Currently Reading...

[Nick]

(No spoilers, please!)

The Barbed Coil by J.V.Jones. I've been meaning to get round to this for ages. A secondary world fantasy, written after her relatively YA first trilogy Book of Words and before her latest excellent ongoing Sword of Shadows series. There are some gruesome scenes but they are just there. She can do tough and gritty without having to brag about it. As ever with her, her eye for detail and descriptive powers shine through, both without and what's going on inside a character. As does her creative intelligence. You feel like you are journeying along with the lucid skill of her writer's mind. She draws you in so well in supension of disbelief and then you can step back and admire the artistry involved. Like Chapter 3, just superbly structured, everything leading up to its last sentence. And she writes like a dream:

The sound of the sea grew louder, the light wavered once, then died. Blood formed a lacework upon pumic-pale flesh, as five golden barbs etched their secrets upon the bone.

Writing like that excites me! Beautiful cadences. Nor does it detract from what is going on, it adds to it. It would be a sad literary world if all the colour was sucked out of it and we were given nothing but clear pane of glass prose.

[Nick]

Excellent stuff! Yes, Sanderson's profile has rocketed since he was chosen to complete WoT. He has always been very forthcoming on his website/blog about his writing process, too. Including the whole WoT process and the re-read he did of the whole lot. Haven't got to him yet! I have Elantris to read.

Mentioning the late great David Gemmell: have you joined and voted on the DGLA website yet, Eoz?! First winner of the award will be announced at a special inaugural ceremony in London in June!

[drosdelnoch]

Good to hear, work reading wise, currently got about five or six on the go.

[Brian Rathbone]

Ah. I remember The Barbed Coil. If I recall correctly it was a refreshing change from what I'd been reading at the time. Hope you enjoy it.

When I a haven't been writing or promoting, I've been working my way through Glen Cook's Cruel Wind. I picked it up at the World Fantasy Convention in 2007 and have been meaning to get around to it.

[Andrew Warwick]

I'm currently working my way through The Complete Chronicles of Conan by Robert. E. Howard. Felt the need for a bit of pulp goodness, and as a bit of inspiration for a few short stories that are in the works, when i am not working on the main story.

[Liz]

Currently reading: The Devil's Kiss by Sarwat Chadda - a young adult urban fantasy - it's going to be good, people! Basically Buffy for the UK, but without the hang-ups on vamps. Instead the Angel of Death wants to tear her head off...nice!

[Andrew Guile]

Dawnthief by James Barclay - good so far.

[Milton Davis]

Devices and Designs by K.J. Parker. This is a prime example of a cover selling the book. Every time I browsed through the sci/fi -fantasy section of Barnes and Noble the cover caught my eye. I just started and I like what I'm reading.

[Mark Robson]

Currently reading Villain.net by Andy Briggs. Written for the YA market, this is a clever concept where the same story is written in two separate series of books, but seen from the opposite viewpoint. The Hero.com series tells the story from the viewpoint of the good guys, and Villain.net ... well that's pretty obvious really. You can choose whether to read one side or the other, or both. It doesn't matter. The websites in the stories allow certain individuals to download a variety of superpowers through the net that they can use for a limited time - a most interesting idea that has caught the interest of the cartoon makers. Cartoon Network are currently developing this into a new series for their station.

I'm about three quarters of the way through the first book seen from the bad guys' viewpoint and it's easy to read, with lots of comic book style action. Great stuff for youngsters - fast and furious. World domination, hollowed out volcanoes, all the classic Bond supervillain stuff with added superpowers - great!

[Mark]

Drood: Dan Simmons.

The last days of Charles Dickens, as told by the unreliable narrative of Wilkie Collins. Wonderful stuff: literate, scary. There are some minor inaccuracies, and it is way way too long. But it is fantastic, in all senses of the word.

[Joe Holmes]

I'm currently reading a Clash of Kings, (George RR Martin). I have the rest of the series to read so now that I have some time should have got through them all by June ( Although I am finding it a quick read as was A Game of Thrones).

And a used copy of Tigana drop through the letterbox yesterday, so will read this after.

[Andrew Guile]

Both are very good indeed. I love the Song of Ice and Fire series (albeit a but long in the tooth now due to delays) and anything by Gavriel Kay gets my vote.

[CorLynn]

Working my way through the Wheel of Time series, perhaps a little more slowly because I am always reading three or four books at the same time, but I really love it so far. I am a sucker for meticulous world-building.