A year ago today I published my first blog post titled What is Fresh-scraped Vellum? It analogized the medieval art of bookmaking to the task of writing a publishable novel in today’s world. It also promised book reviews and commentary on both classic and recent fiction in the historical and fantasy genres, along with posts…
Thanks to the kind folks at Random House, I received an advance copy of Graham Joyce’s new novel, Some Kind of Fairy Tale. I’ve been pretty jammed up on my books to read and review, but this one jumped to the top of my list due to its intriguing premise. More on that and my…
A while back I was focused on Viking tales since my second novel has a big Viking component. I’ve unfortunately fallen way behind on both novel #2 and my reviews of great Viking tales, but at least one such tale can serve as my “beginning” of the week. So without further ado, here is the…
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” – The Declaration of Independence The Writing of the Declaration of Independence 1776
Last week’s review of The Wind Through The Keyhole had me thinking about another of Stephen King’s more fairy tale-like books, The Eyes of the Dragon (you can read my review of it here). This is one of those rare novels that pulls off the use of an omniscient, storytelling narrator, and here’s how it…
My summer reading has gotten off to great start, and one book I finished very quickly was Stephen King’s new entry in his Dark Tower series, The Wind Through The Keyhole. It was a tremendously fun read, and my review follows this image of the book’s cover. Within the novel’s first two pages, I found myself…
For this week’s “beginning” I chose the opening passage from Richard Matheson’s 1954 masterpiece I Am Legend. When I first read this novel, I couldn’t put it down. The book is far better than the film adaptation from a few years ago (though the movie’s change in setting from California to New York City made…
As part of the Virtual Author Book Tour for the new novel Spartacus the Gladiator, I am fortunate to feature an interview with the book’s author, Ben Kane! You can check out my review of Spartacus the Gladiator here. Ben Kane, author of Spartacus the Gladiator Your novel is coming out after three successful seasons…
Thanks to the kind folks at St. Martin’s Press and Virtual Author Book Tours, I received an advance copy of Ben Kane’s new novel, Spartacus the Gladiator. I was eager to read it because Spartacus is a fascinating historical figure and I’ve been a big fan of the Starz series ever since Spartacus: Blood and…
Earlier this month, Starz announced it will conclude its Emmy nominated Spartacus series next year. The final season, titled Spartacus: War of the Damned, will premier in January 2013. I have loved the series so far, ranking it just behind HBO’s Game of Thrones in terms of quality. And while I understand the producers’ desire…
After seven weeks of vintage fantasy beginnings, I’m looking to a more recent novel for today’s “Beginning” of the Week: Jo Graham’s 2008 novel Black Ships. This novel is a re-imagination of The Aeneid, and you can read my review of it here. You must know that, despite all else I am, I am…