So it’s that time of year when the dry grass kinda crunches under foot, the Sun sets earlier, and the evenings are cooler less hot. Classes have started. Things begin to settle into a routine. Orange decorations start to appear.
And my reading matter starts to produce more of a chill.
I’m not planning on doing a heavy Halloween related reading project this year, although there will be a few seasonal blog posts scattered among the things I put up here. One of them will probably be about Tom Reamy’s Blind Voices. It’s been years since I read it, but it’s one of those rare books that I can remember numerous details about years later.
But that’s a couple of weeks away. The next book I’m going to start (which means there are other titles in progress that will probably see reviews posted first) is the first volume in Jim Butcher’s new series, The Aeronaut’s Windlass. This looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun.
I got excited earlier today when the eARC of City of Wonders by James A. Moore became available on NetGalley.
Only it didn’t.
The link to download (at least to Kindle) went to a different book, as I discovered when I opened my Kindle app on the phone. I’ve emailed Angry Robot, so hopefully it will be fixed soon. I suspect everyone over in the UK has left work for the day, so it will probably be tomorrow at the earliest when the link gets corrected. I’m really looking forward to this one. If you’ve not read Seven Forges or The Blasted Lands (reviewed here and here), you should. They’re a top-notch heroic fantasy/S&S series. (Is it just me, or is there a Jim theme here?) 
I’m planning on replacing my computer next week now that I’ve gotten some cash flow issues worked out, which means I’m going to devote more of my time to writing. I’ve got a couple of slow hours at work this afternoon, which is why I’m getting this posted today.
There will also be some posts going up at Futures Past and Present and Gumshoes, Gats, and Gams in the next few weeks. I’m going to try to cycle the genres I’m reading so that there’s at least one, preferably two, posts on all my blogs each month. And, yes, that means I’m going to try to revive Dispatches From the Lone Star Front. It’s been dormant a while, and I’d like to get back to posting there on a semi-regular basis.
Anyway, that’s what I’m looking at for the next few months. What’s up with youse guys? (Please note that “guys” is used in a gender neutral, nonsexist kind of way.)
Good stuff. Yeah, a lot of Jim going ’round. 😉
I’ve got about 70 pages left to read in THE BLASTED LANDS in preparation for CITY OF WONDERS. I’ll be at the CITY OF WONDERS book launch in November. (Chris Golden will also be launching DEAD RINGERS)
I tend to favor short stories around this time of year for Halloween. Not sure if I’ll be jumping into reading another novel for a few months.
My writing front currently consists of trying to build out a sword-&-planet story to novella length. The backup project (when I get stuck) is a novella length fantasy I wrote a long time ago that I am trimming to novelette length and giving a harder sword-&-sorcery edge. Lots of ideas going, but trying to focus and finish one at a time.
Speaking of writing & Jim Moore – New England Writers Coffeehouse with Jim Moore next week.
No conventions, per se, but there is a Halloween Book Fest coming locally in early October. Ironically, Jim Moore won’t be around (he’ll be back in GA for MonsterRama) but a whole slew of horror writers will be signing, panels and other stuff.
We have had an official heat wave here this week which will break tonight. Looking forward to cooler air, too.
I wish I still lived where there were active writers who were at that level. Those are fun events to attend. Dead Ringers sounds really good.
I’m going to try to work more short fiction in. I prefer horror at short lengths.
Good luck on the writing. I’ve got some S&S I need to clean up. (Or rewrite if a friend can’t get the data off my hard drive that died. Need to see how he’s progressing.) Plus a crime story to submit to either EQMM or AHMM. And a story to either finish or restart for James Reasoner’s alternate history anthology if I’m not too late.
Is this New England Writers Coffeehouse something that’s online in some form or do you need to be there? I doubt I’ll hit another convention before next summer at the earliest due to a combination of cash and unappealing guest lists. Although the Williamson Lectures in Portales aren’t out of the question next spring.
I’ve heard about the temps up there. They’re not considered that high here, but they’re not comfortable by any means, even if you’re used to them. You guys have had my sympathy. The highs over the weekend are supposed to drop into the upper 70s and be back in the 90s next week. We won’t have consistently cool temps until late October or maybe later.
The Coffeehouse is an in-person thing at a local independent bookstore. Officially, it’s something Jonathan Maberry started on the West Coast and he has been “franchising” it out. (not that it is a real business or anything – just the basic workshop idea.) Jim jumped right in and decided to start one up here.
Yeah – we lucked out with Jim moving up here. It’s spurred he & Chris Golden to do more public events (I think.)
I’m guilty in that I have allowed my reading time to fall to the wayside. I have books from the library that are due and I have only read a couple of pages of each one. I hate this. My to-read list seems to keep growing and I’m not managing it at all. Hopefully, I can change that this weekend. James Moore’s Seven Forges is on the list and I have to finish The Martian, but I also want to finish Gaiman’s Neverwhere before it goes back to the library.
Juggling kids and projects kinda make it problematic to find time for everything. Still, I’m not one for complaining. I have some pretty exciting stuff in the pipeline that are coming near to completion or are about to level up.
Yep, that’s me.
I’m still hoping for a good paying job where someone will give me money to read whatever I like. I’d also like buns of steel but I doubt that is going to happen either.
I think you’ll like Seven Forges. I forgot about The Martian. I want to try to fit in before the movie hits theaters. Things nearing completion is always an exciting thing. Congratulations on those.
Thanks! Imagine that, getting paid to read books… Now that would be perfect. I can quite easily see myself doing that. Writing and reading for a living are as near perfect to a utopia as you can get in this reality.