Juno Books

From HORROR READER:

The author’s voice is clean and clear, the action comes regularly and furious, and the characters are colorful. As well, while tight, the story offers a generous amount of characterization, and while the events seem relatively typical for a high fantasy story — humans standing against an invading, nonhuman army who must rely upon the unlikeliest of heroes to aid them in staving off extinction — the events achieve gravitas from liberally applied shades of gray. As with the best horror stories, this work does not shy away from consequence. Yes, the dead will walk when Kirin calls them; however, Kirin’s fellow humans respond to this with truthful terror. Likewise, when the murderous, monstrous Mor approach, their presence is a cause for fear. . . .Blood Magic offers an intriguing look into the mind, emotions and character of its protagonist. Kirin’s adventures are already slated to appear in a follow-up volume due out in 2008 (titled, as of this review, Nights of Sin). This reader is curious to see the growth of both the character and her author.

A new Author’s Spotlight: Sylvia Kelso in which she reveals what inspired Amberlight and its upcoming sequel Riversend“:

*Amberlight* I think this one began, as some others did, with undirected right brain activity. That is, not alpha-state, but one where anything can happen; a sort of ground-zero-field reverie. I do know what the kick-off images were: thinking about describing a city by moonlight, which instantly morphed into Daulatabad, the amazing Indian medieval fortress – it’s pre-Moghul – and then some of the huge granite boulders beside the road up our coastal range. Those, combined with the Daulatabad wall that’s built into the hillside, so you have to cross it by tunnel, became the first image of the qherrique.

*Riversend* was a different kettle of fish, because, as a sequel, it already had a set-up world. What inspired it was the usual spring for sequels with me: the Black Gang, the creative dynamo I think is situated somewhere in the right brain (I stole the name from a Lois Bujold novel) started nagging about, OK, we finished Amberlight. But *what happened then*?

There are also a bunch of pictures from WFC2007 which I never saw, including this one of Lois Bujold with AMBERLIGHT:

Those are book covers! Galley Cat reports UK publisher Gollancz has these stylized covers for their “Future Classics” line — covers are for (left to right) Revelation Space by Alasdair Reynolds, Hyperion by Dan Simmons, Blood Music by Greg Bear, and Schild’s Ladder by Greg Egan. The cutting edge covers, although devoid of title and author, do have the info on the spine. According to the Gollancz site they also use “high tech printing processing including glow-in-the-dark, reflective and ‘furry’ textures…” The Gollancz site shows four more tres cool covers and, for 2008, some influential space operas will be repackaged in a spiffy new design and relaunched.

The WEREWOLF QUIZ contest was supposed to be announced Halloween. So, I’m a little late. But the winner is ALICIA VERLANGER (who will get her prizes eventually) and the answers are now posted with the original questions.

Surprisingly, question #10, a quote from The Werewolf of Paris by Guy Endore was the most frequently missed. Several people supplied only the title of Suzy McKee Charnas’s collection (Stagestruck Vampires and Other Phantasms) that included her story, “Boobs”, rather than the title of the story itself. Sorry folks, “Boobs” is a very well-known, Hugo-award-winning story that’s been reprinted many times. You needed to supply the story’s title. (And you need to read the story if you never have.)

One thing I noticed when posting the answers: I’ve met four of the ten authors. So here is a mini-contest (prize: a Juno Book of your choice): Name the four authors from the ten in the quiz that I’ve met. Just comment here on the blog. First right answer wins.

(And anyone who says “Guy Endore” is dead meat!)

Looking for something to be thankful for . . . other than the necessities like being employed, having wonderful offspring, and being somewhat healthy (seem to be developing a cold) . . . and thought to mention that THE ETERNAL ROSE by Gail Dayton has gone to a second printing, (so you can buy plenty of copies as gifts for Christmas) and DANCING WITH WEREWOLVES by Carole Nelson Douglas (with a 41% increase in sales over last week) remains in 16th place in its Bookscan bestselling category.

Eva Mueller, 57, of Fort Collins, Colorado, was arrested for the theft of more
than 3,000 books “from Fort Collins and Loveland Barnes & Noble stores
and a local B. Dalton store, four to eight at a time, during a
nine-month period,” according to the Coloradoan. Sixty books, valued at about $1,500, were recovered from Mueller’s home

Mueller allegedly sold the books, valued at $92,000, on eBay for about
$35,000.

Wait a minute — 3300 books four to eight at a time? Thats 412-825 shoplifting trips in nine months! That’s 1.5 to 3 times a day, seven days a week. This lady was their best “customer” and they didn’t notice for nine months she was shoplifting?

And 60 books worth $25 each? Doesn’t B&N discount a lot of those? And 3300 worth $92,000 is $27.79 each…and she sold ‘em for an average of $10.61 on E-Bay? And even at book rate, it would be about $3.20 each to mail plus the cost of packaging. . .

That being said, if I could get $10.50 a book on eBay. . .

Okay, I guess I hallucinated other content I thought was on the author blog. I did know about clicking 2007, but thought that was not all. And thanks for the tip on the timestamp for the individual URL.

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Bill Pronzini will receive the title of Grand Master from the Mystery Writers of America next May 1 in New York City during the Edgar Awards banquet. MWA executive v-p Daniel J. Hale said that Pronzini “is not only a passionate author and reader of crime fiction–he is also one of the most ardent proponents of the genre. For 40 years, he has distinguished himself with consistently high-quality writing and editing in all areas of the field, including creating one of the longest-lasting detective series ever.”

Pronzini has written more than 70 books, including 32 novels in the Nameless Detective series and three written with his wife, Marcia Muller, who was the MWA’s Grand Master in 2005.

The Hartford Courant mentions boby boomers are turning to books for advice and that “studies show 64 percent of baby boomers claim they feel an average of 11 years younger than their actual age.” (Some days I feel 25 years younger, others 20 years older: maybe thaat balances out. . .) And the LA Times notes:

“Since America’s 78 million baby boomers started turning 60 last year, dozens of novels with graying protagonists and late-life themes have hit the nation’s bookstores, adding a few new wrinkles to the face of contemporary fiction and underscoring a sobering fact about readers in America: The most avid book-lovers are 50 and older.

Increasingly, so are the characters they’re reading about. And “the novelists are getting older” too, said Jane Friedman, president and CEO of HarperCollins Worldwide. “It’s really the graying of America. . . . This is not a trend. I think it’s the zeitgeist.”

Novels “are going to now have to have characters that the aging population recognizes,” she said, and “you’re going to start seeing all of those books in larger print.

Juno authors are a lot more active blogging than I am and have a great blog going at Fiction Beyond the Ordinary, Well, heck. there’s a more of them than me!

For some unknown reason they save only seven most current blogs at a time. That’s weird, because there was, I think, even more cool stuff there. There’s also no direct links to entries. Oh well. (If you still have those older posts, guys, lemme know?)

Some things I HAVEN’T mentioned –

Chris Howard’s WFC report. (I wasn’t THAT busy. I always LOOK that way, of course. Chris just doesn’t know that all editors can be easily lured into longer chats if drinks are provided Considering he had his daughter with him, perhaps this is knowledge he did not wish her to be privy to!)

Chris also has a new Web site in progress: Saltwater Witch for SEABORN.

Eileen Kernaghan mentions her excellent blog. And I will have a finalized cover for THE SARSEN WITCH posted soon. It is the last of our trade paperbacks and has be unforgineably delayed over and over. I’m sure Eileen is tired of my apologies, but it really should be available now in about two weeks. Obviously, I want you to read ALL Juno Books titles, but his one really is an overlooked gem I hope we get some more notice for. More about that soon!

There are booktrailers for:

AMBERLIGHT and
WIND FOLLOWER

News of the Wind Follower December Book Tour

Janet (MASTER OF SHADOWS) Lorimer’s advice about not throwing anything out. . .Matt Cook on writing in public…

. . . and, well, a lot more news from Juno authors!

The Guardian challenged three writers — Hilary Mantel, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and
Audrey Niffenegger — to come up with fairy tales fit for the 21st century. Mantel’s (my favorite) is about “a princess for whom nothing was ever good enough.” Adichie writes of family whose father who loses all he owns in a card game. Niffenegger tells of a man named Grant whose life with a “fairy lady was frightening, dull, mystifying and aggravating . . . in equal measures.”

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In other news from across the pond, Katherine Rushton, a reporter for The Bookseller, evokes Jane Austen and blogs: “It is a truth universally acknowledged that the lower rungs of publishing are populated by young, middle-class, Oxbridge girls in want of a decent salary.” Interesting comments ensue.

Final cover: CHASING SILVER by JAMIE CRAIG

Our silence has been, of course, due to attendance at WFC (in Saratoga Springs, NY). I’d meant to blog a bit, but never got around to it. One thing I forgot . . .and couldn’t do from here as I didn’t have the entries . . .was annouce a winner for our Halloween Dancing With Werewolves contest. Oops. Will take care of that in the next day or so.