Monday Morning Links and Thoughts

Via Nick Mamatas, I come across this lovely little rant. Just when I think I can't be amazed by the sheer obstinacy of people who can't take "No" for an answer, the wannabe-writer's comments along the lines of "This is MY blog and I'll say what I want!" make me long for the days of dealing with recalcitrant middle-school students still stuck in the possessive ways of young children.

Tobias Buckell and Nalo Hopkinson are two of the five finalists for the Nebula Award for Best Novel. Two most excellent novels, I might add.

Graeme wonders in his own links post what book I was referring to in my post about "show versus tell." (The answer is this: While I was thinking much more about a general tendency that I've noticed in many epic fantasies recently, the book I was reading at the time of the post was Joe Abercrombie's Before They Are Hanged. As I went on to say, the story was written well enough to make the occasional occurrences of such asides mildly irritating rather than annoying.)

Speaking of Abercrombie's second book, Neth Space reviews it. Many of his criticisms are ones that I have of the first two books of the series, but I'll write a review of it later this week, so nothing more on it until then.

Pat's Fantasy Hotlist is getting the rub from George R.R. Martin. But before Pat gets the "big head," I'm still going to tease him about needing to write more reviews (with citations), lest he starts drinking another author's Kool-Aid a bit too much ;)

Jay Tomio posts a review on FBS of Jonathan Carroll's The Wooden Sea, which I happened to read for the first time last week. Jay liked the book a slight bit more than I did, as I didn't find it to be as engaging as most of Carroll's other novels (and no, I have no plans on reviewing it at length).

The Book Swede reviews Toby Barlow's Sharp Teeth, a story told in verse that I want to read at some point in the future, because I have a weakness for stories told in verse.

FBS interview with Michael Cisco, who wrote one of my favorite books from 2007, The Traitor.

The Wertzone reviews Paul Kearney's Riding the Unicorn, which thankfully is not a furry novel.

Guest blog on The Angry Black Woman, entitled "The Privilege of Politeness."

Ambling Along the Aqueduct has a blog entry on "When is Fiction Adequate?"

John Klima shares his thoughts on genre short fiction, which includes some intriguing information regarding pay rates for novels and short stories.

Patrick Rothfuss revealed there has been yaoi fanfic written based on his characters. Which leads me to wonder if furry fanfic is next...

And on that note, I'll stop for now. I'm feeling quite ill today...

Edit: Proving that everyday life can be even more weird than the New Weird, Jeff VanderMeer posts a horrifying story/photo of birds and their shit. I still think Shatner would have protected his car, but that's just me...