Sunday 2 September 2018

Five quick fantasy thoughts from the week

1) Working through my backlog of as yet unread kindle books, I came across the sampler from Sigil Independent. I've been meaning to check out some of their authors but never really got round to it, so I cracked it open little expecting to find some really awesome Choose Your Own Adventure fiction right at the front. I'm not sure everyone else reading this will have the same deep nostalgia for CYOA and Fighting Fantasy that I do, but anyone who does should get the sampler for those reasons alone.

2) A few posts here and there on various forums have made me start wondering what sort of reader I am. Some people view skim readers with suspicion, yet I know I definitely indulge in that from time to time. I'm fairly sure I'm not really that suspicious. I've also been told I should take more than a few pages before deciding whether I like a book - maybe, but I know that when I ignore my gut instinct that the author's vision won't match my preferences, I'm usually wasting my time. What do my readerly instincts up to? Has anyone tried to classify readers, working out what makes them tick and what styles marry up to those preferences? And would it even be a good idea.

3) Back to theme of kindle backlogs, and I've got a good idea on how to make yours even bigger. Eli Freysson is giving away his entire The Call series for the next few days, so if anyone's looking to grab some bloodsoaked monster hunting fantasy for their reading list, now is a very good time to do so.

4) And speaking of northern strongmen, I was recently reminded of a post on Best Fantasy Books (by Allan Batchelder, I believe) that nailed the real true overused trope in fantasy: northern barbarians. I think I'm going to do a bunch of posts in the future looking at these sorts of trope. If anyone thinks they've noticed another overused trope that somehow flies under the radar, please let me know!

5) Final shout out for a friend. Bryan Wigmore's The Empyreus Proof was released on kindle recently (with paperback to come). I was lucky enough to beta the book and its a very worthy sequel to one of my favourite books of last year. I'll be reviewed it here soon, but if anyone here trusts me (hahaha, you fools!), I'd go get it now rather than waiting for the review.

p.s.

6) Shortly after publishing this, I found out RJ Barker's Age of Assassins is *still* available for 99p. This makes no sense to me. None. I urge you all to take part of this act of foolishness now. Scroll down to the recent review to see why.

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