I’m going to be on Armed American Radio on Sunday night. It is a nationally syndicated program, but you can listen to it right off the internet.
http://armedamericanradio.org/listen-live/
I don’t know what time during the program I’m going to be on yet. I’ll post more as soon as I know what the schedule is. My old buddy George “Mad Ogre” Hill will be guest hosting. This should be a blast.
EDIT: I’ll be on live at 6:30 mountain time.
I did another one with them that night that should be out next week. It was about using self-publishing as a springboard. I’ll be heading back down to do another one about guns in fiction sometime in the future.
As many of my regular readers know, I’m going on a book tour this winter with a couple of other Utah writers, Dave Farland (well known for his Runelords series) and John Brown. John’s first novel, Servant of a Dark God officially releases tomorrow.
I’d only met John once before at a Con, but we’d corresponded via e-mail. He’s won awards for his short fiction, and the man really knows and loves the craft of writing. I did a signing with John on Saturday, and was able to score a copy of his book a couple of days early. I sat down Saturday night, expecting to read a chapter or so to check it out, and ended up reading the first third. I finished it Monday morning. And since Monster Hunter Vendetta has been turned in to my publisher, you guys can’t even yell at me for not working!
FREE STUFF
I spoke with John a bit, and told him I was going to post a review. He said that he would score me a couple of copies to give away as prizes to my readers. So what I’m going to do is this: If you are interested in getting a free copy of SoaDG just post in the comments below. On Friday I’ll randomly pick the winners. All that I want is that you post an honest review on Amazon (or your blog if you’ve got one) when you’re done.
THE REVIEW
Servant of a Dark God is an epic fantasy. I grew up on epic fantasy, Feist, Eddings, and Brooks shaped my young life. I read LOTR once a year. Then when I was a teenager I wolfed down everything I could find. Even though I don’t write epic fantasy, I still love it. Now that I’m an author, I’ve had the chance to meet a lot of famous authors, and I’ll admit that the only one I totally geeked out like a fanboy for was Tracy Hickman.
My issue with most epic fantasies is that they are not that original. Many tend to be tired rehashes of the epic quest, with elves, fight a monster, get the gobbit, save the princess, etc. Luckily over the last few years there have been some great authors really tweaking that formulaic approach and doing stuff differently. I’m glad to say that John falls into this category.
SoaDG takes place in a world where humans are harvested like livestock, not for their meat, but for their souls. The human kingdoms only think that they’re governing themselves, and the overseers ruthlessly hunt down anyone that discovers the truth. The magic system is based on the use of human “Fire” and the secrets governing its use are only supposed to be used by the Divines, (the folks in charge).
When someone other than a Divine uses magic, they are hunted down as evil heretics. The book kicks off with one of the protagonist’s family being accused of using dark magic.
The world building was creative, and the setting was original. Unlike some fantasy that suffers from the Horse = Motorcycle school of writing, John has actually done his research, and the people/culture/backdrop all feels like an authentic world. For the lower class people the book is about, it feels sufficiently gritty, and you can tell John has spent his time on a farm.
This was deeper than a hack and slash adventure, but it was still really fun. It was surprisingly deep when it came to things like family, trust, and truth. That said, I was still engrossed enough to pound through this novel in a couple of sittings. He’s also got one of the better fantasy antagonists I’ve read in quite a while. Hunger isn’t human. He’s the bad guy, but you’re kind of rooting for him at the same time. That’s tough to pull off.
Overall, Servant of a Dark God is a winner. I’m now going to bug him into sending me the manuscript for #2 so I can see what happens next.
I was like, Mr. Fancy Writer Guy, or something this week. All I did was hang out with writers and other creative types, and I wasn’t even at a Con.
On Thursday Michael Z. Williamson (Freehold, Better to Beg Forgiveness, The Weapon) was passing through town with his family. He had a layover in Salt Lake, so Howard Tayler (Schlock Mercenary) and his wife Sandra, picked them up, and we all met over Chinese Buffet. There was much discussion of zombies, publishing, and roadkillings.
Then on Friday night I went down to Provo and recorded a couple of episodes of the Writing Excuses Podcast with Howard Tayler (again!), Brandon Sanderson (Elantris, Mistborn, WoT), and Dan Wells (I’m not a Serial Killer). We got through 2 episodes before we ran out of time. I don’t know if I was much use on the first episode (Plot vs. Character driven writing) but I knew all about the second. (self publishing as a springboard to a writing career). I’ll be going back to do some more with them too. (Guns in Fiction! Yay!)
Afterward, I didn’t have anything going on, so I followed Howard over to his Friday night D&D game at Dragon’s Keep, (very cool game store) where I ran into another writer, Dan Willis (4 books in the Dragonlance series). Dan and I have been on panels before, and I really like him, so we started shooting the bull about our current projects. He’s got an awesome Steampunk project, so I told him about Grimnoir, (which isn’t punk, because everyone wears ties, but I suppose would technically be Dieselpunk if you had to make it something-punk). Dan and I got a little animated, so I think I interupted their game. (Apologies to the crew there if I did).
Then Saturday was a book signing at the Sugerhouse Barnes & Nobel. It was me, John Brown (Servant of a Dark God), Paul Genesse (Dragonhunters, the Golden Cord), Mettie Harrison (Princess & the Hound, Princess & the Bear), and Jessica Day George (Princess of the Midnight Ball, Dragon Slippers). We did a panel where we answered audience questions, then we sold and signed books. I ended up buying a bunch of books, including 2 that have Princess in the title. (which caused Mrs. Correia to wonder what had happend to her Manly-Man Husband)
Apparently the hot sellers right now are books that have Dragon or Princess in the title, which is why I’m proud to announce the upcoming Monster Hunter Princess Dragon Princess Force. Then somebody shoplifted one of John’s books, and a bunch of my friends who I haven’t seen in forever dropped by to visit. Good stuff.
Afterward we went over to Noodles Company for lunch, where we ended up meeting some more writers, including Dan Willis and Howard Tayler (man, that’s 3 days of Howard!), my friend, Julie Frost (has sold a bunch of short stories), and Daniel Alonzo (not published yet, but working hard at it).
So apparently you can’t swing a dead cat in Utah without hitting a writer.
I was supposed to be editing together my and Nightcrawler’s halves of Dead Six last night, but I figured I would read a few pages of Servant of a Dark God. Damn it, John, 170 pages later I realized that I’d been sucked in. Thanks a lot man. (seriously, though, it is a really good book). I’ll post a review when I’m done.
Just a reminder, come out and see me and some authors at the Sugerhouse Barnes & Noble tomorrow from noon-3. Paul Genesse, John Brown, Mettie Harrions, and I doing a Q&A panel on writing, and then doing a signing.
Also this weekend, I’ll be recording some episodes of the Writing Excuses Podcast with Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler, and Dan Wells. I don’t know when those will air, but I will post as soon as I’ve got dates.