopped reading words and just slipped into sentences it made easier reading. It serves as well to create a chaotic impression on the reader, all the violence, which starts early, the drug use, all draw the reader in, partly because of this strange, choppy, vicious language. The narrator refers to the reader as “brother” which serves to imply you should understand and follow, the device works. The story becomes a conspiracy between reader and narrator.

The thing is, I don't like it. I don't like Alex, the protagonist who has a nice home and family and for no apparent reason is a thug, I don't care that he listens to classical music, I don't care about him or his friends, whether they clean up their act or not and whether they live or die is, frankly doesn't bother me. I don't think we are meant to like them, but I just don't care. Nor do I care about the people Alex and his droogs hurt. The language which portrays chaos, disorder and violence so effectively also distances me from the people in the book, they become unreal. It is unusual for me to find myself indifferent, the move "The Cube" upset me so much I wouldn't have it out on the shelf, I cry every time I watch the Muppets Christmas Carol, i respond quickly and emotionally to books and films and songs, but so far A Clockwork Orange which left such a powerful imprint in movie form on a younger me has left me shocked by my indifference.

I shall return with a final comment on the book when I have finished it, but right now I feel as though I never want to see the film again, I am afraid it will dissapoint as much as the books has so far.

(edited "the" to "A" clockwork orange, in case anyone spots the change)

Where's Geek Monkey?

Still here, but for what may turn out to be crazy reasons I changed my profile to show my real name instead of Chris (Geek Monkey). I'm starting up a new blog (what else is new) that focuses on movies, and for discussions on other people's sites I thought it best to use my real name.

No fears - it's still the same Geek Monkey, which means still the same rambling reviews that never seem to have a summary of the actual plot, no matter how many I remind myself to put one in there!

Anyone interested in film and thinks I ramble too much here are welcome to check out the forthcoming Celluloid Moon where you can really see me ramble endlessly!

George R.R. Martin - A Clash of Kings

After a lengthy review hiatus, Geek Monkey now returns you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Although, I can be forgiven (I hope!) somewhat - we're talking about finishing a 960-page sequel to a 800-page book over the holidays when your son is running around jumping off every available surface and your wife is glaring at you because it's your 15th consecutive day sitting like a lump on the couch playing video games instead of things like, say, laundry or cooking or cleaning or changing diapers or...

Sorry, you get the idea. Let's talk about A Clash of Kings!

This is a prime example of getting it right in the sequel department. I noted in my review of the first book A Game of Thrones that things were a little convoluted and didn't "gel" until close to the end. A lot of ideas were presented, and at the novel's closed we had no idea where and how they fit into the bigger picture. What George R.R. Martin does in Kings is clearly put the focus on the many hands vying for control of the Seven Kingdoms, and letting each party's decisions and motivations play one against for the reader to delight in. At this point we still don't know who really should be on the throne - everyone's claim is based on past wrongs and half truths. Martin also begins to ratchet up the fantastical elements - where in the previous book we got a handful of ambiguous zombies and the insane, 70's exploitation/60's Hammer films birth of two dragons (hysterical and great at the same time - I still laugh when I think of it) in Kings things becomes more graphic, more horrible, and more threatening as it appears that everything remotely magical seems to be in service of something far more sinister than the simple machinations of scheming Lords. Shadowy assassins are literally birthed out of priestesses, unseen force in the North are slowly gaining strength, beings can seemingly change their appearance at will and the prophecies of a young boy are frighteningly coming true.

But the real joy of A Clash of Kings comes from the characterizations of the major players. Especially the women. Martin gives all the strength he couldn't embellish for Lord Eddard Stark for reasons I won't spoil here to his wife Catelyn Tully, who provides a backbone to her sons and daughters fighting in very different ways for survival. Likewise for my favorite new character in the book Brienne, whose awkward sense of femininity is only out-paced by her skills with a sword.

The men fare just as well. Tyrion Lannister, the "Imp" who is now Hand to the King is a great fantasy invention, and his race to cover every single angle, even as more pop up every minute is simultaneously exciting, hilarious, and cut-throat. This is his book as much as it is anyone's, and it's a credit to Martin that he treats his "villains" (I'm using a lot of quotes today, sorry) with as much depth and thought as he does his heroes.

If anyone in my opinion gets the high hat in Book 2 it's Jon Snow, the bastard son of Eddard Stark that by all conventional fantasy wisdom should prove by the series' end to be the hero of the piece. But his fleeting appearances in the book are a small price to pay for something so substantial and fun.

Looks like Book 3 is coming much faster than I earlier anticipated!

Awards

It seems to be award season in blogland, and I am delighted to announce that we have recieved several. I am adding these in no particular order, I hope i've picked up on all of them. I'll list my nominees at the end.
First,
Thank you to The Old Bat's Belfry for awarding us as a Kreativ Blogger back in December.


Here are the rules and my nominees:

1. Mention the blog that gave it to you.
2. Comment on their blog to let them know you have posted the award.
3. Share 6 values that are important to you.
4. Share 6 things you do not support.
5. Share the love with six other wonderful blogging friends.

so my 6 values: honesty, humour, forgiveness, curiosity, the ability to surprise, politeness.
6 things I do not support: cruelty, lying, abuse, war, (i sound like i'm in a pageant), exploiting people, bigotry.

We have also been selected by the lovely L Diane Wolf at Spunk on a Sticks Tip (great name) & by equally lovely Mihai from Dark Wolfs Fantasy Reviews for the Premio Dardos award . Premio Dardos means ‘prize darts’ in Italian and it is given for recognition of cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values transmitted in the form of creative and original writing.

The rules are:

1) Accept the award by posting it on your blog along with the name of the person that has granted the award and a link to his/her blog - see above

2) Pass the award to another 15 blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgement, remembering to contact each of them to let them know they have been selected for this award.

So my nominees for Kreativ Blogger, which are not all book blogs.
My fellow blogger on Un:Bound Geek Monkey has his own site, which is awesome.
Choo Choo blogs little but brilliantly and tales of Hellhole are always worth waiting for.
Author K Bannerman's personal blog Wolfgrrl
Nelly's Garden - home to NellyBert and a selection of cats, dogs and chickens.
Jazz's open letters to the world are very funny over on Haphazard Life
Finally Rocketstar is continually entertainging.

Now my 15 Permio Dardos who are all book blogs in no particular order
Book Swede http://thebookswede.blogspot.com/
Cititor SF http://cititorsf.wordpress.com/
SciFiGuy http://www.scifiguy.ca/
Dark Wolfs Fantasy Reviews http://darkwolfsfantasyreviews.blogspot.com/
Urban Fantasy Land http://urbanfantasyland.wordpress.com/
Graeme's Fantasy Reviews http://www.graemesfantasybookreview.com/
Grasping for the Wind http://otter.covblogs.com/
Sci Fi Songs http://scifisongs.blogspot.com/
Sci Fi Chick http://scifichick.com/
Reading with Monie http://www.readingwithmonie.com/
BookGeeks http://www.bookgeeks.co.uk/
The Old Bat's Belfry http://oldbatsbelfry.blogspot.com/
Lori's Reading Corner http://lorisreadingcorner.blogspot.com/
Make Mine Mystery http://makeminemystery.blogspot.com/
AmberKatz http://amberkatze-amberkatze.blogspot.com/

Contest Reminder

Just a quick reminder to send me your book pile photos to be in with a chance of winning Dana Fredsti's brilliant noir mystery novel "The Peruvian Pigeon".

Book piles can be actual pile, poles, sections of shelves or scatterd books being slept on by the cat. Dana has kindly provided an example pic. Each photo should come with a brief explanation, Dana has provided an example of this too...
"This is Tsavo, playing Smaug over his horde of books!"

Send your photos into unbound@unboundblogzine.com by the end of the month for a chance to win.

Knighted

I thought this was interesting, and since I still have 400 pages to go in George R.R. Martin's A Clash of Kings, I don't have any reviews for the week.

Terry Pratchett Gets Knighted

I've read the first two Discworld novels and have Books #2 and #3 sitting in my TBR pile. I just think this is deliciously cool.

Brent Weeks Interview

It's here folks, our interview with Brent Weeks is posted for your pleasure and he's a great interviewee. For those of you unfamiliar with his work, he wrote the utterly brilliant "Night Angel" trad fantasy trilogy and here is what we thought of the books. In a brilliant marketing move Orbit released the books over three months securing his place on our bookshelves and in our minds and they have recently confirmed he's signed up for more. Enjoy.

"First of all thanks for joining us and congratulations on your new deal with Orbit, I'm glad to hear we can expect more from you fairly soon (2010).

HR: With your next releases are you sticking with traditional fantasy or will we see a different aspect of your writing? Can you tell us a bit about the core plot?

BW: I plan to stick in the genre, but my next novel or novels will be set a bit later than typical fantasy. The closest I can say is that it will be roughly 1500 A.D. technology in an (extremely) alternate Mediterranean Sea type setting. That said, my next world will be one in which magic is much more common than in the Night Angel Trilogy. I'm not ready to talk about plot yet, because I haven't figured out when readers learn which of the world's secrets.

HR:I was surprised at how well the novels stand on their own given they were written as a trilogy, was that something you set out to do and was it hard to achieve?

BW: I loathe cliffhanger endings. If you can't deliver a full story experience in 700 or 1,000 pages, what have you been doing? To me, the true cliffhanger feels like both a storytelling failure and a pitiful attempt to wring another eight bucks out of me. I want my readers to think back on the time they spent in my world with fondness. If you deliver a great read, people are going to buy the next installment. That said, it's brutally hard to write a story that closes all the most significant plot lines and yet opens new and intriguing plot lines near the end of the novel and promises to close the vast, overarching plots as well.

HR: I understand you were able to have some influence in your book covers, how important do you think the cover is to selling a book and do you think it's important for the writer to have an input?

UB: First, my influence was pretty minimal. I mentioned a white background because an assassin dressed in black on a black background is going to disappear. Good for him in real life, not so good for a novel on the rack. It was more that Orbit included me in the discussions, which they didn't have to do. For that, I credit Tim Holman, the head of both Orbit US and Orbit UK. He believes that if the author likes the cover, it's more likely that the author's audience is going to like it too.

That said, writers are writers, not marketing people. Sure, I like to think that I've got a canny business sense. But look. Writing a great book is hard. Most marketing people couldn't do it. So accept that the marketing people might know some things about selling your book that you don't.

For a new guy like me, though, the cover is the most important thing. Eventually, what's between the covers is going to matter more, but you can sell a lot of copies with a great cover. Or very few with a bad one. When you realize that the success of something that you've poured your heart into for years is completely out of your hands, that's terrifying.

HR: You've stated in other interviews that you want to avoid "trapping" readers with a series but are intending to return to Midcyru for a future trilogy. Why do trilogies appeal so strongly to you and do you feel the author can also get trapped in a series?

BW: I love big stories. I like fast-moving plots, but over time, I want to give readers a deep sense of who my characters are. A trilogy done correctly gives you both. It can be tons of fun, deeply immersive, absorbing in a way that shorter novels can't, and it's awesome to follow characters through numerous adventures as they change and grow. If you can find closure to each book as I described above, you also have a ton of creative breathing room. One book is set in one city, the next is set in two different countries, the third is set in nations all around the world. That builds a whole that no one book could do alone, and it does it seamlessly. Or it can.

I do think an author can get trapped in a series. It's much easier to keep a ball rolling than to make up a whole new ball. There's also a dirty little secret about endings: the longer the middle of your series, the harder it is to finish the thing. Tying up seven subplots in one book is hard, and makes a book feel rushed. Tying up fifteen? Good luck.

HR: Do you ever miss teaching and did you gain anything valuable from your teaching experience for your writing?

BW: A good reminder that I'm not the only one with a short attention span? I miss the kids. I taught high school, and it's really an amazing time in a person's life. I don't write my books for a high school audience, but I also don't have any illusions: a significant number of my books are bought by high schoolers. By teaching, I got a pretty good sense of who those kids are, and what they'll bring to my novels.

HR: You state in your bio that you don't have a ponytail or cats, so if not endlessly grooming your hair/cats what do you get up to in your free time?

BW: I'm finding my pool of free time has shrunk since I've gotten published. I work out a few times a week. A life at the keyboard does not lend itself to a svelte figure. When I can, I'm a gamer. Xbox 360 mostly. I'm playing Fallout 3 and Fable 2 at the moment. My secret desire is to write a video game script someday.

Competition Time

I think it's about time we have our first contest.
Up for grabs we have a copy of Dana Fredsti's the "Murder for Hire: the peruvian pigeon", a warm, humorous noir mystery novel. The book will come complete with a bookplate signed by Dana and of course an un:bound bookmark.
To see what we thought of the book and an interview with the author go back in time here

The contest closes on the last day of January with me announcing a winner at the begining of feb.

Now what you need to do.
I want bookpile pics. It can be anything, your TBR pile, your all time favourite books, books you got for christmas, anything, as long as you can actually describe the pile. So to enter, email me a photo of your bookpile and a couple of lines on what the pile is of. I shall post all the pics on the site after closing, along with links to your sites if you include them and I shall choose my favourite to recieve the book. So not impartial or random at all i'm afraid, but I can promise I won't be genre biast.
Please remember to include your postal details when you enter and send entries to unbound@unboundblogzine.com
Good luck and have fun.

Dean Koontz - The Darkest Evening of The Year

Koontz is an excellent writer, his horror novels consistently creepy and tense, but here's the thing. I read a lot of his books when I was at school and stopped when I got so confused I couldn't keep a single story straight in my head. My complaint was simple, I had started to feel that Koontz only had a small selection of novel elements and just reorganised and reused them over and over. Heroic and possibly possessed Golden Retriever, kind hearted people with dark secrets, evil lunatics with no or inapropriate emotional responses. All fine and dandy, but over and over again. It's a shame because the plots are good and the writing is excellent, but I became disenchanted. Still, I figured twelve years on maybe e'd got a few new tricks. Page ten near the end, the words "golden retriever". I nearly put the book down at this point, i'd already established we were going with heroic girl with dark past and sweet boyfriend and super intelligent dog. Again and again we were told about the amazing beauty of the dog and golden's in general and blah blah blah. It's a testament to Koontz's writing that I managed to enjoy the novel and finished it quickly. I was dissapointed though, it's still the same old thing, finally I give up on Koontz, and honestly if you have read two or three you've pretty much read them all.

New Years and Goodbye to a Giant

Happy New Year, Un:Bound readers and writers!

Before getting into what I wanted to write about (which is a bit of a downer, so apologies in advance for kicking off the new year this way), I just wanted to say that after two weeks of being kicked in the crotch with a upper respiratory infection that limited pretty much everything except zombie-like television watching, I'm back, healthy, and ready to jump back into the book-reviewing fray!

And if this is your first time visiting the site, check it all out! Our fine Master of Ceremonies Hagelrat is going crazy with contests, interviews, and bookmarks. Yes! Now you can keep your place with a genuine Un:Bound bookmark!

Now, I know Un:Bound mainly focuses on fantasy and science fiction, but there's a lot more that peaks our interests here. I previously wrote about some of my favorite authors that don't necessarily fall into either of those categories, and Hagelrat's interview and reviews of Dana Fredsti show that mystery holds just as special place in our hearts as anything with swords or sorcery.

So when a giant in the field, and a personal favorite of mine passes from this world to the next, I feel like it's only just to pause a minute and pay tribute. Donald E. Westlake was a prime example of a writing machine. He would write so much, so fast, that he utilized at least half a dozen pseudonyms. His specialty was the pulp novel - hard hitting, fast talking crime books that could turn on a dime with his incredible gift of dialogue, whether it was his humorous Dortmunder series of novels, focusing on a master thief for who nothing seems to go right to probably his best creation, the Parker Novels by Richard Stark.

Yup. If you didn't know, Donald E. Westlake was also Richard Stark.

And his Parker novels are the first and last word in the "antihero." Anyone who saw Mel Gibson in PAYBACK got a glimpse of Parker (it was based on The Hunter, the first Parker novel). Cold, badass, and a master of one thing and one thing only: getting the job done. Before I knew who Donald Westlake was, I knew Richard Stark and Parker. The first few books in the series have just been re-issued in nice trade editions, and I whole-heartedly recommend them to anyone who likes their crime fiction with a cold, glittering edge to them.

Westlake was more than a novel writer. Besides the numerous film adaptations of his books (the aforementioned PAYBACK with Gibson, POINT BLANK with Lee Marvin, and even WHAT'S THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN with Martin Lawrence and Danny DeVito), he was a heck of a screenwriter, nabbing an Academy Award nomination for THE GRFTERS, and penning a number of other well-known films. But my first exposure to him was through the dark and shadowy world of thieves and liars, of cold determination and hearts of stone. Whether you like your crime tinged with humor or flat-out serious, Donald E. Westlake probably wrote a book you'll love.

Practical Demonkeeping - Christopher Moore

My Chris Moore reading has been a bit backwards, picking books at random, so I thought i'd go back to the start with what I believe is the first of his novels. Set in Pine Cove, where the recent zombie christmas fun of The Stupidest Angel played out, Moore supplies man eating invisible demons (ok one) and the King of the Djinn (yup as in Genie), drug busts, tranvestite computer romance, withcraft and a slightly odd love story. It's not as laugh out loud funny as the later books i've read but it's a good start. Amusing, bizzare and slightly daft it's a strong start, although fair to say that Moore gets better with time. I didn't feel as attached to the characters in this novel as I did some of the later ones, nor did I find the plot as surprising and twisted as some of his other work. At the end of the day though, I couldn't put it down, I was smiling the whole time and only reluctantly left the book behind as I headed out to celebrate new year. So, I think all told, his first is not Moore's strongest work, but it's still pretty damn good.

Happy New Year & a couple of things.

Ok, just a quick update for those of you who come straight to the blog and don't get the news.
On Sunday 4th Jan, I am posting the interview with Brent Weeks, author of the Night Angel Trilogy. He's a great interviewee so I recommend checking it out.
Also, in the next couple of days i'm posting our first contest, the prize is a copy of Dana Fredsti's Peruvian Pigeon and a signed bookplate. We have previously reviewed the book and interviewed Dana so it's worth a look. Details on how to enter will be in the main post, but in the mean time the review and interview are here.
I've nearly finished Chris Moore's Practical Demon Keeping so there will be a review coming up in the next few days too.
Happy New Year and a bookish 2009 to you all.