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Tim's Horror, Fantasy and SF 2014


Timstar

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Tim, those shelves are beautiful! I see so many nice and great looking books :D. I'm a little envious of your many Stephen King books. I have a lot of them too but they don't have matching covers like yours do. Awesome also to see so many nice fantasy books together.

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Very envious of your shelves :smile:   They look full already! :giggle2:

 

 

 

I've heard she is working on it at the moment.

 

Latest is the next book is 'anticipated' next year.  The series was supposed to be five books but, according to Wertzone, the last word was that it's now six, so it'll be a while before it's finished.  Maybe she knows GRRM? :giggle2:   Think I'll probably wait until she's finished it before I contemplate giving it a go.

 

It's pretty poor that she hasn't updated her website since 2011, though.  And her forum's been taken over by spammers :rolleyes:

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Tim, those shelves are beautiful! I see so many nice and great looking books :D. I'm a little envious of your many Stephen King books. I have a lot of them too but they don't have matching covers like yours do. Awesome also to see so many nice fantasy books together.

 

Thanks!

 

 

Very envious of your shelves :smile:   They look full already! :giggle2:

 

...yeah... that could become a problem soon  :doh:

 

Latest is the next book is 'anticipated' next year.  The series was supposed to be five books but, according to Wertzone, the last word was that it's now six, so it'll be a while before it's finished.  Maybe she knows GRRM? :giggle2:   Think I'll probably wait until she's finished it before I contemplate giving it a go.

 

It's pretty poor that she hasn't updated her website since 2011, though.  And her forum's been taken over by spammers :rolleyes:

 

Yeah I noticed that about her website, it is a shame. 

 

By the time I get around to the series it will probably be done, or at least slightly closer  :blush2:

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15790883.jpg Promise of Blood - Brian McClellan

 

Synopsis

The Age of Kings is dead. And I have killed it.'

Field Marshal Tamas's coup against his king sends corrupt aristocrats to the guillotine and brings bread to the starving. But it also provokes war in the Nine Nations, internal attacks by royalist fanatics and greedy scrambling for money and power by Tamas's supposed allies: the Church, workers' unions and mercenary forces.

Stretched to his limit, Tamas relies heavily on his few remaining powder mages, including the embittered Taniel, a brilliant marksman who also happens to be Tamas's estranged son, and Adamat, a retired police inspector whose loyalty will be tested to its limit.

Now, amid the chaos, a whispered rumour is spreading. A rumour about omens of death and destruction. Just old peasant legends about the gods returning to walk the earth. No modern educated man believes that sort of thing . . .

 

Review

 

This is going to be a relatively short review. It's taken me a while to get around to writing this, in fact I read it before Gardens of the Moon but never bothered to get around to reviewing it. I originally wasn't going to read this (mainly put off by the awful title!), but I saw it in library and picked it up on a whim. I have tried several times to start writing a review but just couldn't think what to say, and I think that's the issue I had with the book, it left no impression on me whatsoever.  I had to re-read the synopsis and over reviews just to remind myself what it was about and what the characters were called.

 

I was quite intrigued by the concept, being a big fan of the Sharpe books (I.e. flintlock guns) I was interested to see how this could be combined with modern fantasy. Unfortunately it's a bit of mess, with too many characters with unclear motives and various magic systems that have no relation to each other, and gods that may or may not exist. It took me a while to read it as I was constantly picking up something else due to the lack of direction. Combining magic and gunpowder is a simple idea and all it needed was a few great characters to get invested in with accompanied world-building. But the plot just became such a tangled political mess that I ended up not caring about the outcome at all.

 

 There Will Be Promise of Blood wasn't all bad, the action was quite thrilling and the powder mages were fun to read about, the series could have potential but to be honest the book has left me with no desire to find out if it is fulfilled or not.

 

Overall 5/10

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Shame you didn't enjoy Promise of Blood Tim. :( I remember having a similar impression the first time I read it, but when I re-read it recently I enjoyed it a lot more. Hope your next read is more fulfilling! (Deadhouse Gates, maybe? ;) )

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So last night I went to this:

 

Ze-Grim-Gathering.jpg

 

 

organised by a fantasy forum that I am on. Absolutely brilliant night, got lots of books signed and had a good chat with the authors and other fans in the pub afterwards. Apparently it was Mark Lawrence's first event ever! He seemed really nervous bless him. Myke Cole must be one of the friendliest people I've ever met, also some pretty inspirational answers to the Q&A as well. Peter and Joe were very easy to chat to as well.

 

 

I didn't bother taken many pictures as my camera is pants but here a couple I got.

 

post-8698-0-19975500-1408000413_thumb.jpgpost-8698-0-58444500-1408000428_thumb.jpg

 

I took a load of photos of Peter in the giant shrimp thing using his camera so they may appear on his blog or something :D

 

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Sounds awesome, Tim, glad you enjoyed it :smile:   What books did you get signed?

 

Did they change the venue?  I was sure it was on Charing Cross Road when you mentioned it a while back :unsure:

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Yeah Charing Cross cancelled a couple of weeks ago so it moved to Kensington, a bit further away but a nice Waterstones.

 

I got Red Country and Best Served Cold signed by Joe Abercrombie, the Shadow Ops trilogy signed by Myke Cole and The Painted Man signed by Peter V. Brett. :D

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Oh man so jealous! I wish they did stuff like that here. Wonder if I could get them to fly out...

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So yesterday was a fun day.

 

I had the day booked off to go and meet Scott Lynch at Forbidden Planet in London, I double checked the website to make sure it was still happening and found out this guy was also attending:

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Which was pretty awesome, so I went a bit earlier and managed to meet him :)

 

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Then later at the Lynch signing, Martin came to say hello.

 

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Mary Robinette Kowal, who I didn't know but it turns out she has just won a Hugo award for best novelette, also showed up... and let me hold it!

 

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then when I was next in line for Lynch, this chap showed up...

 

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and asked for my copy of Lies which he decided to sign!

 

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Eventually managed to meet Scott, which was amazing! Such a nice guy, really taking his time to meet and great everyone.

 

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Plus his signature is awesome:

 

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I don't like the word Nerdgasm, but I'm not sure anything else applies to my day. :D

 

 

 

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That's what I hate about Forbidden Planet - too many authors getting in the way when I'm trying to browse the bookshelves :mad:  :D

 

:giggle2:

 

Nice photos, Tim! I'm glad you had fun and a little jaleous of the signed books :P.

 

Thanks, I love a signed book! Question is can I read them again without the risk of damaging them :blush2:

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:o I think I almost blacked out from all the gasping! Such an amazing day you must of had. Love all your signed books.
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:giggle2:

 

 

Thanks, I love a signed book! Question is can I read them again without the risk of damaging them :blush2:

That looks like so much fun!  I have a coupleof signed Barkers, but my dog ate Forms of Heaven as a puppy.  Looks like you had a great time!  I wish there were book stores around here that do signings, I've only been to a few Clive Barkers ones.

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I failed to articulate coherent sentences in his presence :doh:

 

:no:

 

You're fired! :giggle2:

 

When the book fails to materialise for another three years I'll blame you for making him spend his time signing your books :lol:

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