(Not So) Lazy Linkage

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While we've been really lazy for the last couple of weeks (posting-wise), that doesn't mean that our friends and colleagues from around the blogosphere took the same liberty. There is a lot of interesting stuff going on in the realms of speculative fiction, so I decided not to direct you towards everything that would otherwise deserve your attention; but I'll cull the selection down to the things that piqued-my-interest the most:
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Fantasy Book Critic reviewed Greg Keyes' short story collection “Hounds of Ash: and other Tales of Fool Wolf” (released on April 3, 2008, in US). Greg Keyes is renown for his Kingdom of Thorne and Bone series, that are often compared to GRRM’s A Song of Ice and Fire in style and setting. “Hounds of Ash…” sounds like a very promising collection of old-school sword & sorcery adventures reminiscent of R.E. Howard’s “Conan the Barbarian” and Moorcock’s “Elric of Melniboné”. But what really got me interested in the book is the beautiful cover art by Julie Dillon (gallery). I think I found a new Eye Candy Cover (pt.VI)...
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If this was a competition than the second place would go to Liz Williams’ new Inspector Chen novel – “The Shadow Pavilion”. The art was contributed by Jon Foster (gallery)
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Neal Stephenson’s new book, “Anathem”, is coming out in September. Check out A Dribble of Ink for more info.
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If you are a Malazan fan (there are few who aren’t) then the new Malazan artwork from the Subterranean Press “Gardens of the Moon” limited edition might interest you. Pat from Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist also reviewed the forthcoming “Return of the Crimson Guard” by Ian C. Esslemont, his sophomore effort in the Epic (yes, epic with a capital E) Malazan universe. While browsing the net I also stumbled upon Tattersail’s DeviantArt gallery, where there are some nifty illustrations portraying the characters and the events from the Malazan world exhibited. And while Tattersail’s art is not always the most professional, I believe that her interpretations and choice of themes are quite distinct and original (example: Lady Envy and the Sheguleh).
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Adam from The Wertzone reviewed one of my all-time favorites – “Hyperion” by Dan Simmons. Fantastic book.
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Sara from Jumpdrives & Cantrips got back from her short “hiatus” with some serious style and served us with another great review. She was dissecting a legend worthy of its name – Robert A. Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers”.
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Speculative Horizons posted a review of “The Red Wolf Conspiracy” that walks pretty much the same lane as Blindman’s assessment of one of this year’s fallen angels.
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Are you interested in free books?

• Cory Doctorow’s excellent YA sf novel “Little Brother” (via Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist)
• The sequel trilogy -- collected in the omnibus entitled "Books of the South: Tales of the Black Company" -- to one of the best fantasy books I’ve had the privilege to read…"Chronicles of The Black Company" (review) (via Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review)
• The Book Swede is giving away ARC of “Bloodheir” by Brian Ruckley (enter the competition), whose debut, "Winterbirth", was lauded as one of the best fantasy books in the last couple of years. You can read Trin’s review of “Winterbirth” here and John’s review of the sequel, "Blood Heir", on his blog – Grasping the Wind. (via The Book Swede & His Blog)
• Win a set of Jay Lake's "Mainspring" & "Escapement" (via Fantasy Book Critic)

---SF Reviews.net on "Mainspring":
"Mainspring is a grand and glorious adventure, an epic journey of imagination the likes of which I haven't often seen..." (more)

Paul Kearney is an excellent (fantasy) writer, but sadly overlooked by the wider audience and vastly oversold by the likes of Gail Z Martin, Trudi Canavan, Karen Miller and other, in my opinion, less deserving writers. His latest book, “The Ten Thousand” -- loosely based on the Greek legend of “Ten Thousand” mercenary soldiers, hired by the Persian prince to wrest the throne of the Persian Empire from his brother -- is being released early in September by Solaris Books. I’m doing my best to lay my hands on an advanced reading copy...so you can expect a review of the book in the (near) future. To sate your curiosity until then, read an article on Kearney at Speculative Horizons.
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Rob (Rob’s Blog o’ Stuff) really enjoyed T.A. Pratt’s “Blood Engines”, a novel he categorizes as Supernatural Fantasy / Modern Day Sorcerer.
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And while I'm mentioning the “supernatural” side of the fantasy genre, you can also take a peek at Tia’s interview with Jennifer Rardin, author of the popular Jaz Parks series, back at Fantasy Debut blog.
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If you are more deeply interested in the genre machinations you should check out SFSignal’s latest Mind Meld article; the title is self explanatory – Which Medium is Driving Science Fiction…Books of Film/TV? The Question is tackled by many prominent names in the science fiction genre (John Scalzi, Joe R. Lansdale, Lucius Shepard, Mike Resnick etc.). SFSignal also has a nice and all-encompassing review of 2008 Hugo award short fiction nominees availabe here.
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Last but not least, Larry (OF Blog of the Fallen) kick-started a heated debate on ASoIaF forum, questioning the premise that “the latest is also the greatest” - talking about debut efforts and (the veracity of) hype that builds around new authors – link. Larry also pointed out to me a brand new YA fantasy author that I’m sure to be keeping an eye on – D.M. Cornish. I implore you to read Larry’s thoughts on Colonialism, Hegemony, and Fantasy as well.

Joe Sherry from Adventures in Reading gives you an extra reason not to dismiss YA fiction. If you think that you are too mature to read YA then you need to check out "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld.
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Lazy Linkage? I don't think so :)
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~ Thrinidir ~