BSFA Award Nominations

Okay, this is a timely reminder! After the BFS Awards discussion that has been taking place this week, it seems appropriate to remind readers of this blog that the BSFA nominations are open, enabling those members of the BSFA to nominate those works that they believe should be celebrated.

Here are all the details:

What are the BSFA Awards?

The BSFA awards are presented annually by the British Science Fiction Association, based on a vote of BSFA members and – in recent years – members of the British national science fiction convention Eastercon. They are fan awards that not only seek to honour the most worthy examples in each category, but to promote the genre of science fiction, and get people reading, talking about and enjoying all that contemporary science fiction has to offer.

The 2011 awards will be held at Olympus 2012, The 2012 Eastercon, 6th - 9th April 2012
Radisson Edwardian Hotel, Heathrow, London, UK.

Who can nominate?

You may nominate a work if YOU:
Are a member of the BSFA

AND

Send or give your nominations to the Awards Administrator to arrive by midnight on January 13th 2012.

We are officially open to receive nominations for the 2011 BSFA Awards from September 2011… but did you know you can send in your nominations now? As soon as the previous year’s ceremony is over and done with, I am happy to accept your nominations for the next year at any time. So, you don’t have to try to remember about that great story you just read, or the wonderful piece of art you just saw. Tell us about the things that impress you, and come September we’ll make sure eligible nominations are included on the list of nominated works on the website.

What are the categories?

The Best Novel award is open to any novel-length work of science fiction or fantasy that has been published in the UK for the first time in 2011. (Serialised novels are eligible, provided that the publication date of the concluding part is in 2011). If a novel has been previously published elsewhere, but it hasn't been published in the UK until 2011, it is eligible.

The Best Short Fiction award is open to any shorter work of science fiction or fantasy, up to and including novellas (40,000 words or under), first published in 2011 (in a magazine, in a book, in audio format, or any electronic or web-based format). This includes short fiction published in books and magazines published outside the UK

The Best Artwork award is open to any single science fictional or fantastic image that first appeared in 2011. Again, provided the artwork hasn't been published before 2011 it doesn't matter where it appears.

The Best Non-Fiction award is open to any written work about science fiction and/or fantasy which appeared in its current form in 2011. Whole collections comprised entirely of unrevised work that has been published elsewhere previous to 2011 are ineligible.

Subject to these other rules, you may nominate as many works in each category as you wish. You may not make multiple nominations for a single work.The shortlists for these four awards will normally comprise the five works in each category that receive the most individual nominations by the deadline. In the event of a tie for fifth place, the number of shortlisted works may be reduced to four or increased to six, for example, as appropriate. Works published by the BSFA, or in association with the BSFA, are ineligible for a BSFA award.

Not sure if the work you want to nominate fits the above criteria? Don’t worry, the definitions are kept as open as possible to allow for multifarious multimedia interpretation… if you’re not sure, just ask!

Please do not vote for your own work.

Please return your nominations to Donna Scott, BSFA Awards Administrator awards@bsfa.co.uk / 11 Stanhope Road, Northampton NN2 6JU

Got all that? Great! If you're a member of the BSFA, then get voting. Use your voice. And if you're not a member of the BSFA, then you ought to consider it. You are supporting one of the genre constitutions, and you get snazzy magazines and such throughout the year.

Personally, I'm thinking about nominating Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.

What would you nominate?

September Retrospective

A Look Back at September

This was the month where I let go of my blog for two weeks and headed away on vacation. I left you with plenty of guest posts, which looked to be received in a great way. Have to confess, I was ready to have such a long break from blogging - it did me loads of good, and helped to bring me back refreshed. Although my blogging might start to take a backseat to real life for a couple of months. My hockey season has started and I need to get back into training. My dance exam needs a LOT of practice! With all this in mind, and with the sheer number of books currently squeezed into my shelves, I have decided to decline all review copies. I simply can't do them justice and I'm way more stressed than I should be about reading. I am still reviewing - a lot of people seemed to think I was quitting altogether - but I will be choosing my own books in a guiltfree manner.

Reading

A slight dip in form, with only nine books completed, but, honestly, my two week vacation did not allow much time at all for sitting and reading.

73) Dangerous Waters by Juliet E McKenna
74) Shelter by Harlan Coben
75) Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
76) Cyber Circus by Kim Lakin-Smith
77) Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
78) Getting Away With It by Julie Cohen
79) The Portal by Alan Zendell (self-published)
80) VIII by H M Castor
81) Queen of Kings by Maria Dahvana Headley

- A little more balanced this month, with 6 books by women and 3 by men - over the year, though, the women are absolutely dominating.
- 3 YA (historical, fantasy and thriller); 1 chick lit; 1 steampunk sci fi; 1 straight sci fi and 3 fantasy.
- A terribly rare month for me where all nine novels tackled were review copies.

Best Book of September

I simply can't choose between these two books - they will be competing for which of them takes away the 'Best Book of the Year' title. The first is:

The second is:

I'm dropping the Pages Covered and Places Visited features for this month.

Plans for October

I have just now dug out all of my Black Library titles. There are a whole heap that I love the look of but have never managed to get to until now. Expect to see a large number of this featuring over the next month and onwards. Apart from that I am deliberately making no plans and just enjoying my reading!

Over To You

How did your September go? What did you read? What did you get up to? Spill!

Guest Article: Sarah Gibson on YA Books Forthcoming

Sarah Gibson is an awesome blogger friend - you can see her blog over at Feeling Fictional. We went to Hogwarts together and keep catching up at various blogger events. Sarah is the gal with the camera (and we all nick her great pictures - with her permission of course!) and she has been absolutely inspirational with her recent weight loss. Today I asked her to bring you some of the YA novels she is looking forward to for the rest of 2011.

*****

First I’d like to say a massive thank you to Amanda for inviting me to visit today, hopefully as you’re reading this she is having a wonderful time in Florida (yes I am just a tiny bit jealous lol). Amanda asked me to write a post about some of the YA books I’m most looking forward to throughout the rest of 2011. Now anyone that reads my blog will probably already know that I love a good paranormal story so I’m afraid you won’t find any contemporary YA on my list. I’m sure there are a lot of good contemps coming out but they aren’t the kind of thing that usually catch my attention.

What I tend to look for is something with a paranormal slant to it, paranormal romance, fantasy, urban fantasy and occasionally a dystopian or something historical for a change. I love to escape from reality when I’m reading, to explore new worlds and forget about real life for a bit.

So here are the books I’m most looking forward to in the coming months:

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per¬formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Since I was a child I’ve loved the circus - the sights, sounds and smells all bring back wonderful memories of exciting family outings. I’ve not really read anything set in a circus though so I’m intrigued by this one. Add in magic and a hint of romance and I’m sold!

The Night Circus is being published by Harvill Secker on the 15th of September.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

There once was a young artist called Karou who drew tales of monsters and demons that delighted and enthralled those around her.

But she has a secret, a secret that ties her to a dusty subterranean chamber, where her beloved guardian brokers dark deals in a place that is not here. A place that is Elsewhere.

Living with one foot in each world, Karou has never really known which one is her true home.

Now the doors to Elsewhere closing . . .

The buzz has been building for Daughter of Smoke and Bone for months now and I don’t think I’ve read a negative review yet. We’ve seen a lot of angels and demons this year but I have a feeling that this one will be completely different and I can’t wait to get started.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone is being published by Hodder & Stoughton on the 29th of September.

Angel Fire by L.A. Weatherly

This is the thrilling second chapter in the electrifying "Angel Trilogy". Angels will never be seen in the same way again. Gorgeous, charismatic Alex has the courage and skill of a trained Angel Killer. Unique, dazzling Willow has the beauty and power that comes with being half-angel. As the power of the malevolent Church of Angels grows, now it's up to Alex and Willow to train a new team of Angel Killers. Willow soon finds her half-angel identity met with hostility by some of the other AKs, while privately, she must wrestle with the knowledge that her father, Raziel, is a depraved, evil angel. However, while life in the AK training camp is tough, at least Alex and Willow are together. But when Alex discovers that the death of his brother and fellow Angel-Killer, Jake, was linked to a secret CIA mission to defeat the angels, he is forced to leave the camp to complete his brother's work... without Willow. Alex promised Willow he would never leave her, but with the fate of the human race at stake, destiny has ruled that Alex and Willow must be parted once more...

Angel Fire is the second book in L.A. Weatherly’s Angel trilogy and the first book Angel was one of my favourite YA reads of 2010 so I’ve been desperate to get my hands on this one for a long time now. The angels in this series are like none you will have come across before, not your usual benign beings in this series they are deadly. The first book was full of action and I loved the romance between Willow and Alex, I’m very excited to see where the twists and turns will take us in this instalment.

Angel Fire is being published by Usborne on the 1st of October.

Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick

Have you ever had the feeling that you've lived another life? Been somewhere that has felt totally familiar, even though you've never been there before, or felt that you know someone well, even though you are meeting them for the first time? It happens. In 2073 on the remote and secretive island of Blessed, where rumour has it that no one ages and no children are born, a visiting journalist, Eric Seven, and a young local woman known as Merle are ritually slain. Their deaths echo a moment ten centuries before, when, in the dark of the moon, a king was slain, tragically torn from his queen. Their souls search to be reunited, and as mother and son, artist and child, forbidden lovers, victims of a vampire they come close to finding what they've lost. In a novel comprising seven parts, each influenced by a moon - the flower moon, the harvest moon, the hunter's moon, the blood moon - this is the story of Eric and Merle whose souls have been searching for each other since their untimely parting. Beautifully imagined, intricately and cleverly structured, this is a heart-wrenching and breathtaking love story with the hallmark Sedgwick gothic touches of atmosphere, blood-spilling and sacrifice.

I was lucky enough to hear Marcus Sedgwick doing a reading from Midwinterblood at an event I attended and I think this is going to be a fantastic book. It’s a love story that spans centuries and I’m intrigued by the idea of soul mates who keep meeting again in different situations throughout the ages. The fact that the story starts in the future and then works backwards through time just makes it sound even more interesting!

Midwinterblood is being published by Orion on the 6th of October.

Darker Still by Leanna Reene Hieber

The Picture of Dorian Gray meets Pride and Prejudice, with a dash of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

New York City, 1882. Seventeen-year-old Natalie Stewart's latest obsession is a painting of the handsome British Lord Denbury. Something in his striking blue eyes calls to her. As his incredibly life-like gaze seems to follow her, Natalie gets the uneasy feeling that details of the painting keep changing...

Jonathan Denbury's soul is trapped in the gilded painting by dark magic while his possessed body commits unspeakable crimes in the city slums. He must lure Natalie into the painting, for only together can they reverse the curse and free his damaged soul.

This is the first book in Leanna Renee Hieber’s new Magic Most Foul series and has been described as a dark and gothic tale. I love stories set in the Victorian era and this one has a paranormal twist so it’s definitely my kind of read!

Darker Still is being published by Sourcebooks in November.

So that’s the books I’m most looking forward to for the rest of the year. Are any of them on your wish list? Which books are you pining for that I’ve forgotten about? I’m always happy to add more to my wish list lol.

Thanks for this, Sarah! I know that a few of these are on my wishlist already, but I hadn't even heard of Darker Still and now want to read it!

August Retrospective

A Look Back on August

I'm managed a fair amount of reading in August - mostly thanks to the horribly changeable weather that has kept me in the house the majority of the time. Where has our summer gone this year? Thankfully I have a two week holiday coming soon in Florida, and I cannot wait to feel that sun and heat... I have been trying hard to schedule blog posts for my two week absence, so that there is *plenty* to entertain you, and I have some fantastic articles and reviews lined up. This month I also managed to complete my Angry Robot reading, which has been a long process - started way back in March. I was so pleased to see some very good quality manuscripts submitted and here's hoping they get taken on by Angry Robot. In terms of other stuff - I now have a date for my dance exam. This will take place on Sunday 6th November, and I am both excited and nervous. Lots of practice between now and then. Plus the new football season has started and I was absolutely astonished to watch Manchester United crush Arsenal by 8 goals to 2. Amazing times...

Reading

I have not only replicated the mammoth reading effort of July - I have surpassed it! Fifteen books completed! Of course, some of them were only little books but every book counts, right?

Here's the list:

58) A Game of Thrones by G R R Martin
59) Earwig and the Witch by Diana Wynne Jones
60) Far From Home by Na'ima B Robert
61) Queen of Sorcery by David Eddings
62) Sea Witch by Helen Hollick (self-published)
63) Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
64) The Silver Brumby by Elyne Mitchell
65) Numbers by Rachel Ward
66) Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce
67) What the Nanny Saw by Fiona Neill
68) There is no Dog by Meg Rosoff
69) Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy
70) The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore by Benjamin Hale
71) Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
72) Bricks by Leon Jenner

- It's been mostly about the women this month! 10 books read by women and 5 by men.
- So...4 YA novels, 2 novels for the kids, 3 fantasy, 1 chick lit, 1 family saga style, 1 historical fantasy, 1 urban fantasy, and 2 that are generally unclassifiable...Another nicely mixed-up month!
- 6 were books from my own shelves and 9 were review copies.

Best Book of August

This one features as my best book because of nostalgia, because it still stands up to reading and because it's a very good coming of age children's book:

Pages Covered

And as well as being up on books read, I'm up on number of pages read this month as well! 5,993 this month compared with 5,516 last month. My ongoing total for the year is 33,078 :-). Longest book this month was A Game of Thrones (yes, epic fantasy is loooong), while the shortest was Earwig and the Witch (short but very sweet!)

Places Visited

From the Australian outback to Zimbabwe, from Chicago to Dublin - I have flitted around the world. But I have also gone to the Seven Kingdoms, Arendia and Tortall. I think of them all I would like most to spend time in Tortall. I mean, lady knights, mythical creatures and people I would love to be friends with - just so glorious...

Plans for September

I have 60-odd emails in my inbox that currently relate to reviews that I owe. That needs reducing bigtime, so I shall be trying to use September to get these down. Having said that, my reading depends so much on mood that I might start resenting these books for being novels I *have* to tackle. We'll see how I go. Oh, and have I mentioned my holiday? *grins*

Over to You

How did your August go? What did you read? What did you get up to? Spill!

July Retrospective

A Look Back on July

July has been a great month. I've torn through a huge number of books, I've discovered the joys and pitfalls of reading self-published work, and I've been on the dream blogger's away trip. The weather has been utterly abysmal here in the UK (which might have contributed to the massive amounts of reading that I've been able to get through) and I'm hoping for more from August. I'm now six weeks away from the family holiday to Florida and I am jumping around at the idea that it's now so close. Simply can't wait! My brother and I went (with Mark from My Favourite Books) to Thorpe Park this month to practice riding super scary rollercoasters, and it was a brilliant day out. I've also been watching tons of cricket - the Tests between England and India have been just awesome - but August brings back the return of Premiership football. More to get excited about. I also receive a PHONECALL, which needs capital letters - it could be the most amazing thing ever, but I'm currently in limbo waiting to hear more. Good times. Exciting times.

Reading

Somehow I managed to get through 12 books during July. Some of them were quite slender tomes, but, honestly, I'm not quite sure how I managed it! Would be nice to know how, since I'd love to replicate the effort in August *grins* I think I am just about on target to hit 100 books by the end of the year.

46) Must Be Love by Cathy Woodman
47) Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson
48) The Sweetest Thing by Cathy Woodman
49) Fulgrim by Graham McNeill
50) Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
51) The Fire Inside by Raymond Rose (self-published)
52) The Double-Edged Sword by Sarah Silverwood
53) Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K Hamilton
54) Mozart's Last Aria by Matt Rees
55) Romanitas by Sophia McDougall
56) David by Mary Hoffman
57) The Poison Diaries by Maryrose Wood

- 7 books by women, 5 by men
- 2 chick lit novels, 1 epic fantasy, 1 science fiction/tie-in worl, 1 superhero thriller, 3 YA (within that, 1 dark fantasy, 1 urban fantasy, 1 historical), 1 historical crime novel, 1 alternate history/science fiction, 1 that defies all classification. Huh, it's been a mixed up month!
- 5 of these were from my own shelves and 7 were review copies.

Best Book of July

Actually, there are a few choices. I had a great reading month, with some really awesome books. I could choose The Double-Edged Sword or Fulgrim, but, I think, this month really belongs to:

Pages Covered

A stonking 5,516 pages covered this month, with some large books lifting that total up - and my total for 2011 so far is now 27,085, which seems like a real achievement actually. That is a LOT of pages! Longest novel completed in July was Memories of Ice by a *long* way, while the shortest was The Poison Diaries, which is a very quick little read.

Places Visited

Many *grins* - from London to Talyton St George, from Genabackis to a small island near Wales. I definitely wouldn't want to be a slave in the modern day Rome of Romanitas - but I wouldn't mind staying in one of the plush villas of the aristocracy!

Plans for August

Not a lot, if I'm honest. Just more reading, and more Tor work, and more self-published work. In July I started re-reading a couple of series to review for the blog (Anita Blake and A Song of Ice and Fire) so it would be great to carry these on, and get up to date. We'll see!

Over To You

How did your July go? What did you read? What did you get up to? Spill!

June Retrospective

A Look Back on June

June has been a good month, really enjoyable. Not only did I manage to get in a week away from work, which I spent reading and not much else, I also met Mieneke and Wiebe and saw a lot of literary friends at AltFiction. I went to Alton Towers, which was ace and clearly practice for Florida in September. Reading has gone exceptionally well - and June marked my first self-published novel reviewed on Floor to Ceiling Books. Hopefully there will be many more, I know I've been inundated with requests, and been very pleased by the professionalism of those querying me.

The Kindle reading is starting to pick up - and I've managed to accumulate 71 books on it, so I had best pick it up more often!

Finally, the Open Month reading for Angry Robot books has been going apace. We've almost finished reading the partials (down to the last 100) and then I have 47 (as of today) full manuscripts to assess.

And, big news: handed in my first edited novel for Morrigan Books.

Reading

The holiday helped! I cantered through a fair number of novels this month and I'm *almost* back on track to achieve 100 books in 2011. Here are the links to the novels reviewed:

37) Magus of Stonewylde by Kit Berry
38) The Adamantine Palace by Stephen Deas
39) The Queen Must Die by K. A. S. Quinn
40) Before I Go To Sleep by S J Watson
41) Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck
42) Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
43) Sometimes It Happens by Pauline Barclay
44) Empire in Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky
45) Trust Me, I'm A Vet by Cathy Woodman

9 books! Way better than the previous couple of months!
- 6 books by women, 3 books by men
- 2 epic fantasy, 3 YA, 1 thriller and 3 chick lit - yet again, I demonstrate my inability to stick in one genre
- Of the above 3 were from my own shelves and 6 were review copies.

Best Book of June

This one is a very easy choice, considering I was absolutely blown away by:

Pages Covered

Let's just do a swift calculation! Okay, despite the fact that I read WAAAY more books than May, it wasn't all that many pages, considering the fact that most of the novels I whipped through were 400 pages and less. Page count was 3,608 in June, bringing the total pages this year to 21,569. Longest novel for June was Empire in Black and Gold, while the shortest by a fraction was The Queen Must Die.

Places Visited

Many and varied! London, India, Talyton down in Devon, the Lowlands surrounded by Kinden, Stonewylde. You would think that the place I'd want to go to myself was Stonewylde, being as it is presented as a country idyll, but it all seems a bit too secretish and cultish for me. Personally I love the idea of deepest darkest Devon.

Plans for July

Getting those Angry Robot submissions completed and wrapped up, for sure. I've been working on them on and off since March 1st, and would like to draw a line under the process - I'm sure those waiting for replies appreciate the fact as well. Apart from that, I want to try and fit in a few more self-published novels. If I have any more time, then it'll be trying to catch up with some of the series that I've let slide the last couple of years (Dresden files, Wheel of Time etc). I probably won't be getting excited about A Dance of Dragons, since I have not re-read the previous four just yet - and I don't anticipate George will be speeding up his writing any!

Over to You


How did your June go? What did you read? What did you get up to? Spill!

May Retrospective

A Look Back on May

May has been a relatively quiet month for me - I did my regular jobs, such as Malazan chapters (which are now scheduled twice a week), editing Whitechapel for Martyn Taylor and slush reading the remaining Angry Robot submissions. Other than that I've been up and down the country a few times for work and seeing friends, and enjoyed some quieter times.

Unfortunately, those quieter times seemed to coincide with a period of laissez faire attitude to reading. I couldn't seem to settle to anything! Thankfully that has now passed and I managed to get through a few books this month. In a scary fashion, Goodreads tells me I'm now five behind my target to read 100 in 2011. The pressure, the pressure!

I watched eagerly as people tweeted from BEA - and determined that, come hell or high water, I shall be there next year.

Oh, and I've been trying to get on board with using my Kindle, but it's not been an instant love affair. We're still on the third date, and the Kindle is trying to get to third base but I'm not having any of it *sigh* I'm hoping to connect soon, but I think I will only come to love it when travelling for a lengthy period. While sat in my house there are way too many paper books that I want to pick up instead!

Reading

As I say, not too many books read this month. Here are the links (where appropriate) to the books I've read:

32) The Glass Lake by Maeve Binchy
33) Hollywood Sinners by Victoria Fox
34) Sigvald by Darius Hinks
35) These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf
36) The Inheritance by Robin Hobb/Megan Lindholm (review to come once published in Vector)

- 4 books by women, and 1 by a man
- 2 fantasy, 1 bonkbuster, 1 family saga and 1 contemporary (I guess! I get lost in which genre is which *grins*)
- 1 came from my shelves, and the remaining 4 were sent for review

Best Book of May

Hmm, none of them were outstanding... I think my favourite was probably These Things Hidden, a dark yet poignant tale about motherhood and the nature of forgiveness.

Pages Covered

Slightly better than April, since I read 2,496 pages in May. The ongoing page count is now 17,961. The Glass Lake was the longest - a sprawling doorstop of a novel - while These Things Hidden was the shortest.

Places Visited

I bounced between Ireland and London, then went to the Chaos Wastes via the Six Duchies. I quite like the idea of living in a little village in Ireland, eating soda bread in the morning and being taught in a Catholic school by nuns - but I'm not too sure about everyone knowing my business!

Plans for June

By far the most exciting thing happening this month is Mieneke's visit and a day spent book shopping in That London! I really can't wait to meet the blogger behind A Fantastical Librarian in the flesh after all the chatting we've done til now online. I also have a week off work coming towards the end of this month and I'm seriously looking forward to a rest and reading through a pile of books. I might even make time for a flying visit to Alton Towers!

Over To You

How did your May go? What did you read? What did you get up to? Spill!

April Retrospective

A Look Back on April

The start of the month saw me working hard on the last part of Genre for Japan, including sending hundreds of emails and posting items that found their way to my house. Now, at the start of May, there are only a very few niggling items that I need to get on top of, and then we can call it done! I'm just a little worried about the few people who have started mentioning 'the next one....' *running scared*

I've popped that picture up at the head of the post to remind myself at a later date that the weather turned beautiful in April. We had a couple of weeks of truly glorious sunshine. I've already been to a couple of BBQs and have tan lines on my shoulders! I know that we are awful for forgetting about good weather when we have a spate of bad, so here it remains as proof. April felt like summer!

My weekends in April were just a whirlwind of social events... I took my mum to a show early in April, went on a hen party, spent time at the de Jagers watching films, and Eastercon! Awesome Eastercon! I put a post up about this already, but *cryptic* the consequences of my attending Eastercon will last for a while methinks *bounces*!

Reading

For some reason, my reading has taken a real hit lately. First it seemed I had no time at all because of Genre for Japan; then I took time out to do some intensive slush reading and help clear that; then I FAILED utterly to read the shortlisted Arthur Clarke novels (although I did read the winner, which is cool). Now I find myself in an utter reading slump and am unclear how to get out of it *sigh*

Here are links to my reviews during April:

28) The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
29) The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness
30) Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
31) Zoo City by Lauren Beukes

- so, 3 books by men (or one man, anyway) and 1 by a women
- 3 YA and 1 Urban Fantasy (or, y'know, 4 sci fi considering the Arthur C Clarke shortlist *winks*
- These four books were all purchased by me!

Best Book of April

Now here... I really can't choose. These were all five star reads for me. The Chaos Walking trilogy is vital and utterly unforgettable, while Zoo City is unique and very much of the moment. All four books were simply brilliant, so I am not even going to try and differentiate. All I will say is that this month was all about the quality, rather than the quantity!

Pages Covered

A brisk canter through a mere 2,040 pages for this month - certainly not my highest number in a month so far... It makes the ongoing page count for the year 15,465. The longest book by quite a margin was Monsters of Men while the shortest was Zoo City (although I wish that one were longer!)

Places Visited

Mostly Prentisstown, New Prentisstown (formerly Haven) and Johannesburg for me! None of them seem the most pleasant places to live, so I'll stick where I am this month, thank you very much!

Plans for May

Tis time to rediscover that love of reading. As I say, going through a reading slump right now - can't pick any books to read, then when I do manage to choose one, it doesn't sustain my interest past the first twenty pages or so. Which means it's time to read for pleasure - you'll be getting a number of chick lit/children's book reviews this month, I suspect (my go-to of choice when I'm feeling rotten in terms of reading - nothing challenging!)

Over To You

Tell me everything about your April!

March Retrospective

A Look Back on March

This month went tits up, to be frank, where my time management and jobs and reading were concerned. And all because of one all-consuming and entirely satisfying job - that being Genre for Japan. I've made mention of it a few times on the blog and it has entirely taken over my life. I can't tell you how proud of myself I am right now for being part of the team that got it off the ground. We've raised over £8,000 so far with a few days to go, and that is just tremendous and real testament to the community spirit we actually have in the speculative fiction collective! I've also cast my eye over more than 100 partial manuscripts in my Angry Robot slush reading role. And I've been busy with editing two novels. All of this has pushed the reading to one side, rather, which always makes me a little sad but sometimes other things just come first!

I'm now spending a deserved three days off in the absolutely stunning environment of Herm Island, with Ms Alex Bell. We are here for a murder mystery weekend, but honestly it's a chance to catch up somewhat with reading, blog posts, slush reading, commitments. I'm recharging my batteries for the month of April, which is looking to be overwhelmingly busy!

Reading

Here is a list of the books I completed in March (with links to the reviews):

23) French Relations by Fiona Walker
24) Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson
25) Well Groomed by Fiona Walker
26) Black Halo by Sam Sykes
27) Kiss and Tell by Fiona Walker

A quick breakdown...

- 2 books by men, 3 books by women (or, rather, a woman!)
- Heavy on the bonkbusters with three... Two epic fantasy novels.
- 3 of these were from mine own shelves and two of them were sent to me as review copies.

Best Book of March

Pages Covered

Might have only been five books, but these three contained a mammoth amount of pages! I covered 4,154 which is more than the pages contained in the NINE books from February. My running total for the year is now 13,425. The longest book this month was Kiss and Tell by Fiona Walker, while the shortest - although not by much - was Black Halo by Sam Sykes.

Places Visited

I've spent a delicious summer in the Loire Valley, been kicking around various pretty Cotswold villages and spending a great deal of time on a very strange island called Teji. I think I would most like to go to that chateau in the Loire - lazy afternoons reading by the pool, with a glass of wine by my side.

Plans for April

It's all about Mr Clarke this month - I haven't yet made a dent in the six book shortlist, and am still determined to read them all. With that in mind, I'm going to keep this short and sweet and go pick up a book *grins*

Over to You

How many books have you read this month? What were your favourites? Any particular plans for April?

February Retrospective

A Look Back on February

It's been an odd month - and a long one (ironically, considering it is the shortest month of the year!) I've felt a little bit persecuted by various parties on the Internet. When you're constantly used as an example in posts that a blogger marks 'silliness' it makes you wonder whether you'll ever get anything right. It has been a month of various Internet bust ups and incivility and blasts of hot air from different parties. Not a pleasant environment, and leaves me feeling rather sick in the stomach. So I have taken solace in the wonderful friends I have made - those who don't worry about cliques or ARCs or what should/shouldn't be done on blogs. Can I give a great big shout out to Liz, Mieneke, Sam, Ole, and Sarah? Your messages of support came at a really good time and released me from the downward spiral of trying to please everyone. Offline the best part of my life BY FAR has been my dance lessons - if I could afford to go every single day, I totally would. I love the company of my dance instructor, I love learning the proper way to do all the steps, I love having something so tangible to work towards. I've been up to London a few times this month as well, which has been good fun and an opportunity to catch up with various people. I am sincerely looking forward to March, though - new month, fresh start.

Reading

Here is a list of the books I completed in February (with links to the reviews):

14) The 13 Treasures by Michelle Harrison
15) A Girl's Guide to Kissing Frogs by Victoria Clayton
16) Vampirates: Demons of the Ocean by Justin Somper
17) Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
18) Withering Tights by Louise Rennison
19) Snapped by Pamela Klaffke
20) Belle's Song by K M Grant
21) King Arthur: Dragon's Child by M K Hume
22) Long Reach by Peter Cocks

So, a quick breakdown...

- 3 books by men; 6 books by women (so far in 2011 I've read way more books by women, might switch that around for March)
 - A real mixed bag in terms of genre: 2 books I'd consider for children, but at very different ends of the spectrum; 3 YA that cover fantasy, thriller and historical; a horror; 2 chick lit; 1 historical. I didn't settle at all to one particular genre this month!
 - I was clearing a backlog: 2 of these are library books, but the rest are review copies. None from my shelves this month.

Best Book of February

Pages Covered

The nine books in February came to a rather slight total of 3,632 pages after a few thin books read in February. Add this to January's total and my running total for the year is 9,271 pages. The longest book this month was A Girl's Guide to Kissing Frogs, while the shortest by a very clear margin was Belle's Song.

Places Visited

Well, it's time for me to head back to a secondary world, clearly, since all of my novels this month took place in some incarnation of earth - either a historical version, or a futuristic version, or a right now version! On earth, I went to Canterbury, and Canada, and Yorkshire amongst others. I would most like to live in Conrad's house in A Girl's Guide to Kissing Frogs - a truly spectacular and down at heel mansion in Northumberland.

Plans for March

Well, the biggest plan for March is World Book Night, coming up this weekend! I will be giving away 48 copies of Dissolution in various different ways that I have had great pleasure in coming up with *grins* I also have a couple of London visits to fit in - a dinner with Deborah Harkness, and a pre-publication event for Department 19 and Will Hill. In non-book news I have another Come Dine With Me evening with hockey pals, and my eldest nephew's birthday to look forward to, amongst other things. Reading wise I want to finish Dancing Jax, which I started today. I will be reading Embedded definitely as well, for Vector Reviews.

But March is mostly given over, in terms of reading, to these tasks:

- completing the editing on Whitechapel, for Morrigan Books
- beta reading a completed novel for a good friend
- slush reading (!)
- tackling the Arthur C Clarke shortlist once it is announced on Friday 4th March

March is looking busy, y'all!

Over to You

How many books have you read this month? What were your favourites? Any particular plans for March?