Folly from the Newtown Review of Books brilliantly reviews both Bridge of Swords by Duncan Lay and The Dark Divide by Jennifer Fallon. Thanks guys!

The Newtown Review of Books

Celtic and Japanese cultures give visual and emotional charge to two recent fantasy novels.

There is much richness and complexity on offer in fantasy writing, as well as extraordinarily varied and layered resources available to the writer. Two recently published books demonstrate this for me with heaps of panache. Interestingly, they both use aspects of Celtic and Japanese cultures, in very different ways, to give a visual and emotional charge to their narratives.

Bridge of Swords  (Part One of Empire of Bones) opens with an elf thrown from his hidden land, Dokusen, as a result of machinations within his realm concerning the decay of magic and the bitter rivalry between his brutal father, the tyrant at the head of the council, and the equally untrustworthy controllers of magic, the magic-weavers. His name is Sendatsu. He must leave behind his adored motherless children and his unattainable love, Asami, and seek the…

View original post 1,412 more words

Specusphere interview with Kim Falconer

The latest edition of the Specusphere is out! And it includes a great interview with Voyager author Kim Falconer, by Astrid Cooper. Astrid also has her thoughts on the book after the interview.

There’s also reviews of Karen Miller’s Hammer of God and for Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik (continuing the Temeraire series).

The Specusphere team have also put out a call to arms for volunteers. If you love speculative fiction and have a bit of time to spare, contact them for more details.

Imagination that deftly defies northern gravity

The above title appeared in the July 26 Australian newspaper to head a review of Dreaming Again, edited by Jack Dann. The anthology has been getting excellent reviews all over blogs and papers. The Sydney Morning Herald ran an excellent review last week too. If you read and loved Dreaming Down-Under, prepare to be even more impressed when you read Dreaming Again. If you count Isobelle Carmody, Garth Nix, Sara Douglass or Cecilia Dart-Thornton among your favourites – you must pick it up; their stories are in there. If you follow Australian spec fic – then you probably already own a copy! And if you need an introduction to excellent sf, fantasy and horror, then here’s your prize.

‘Dreaming Again demonstrates that there is a distinctive Australian voice in speculative fiction, heard in the irreverence and humour of the stories and in the use of Australian landscapes. Indeed, reading this anthology makes it obvious just how much of the best overseas work is derivative of US and British culture and locations. It is a pleasure to see something as out-worldly as science fiction and fantasy writing grounded in our culture and landscapes.’ — George Williams, The Australian

Click here to go to the Australian review

Jack will be appearing at Conflux 5 in October, taking place at the Marquis in Canberra. He’ll be speaking on ‘A writer’s guide to dreaming’ (the theme of Conflux is ‘dreaming’). Book to go to Conflux soon and you’ll save $40 off the door price. And it really is worth going – there’ll be all sorts of entertainment going on – a New York 1920s banquet, designed and created by food historian Gillian Pollack, workshops of all kinds – including swordfighting, and of course, the general mad fun that goes along with all good cons!