Smorgasbord Fantasia

There! Did I get your attention? Free E-Books. Worth over $10. But that ain't the kicker. the worth of these books transcends just plain dollars. The two books up on offer courtesy the ever angry folks at Angry Robots  and the lovely SFX magazine - Adam Christopher's debut, Empire State , a crackling hot stew mixing up pulpy science fiction with noir-thriller and super-heroes and Lauren Beukes' critically acclaimed debut Zoo City. hot damn huh! Free e-books. Yeah. Rush out there and get that magazine subscription. Just the trial offer should do. And yeah come back and thank me!

Ready for a wild ride into a bug filled wilderness of Kameron Hurley's fertile brain ? ( Sorry couldn't resist that after having marveled at the sheer awesomeness of her first book!) Kameron Hurley’s debut effort God's War - Part One of a Trilogy called Bel Dame Apocrypha has won hearts and brains all over the speculative fiction world. I got the copies free courtesy of a free giveaway by Night Shade Books - just before the release of the Third Book, Rapture. God’s War shatters boundaries setting new horizons for writers of science fiction or fantasy of any kind. Whoever said SF cannot be married with Fantasy should probably talk to Ms. Hurley. She’ll give you an earful.   This book is a second world fantasy novel but with advanced technological settings that scream “science fiction” – though I really think that Ms.Hurley probably would be the queen of “Bug Fiction” or “BugPunk” as she terms it.    Bug Punk. Ugh! Does it bring on visions of creepy crawly ...

I had never heard of this novel – naturally as I do not follow YA/MG novels unless of course they are like hot-on-fire runaway international bestseller and probably has like five Hollywood studios fighting over movie rights ( The Hunger Games anyone? Or maybe…the Twilight saga?) So this came out of the blue to me – as Michael reached out to me to check if I was interested in reviewing his debut YA/Urban Fantasy book titled “Crashing Eden” – the hook was, how would it be if we regained Paradise? I jumped for it. Two reasons: a.   a.   This was going be my first foray into “Urban Fantasy” realm as I have not yet really been caught with that bug.   b.        b.This was kind of like the first ARC Copy I was getting direct from an author. A minor one, if not very instrumental, was Michael’s casual mention that the book also featured an “Indian” as a central character. It piqued my curiosity but I decided to play it profession...

You all know I had started this blog purely to keep track of my interests in speculative fiction ( of course secretly hoping that someday I become a hugely successful blogger and win the "Hugo" of SFF Book Blogs!!) But yesterday, I hit the ceiling when a newbie author reached out to me to have his book reviewed. I was ecstatic. I have no idea where Michael got my reference from, but Heehaw! I got my first "unofficial" ARC kinda copy ( ahem  it ain't ARC, but what the heck, when I am self-pimping myself to glory and gold.....) and am sitting down to finish this one. A YA/urban fantasy/cross-over - firmly speculative fiction though - with a very interesting premise to it - What happens if we were to "re-discover" the lost Paradise or Eden as its called here? told from a first person narrative, this book till now has been a fun ride though still too early for anything significant to break loose and scream "Got You!" Look forward to my re...

Today I bought my first official book from the Amazon Kindle store and am soooo thrilled !! Go ahead - Feast yourself on some blood and gore and fine piece of Fantasy writing by one of my newest hot favorites : Heroes by Joe Abercrombie Ah well, here's the KICKER - all for $1.99 :D Now I see your face light up, huh ? I accept your heartfelt undying gratitude. Go for Guts. Go for Glory. Peace!!!