The Steel Seraglio, Turbulence and Other Books (+ giveaways)

So a (really) short update of Fantasycon* - I had a blast and, more importantly, our cupcakes and biscuits raised £215 for National Literacy Trust. Woot!!

Huge thanks to my fab, fellow bakers Adele, Louise, Rhian, Michaela, and Andrew, with extra thanks to Michaela and Andrew who ended up doing most of the selling/organising.

Some pics of cakes (if you want to drool) are here! (Mostly mine as I had con camera-fail as usual) And even HUGER thanks and virtual hugs go to everyone who bought and devoured the cakes, and to those who managed to resist temptation but were cake-tastic and still donated. Thank you!

Now onto books (and giveaways - details at the end of the post)! These are some that have come to live with me recently. Death's Rival is #5 in Faith Hunter's fantastic Jane Yellowrock/Beast UF series, which I adore. Anton Strout's Alchemystic is the first in his new Spellmason Chronicles series, which looks like it's going to Rock*! And I was lucky to nab two copies of Nicole Peeler's awesome Eye of the Tempest at Fantasycon! Yay! Jane True FTW! (And one's in the giveaway!)

Another book that came home with me from Fantasycon is The Steel Seraglio by Mike Carey, Linda Carey, and Louise Carey. Mike is one of my all time writerly heros (LOVE his Felix Castor books!), so I was thrilled when he gave me a signed copy of The Steel Seraglio co-written with his wife and daughter. I'm two thirds of the way through reading it and, WOW!

The third book that I have thanks to Fantasycon, and my lovely pal Ben who introduced us, is Samit Basu's Turbulence. We three had a wonderful writerly chat about writing (;p) and characters and how as authors we love to be evil! *g* At the end of which I forced my first book on Samit and insisted he read it and demanded he give me his asked Samit if he might want to swap books! He said yes! Yay! I haven't started Turbulence yet but I did sneak a quick read of the first page! Awesome beginning!

TURBULENCE is a hyper-real novel set in an over-the-top world. It features the 21^st-century Indian subcontinent in all its insane glory – F-16s, Bollywood, radical religious parties, nuclear plants, cricket, terrorists, luxury resorts, crazy TV shows – but is essentially about two very human questions.

How would you feel if you actually got what you wanted?

What would you do if you were given the power to change the world?

‘For wicked wit, for post-modern superheroics, for sheer verbal energy and dazzle, Samit Basu doesn’t so much push the envelope as fold it into an n-dimensional hyper-envelope, address it to your hind-brain and mail it with a rail gun.’- Mike Carey (X-men, Lucifer, the Felix Castor series)

‘You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll gasp and you will demand a sequel.’- Ben Aaronovitch (Doctor Who, Rivers of London)

Onto the GIVEAWAYS

Giveaway 1 - Eye of the Tempest - Jane True #4 - Nicole Peeler
Giveaway 2 - The Steel Seraglio by Mike Carey, Linda Carey, and Louise Carey
Giveaway 3 - Turbulence by Samit Basu

How to enter:

Leave a comment with your 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice books.
1st name drawn gets their first choice of book, 2nd name drawn gets their 1st/2nd choice book, and 3rd name drawn gets the book not chosen by the previous two winners.
Winners drawn by Random.org.

Giveaways are international where Book Depository deliver and end Midnight (GMT) Oct 17th, 2012.


* Many thanks to Marie and Paul, everyone else who did a grand job organising the con, and all the brilliant redshirts!
*Gargoyles and rocks . . . sorry, couldn't resist . . . *g*
*My only sadness is I missed their reading and didn't get to ask how they worked out their collaboration. (I stupidly got my timings wrong and arrived at the end) :-(

Fantasycon Schedule

Yay! I'm off to Brighton in the morning, to Fantasycon 2012, the annual conference of the British Fantasy Society. It's always a blast, and I'm really looking forward to the con, and catching up with lots of folk!

So, my schedule

Fri 28th 2 - 3 - Bar Rouge - Fantasy Bites

Fantasy Bites: Cupcakes for Literacy. Dark-edged indulgence with the feel-good factor! All proceeds go to the National Literacy Trust which helps people across all ages improve their reading and writing skills.

I have BAKED like a manic Domestic Goddess today (and am utterly knackered, not to mention buzzing - there's nothing like a sugar high! Well, I had to do a taste test . . . or three. *looks innocent*!) If you're there tomorrow, bring your pennies (and your pounds - this is for a fab charity, after all :-D), forget the diet and indulge in a Ghoulish Delight, a Magical Margarita, and a Zombie Chow! (Pics will follow :-))

Plus, it's not just me who's BAKED, so there will be lots to tempt everyone :-D

Fri 28th - 3 pm -  Does Gender Matter.

My fellow panelists are: Ramsay Campbell, Joseph D’Lacey, Alison Littlewood, and Maura McHugh.

Fri 28th - 8 - 9 pm

Mass signing in Jenny's restaurant.

Sat 29th - 1 - 1.30 pm 
I'll be reading from The Shifting Price of Prey, and if there's any left, still punting the charity cupcakes! Come and listen, and eat baked goods!

See you there, if you're going! 

Where I'm going this weekend . . .

FantasyCon

Yay! And here's my schedule! 

Friday

4:00 – 5:00 pm
HAS CROSSOVER OVERTAKEN GENRE? (Fitzherbert Room): Suzanne
McLeod, Gary McMahon, Mike Carey, Steve Mosby, Sarah Pinborough (mod.)


8:00 - 9:00 pm
MASS SIGNING  with tons of other wonderful folk. I'm happy to sign anything (within reason *g*), and especially happy to sign any of my books! *looks hopeful*.

Saturday

Will be there all day and enjoying all the panels - if you're going, check out the programme: there's lots of great ones to choose from. (Oh, and will more than likely be enjoying some quality time in the bar :-D) #needsacloneorthree

Sunday

Will be around in the morning, then sadly will have to leave :-(


So if you're at FantasyCon, do say hello and chat; I promise I won't bite . . . *looks shifty*. And forgive me if I peer curiously at your badge (particularly if we know each other from twitter or somewhere - I'm dreadful about remembering names *sigh* )

Fantasycon and Free Books!

19th - 21st September 2008

I will be attending Fantasycon in Nottingham for the first time - please come and say hello to me if you're going to be there. I don't bite, promise *g*.
I will also be reading from The Sweet Scent of Blood at 8 p.m. on Friday 19th September. Please feel free to come and listen.

And here's a chance to read War for the Oaks - Emma Bull - one of my all time favourite books *free* plus others to come!

Free Ebooks from World Fantasy Award Finalists


Last week we announced the return of free ebooks from Tor.com. We’re kicking things off this week with backlist titles from two of the authors who are finalists for this year’s World Fantasy Award for Best Novel. To download these and upcoming freebies, all you have to do is register at Tor.com.

Will Shetterly and Emma Bull are the first married couple to each simultaneously have a novel among the finalists for the World Fantasy Award—Emma’s Territory and Will’s The Gospel of the Knife. In commemoration of this, we’re offering registered Tor.com users free e-book editions of a pair of classics from the Bull and Shetterly backlists—Emma’s War for the Oaks and Will’s Dogland. Check them out here!

Each title in our giveaway program will be available for A Limited Time Only, so don’t delay. The books will be offered in a variety of formats, with no DRM. After this month’s pair of books, we’ll be putting up a new title every month, so make sure you register—and tell your friends about the great books (and blogs, and art, and conversation) that are free at Tor.com every day.