The Week in Review

Welcome to the week in review! Every Friday, we comb through the links and images we found and shared this week, and pull the very best for this post. Consider it concentrated genre goodness from all around the web.

• Author Brian Staveley reveals how he felt on first seeing the cover to his upcoming novel, The Emperor’s Blades, by artist Richard Anderson. We can’t wait to read it!

• Microsoft and Steven Spielberg have teamed up to create a live-action Halo TV show.

• Have you seen the new Man of Steel trailer? The movie’s looking better and better!

• Astronaut Sally Ride has been posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. We think it’s well-deserved – and about time!

• More TV news this week: there’s a new animated Star Wars series coming! We miss Clone Wars, but we’re excited for this new one as well.

• Matt Smith and David Tennant are teaming up for the 50th Anniversary Doctor Who special, and they sat down to do an adorable interview together.

 
And, just to make Friday that much sweeter, here’s a list of sweepstakes and sales we have going on!

• The Ultimate Urban Fantasy Sweepstakes (Ends 5/31)
• Goodreads First Reads: Sea Change by S. M. Wheeler (Ends 5/29)
• Goodreads First Reads: Solstice by P.J. Hoover (Ends 5/29)
• Goodreads Giveaway: The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (Ends 5/29)
• eBook Sale: The Hum and the Shiver, by Alex Bledsoe, is on sale for $2.99 (Ends 6/7)
• Goodreads First Reads: Thieves’ Quarry by D. B. Jackson (Ends 6/12)
• eBook Sale: Lamentation, by Ken Scholes, is on sale for $2.99 (Ends 6/14)
• eBook Sale: Building Harlequin’s Moon, by Larry Niven and Brenda Cooper, is on sale for $2.99 (Ends 6/21)
• Goodreads First Reads: Drift by Jon McGoran (Ends 6/21)

The Week in Review

Welcome to the week in review! Every Friday, we comb through the links and images we found and shared this week, and pull the very best for this post. Consider it concentrated genre goodness from all around the web.

 

• Astronaut Chris Hadfield made a strong showing to be crowned King of Space before he returned to Earth earlier this week. Case in point? Check him out singing David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” in space.

• Book Expo America is at the end of the month, and we’ll be there! Here’s our schedule of panels and author signings – come say hi!

• Tor.com is starting a reread of Glen Cook’s Black Company series! To get the ball rolling, the first ebook, The Black Company, is on sale for $2.99.

• There’s a new, longer trailer for the upcoming S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show! We’re really excited about this one. You?

• Congratulations to the nominees for the John W. Campbell Award! Especially to the Tor authors nominated: David Brin, Cory Doctorow, Charles Stross, and Hannu Rajaniemi.

• Ta’veren Tees is currently donating 10% of the proceeds for its new Challenge Coin to the Wounded Warrior Project, in honor of Robert Jordan’s military service. A beautiful item that benefits a great cause. Thanks, Ta’veren Tees!

 
And, just to make Friday that much sweeter, here’s a list of sweepstakes and sales we have going on!

• The Ultimate Urban Fantasy Sweepstakes (Ends 5/31)
• Goodreads First Reads: The Navigator by Michael Pocalyko (Ends 5/22)
• Goodreads First Reads: The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson (Ends 5/22)
• Goodreads First Reads: Sea Change by S. M. Wheeler (Ends 5/29)
• Goodreads First Reads: Solstice by P.J. Hoover (Ends 5/29)
• Goodreads Giveaway: The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (Ends 5/29)
• eBook Sale: The Hum and the Shiver, by Alex Bledsoe, is on sale for $2.99 (Ends 6/7)
• Goodreads First Reads: Thieves’ Quarry by D. B. Jackson (Ends 6/12)
• eBook Sale: Lamentation, by Ken Scholes, is on sale for $2.99 (Ends 6/14)
• eBook Sale: Building Harlequin’s Moon, by Larry Niven and Brenda Cooper, is on sale for $2.99 (Ends 6/21)

The Week in Review

Welcome to the week in review! Every Friday, we comb through the links and images we found and shared this week, and pull the very best for this post. Consider it concentrated genre goodness from all around the web.
 

 

• The trailer for Ender’s Game is here!

• In addition to the trailer, check out an interview with star Asa Butterfield as he talks about his space camp regimen.

• Congratulations to all the 2013 Locus Award finalists!

• Help send David Brin to Mars!

• The Los Angeles Times blog Jacket Copy dug into their archives and found a great video featuring Harlan Ellison, Isaac Asimov, and Studs Terkel in conversation.

• I would pay money to see a full movie version of this: Star Wars Episode VII: Return of the Junior Jedi.

• The nominees for the 2012 Shirley Jackson Awards have been announced! Congratulations in particular to Tor’s own Brian Evenson and his novel Immobility.

 
The Tor/Forge newsletter went out this week! Check out these fascinating articles from our authors:

• Four Songs for Stealing Planets by Dan Krokos
• Changing the World by Susan Palwick
• Genre Identity Crisis by Paul Cornell

 
And, just to make Friday that much sweeter, here’s a list of sweepstakes and sales we have going on!

• The Ultimate Urban Fantasy Sweepstakes (Ends 5/31)
• Goodreads First Reads: Sandstorm by Alan L. Lee (Ends 5/13)
• Waiting on Wednesday: Solstice by P. J. Hoover (Ends 5/14)
• Goodreads First Reads: Requiem by Ken Scholes (Ends 5/15)
• Goodreads First Reads: The Navigator by Michael Pocalyko (Ends 5/22)
• Goodreads First Reads: The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson (Ends 5/22)
• Goodreads First Reads: Sea Change by S. M. Wheeler (Ends 5/29)
• Goodreads First Reads: Solstice by P.J. Hoover (Ends 5/29)
• Goodreads Giveaway: The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (Ends 5/29)
• eBook Sale: The Hum and the Shiver, by Alex Bledsoe, is on sale for $2.99 (Ends 6/7)
• eBook Sale: Lamentation, by Ken Scholes, is on sale for $2.99 (Ends 6/14)
• eBook Sale: Building Harlequin’s Moon, by Larry Niven and Brenda Cooper, is on sale for $2.99 (Ends 6/21)

The Week in Review

Welcome to the week in review! Every Friday, we comb through the links and images we found and shared this week, and pull the very best for this post. Consider it concentrated genre goodness from all around the web.

 

• A ten second teaser of the Ender’s Game movie trailer has been released! Plus, here’s an interview with Brandon Soo Hoo, who plays Fly Molo.

• Congratulations to Hank Phillippi Ryan, whose novel The Other Woman won the Mary Higgins Clark Award! And congratulations as well to Ralph Peters, whose Cain at Gettysburg won the W. Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction!

• Kotaku brings up the possibility of…an EVE Online tv show. What do you think?

• Want to get trivia and exclusive info on Brandon Sanderson? Sign up here or text EPIC to 555111.

• Author Hilary Davidson chose her favorite independent book stores while out on tour. Did any of your favorites make the list?

• D. B. Jackson, the author of Thieftaker, has set up a fundraiser to benefit the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing.

• Over on Tor.com, Emily has been knocking it out of the park lately. Her recent article on the endurance of Lt. Uhura is another great example.

• I’m sure I’m not the only one who found this both disturbing and fascinating: they’ve found evidence of cannibalism at the Jamestown colony.

 
And, just to make Friday that much sweeter, here’s a list of sweepstakes and sales we have going on!

• The Ultimate Urban Fantasy Sweepstakes (Ends 5/31)
• Goodreads First Reads: Sold for Endless Rue by Madeleine E. Robins (Ends 5/6)
• Goodreads Giveaway: A Dog’s Journey by W. Bruce Cameron (Ends 5/7)
• Goodreads First Reads: Sandstorm by Alan L. Lee (Ends 5/13)
• Goodreads First Reads: Requiem by Ken Scholes (Ends 5/15)
• Goodreads First Reads: The Navigator by Michael Pocalyko (Ends 5/22)
• Goodreads First Reads: The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson (Ends 5/22)
• Goodreads First Reads: Sea Change by S. M. Wheeler (Ends 5/29)
• Goodreads First Reads: Solstice by P.J. Hoover (Ends 5/29)
• Goodreads Giveaway: The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (Ends 5/29)
• eBook Sale: The Hum and the Shiver, by Alex Bledsoe, is on sale for $2.99 (Ends 6/7)
• eBook Sale: Lamentation, by Ken Scholes, is on sale for $2.99 (Ends 6/14)
• eBook Sale: Building Harlequin’s Moon, by Larry Niven and Brenda Cooper, is on sale for $2.99 (Ends 6/21)

The Hum and the Shiver eBook is now on sale for $2.99

Alex Bledsoe’s Wisp of a Thing, the latest in the Tufa series, is due out on June 18. This month we are making it easy to get started with the series by releasing the first ebook, The Hum and the Shiver, for only $2.99.*

About The Hum and the Shiver: No one knows where the Tufa came from, or how they ended up in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee, yet when the first Europeans arrived, they were already there. Dark-haired, enigmatic, and suspicious of outsiders, the Tufa live quiet lives in the hills and valleys of Cloud County. While their origins may be lost to history, there are clues in their music—hints of their true nature buried in the songs they have passed down for generations.

Private Bronwyn Hyatt returns from Iraq wounded in body and in spirit, only to face the very things that drove her away in the first place: her family, her obligations to the Tufa, and her dangerous ex-boyfriend. But more trouble lurks in the mountains and hollows of her childhood home. Cryptic omens warn of impending tragedy, and a restless “haint” lurks nearby, waiting to reveal Bronwyn’s darkest secrets. Worst of all, Bronwyn has lost touch with the music that was once a vital part of her identity.

With death stalking her family, Bronwyn will need to summon the strength to take her place among the true Tufa and once again fly on the night winds. . . .

The Hum and the Shiver is a Kirkus Reviews Best of 2011 Science Fiction & Fantasy title.

*sale ends June 7

Grab Bag Sweepstakes

Our bookshelves are a little overcrowded right now and we need to make room for new books arriving soon. So, we thought we’d make room by offering up books and more to you! Comment below to enter for a chance to win this prize pack:

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. You must be 18 or older and a legal resident of the 50 United States or D.C. to enter. Promotion begins April 25, 2013 at 2:00 p.m. ET. and ends April 30, 2013, 12:00 p.m. ET. Void in Puerto Rico and wherever prohibited by law. Please see full details and official rules go here. Sponsor: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

Starred Kirkus Review: Wisp of a Thing by Alex Bledsoe

“This beautifully handled drama of Appalachian music and magic once again comes complete with fascinating characters, a persuasive setting and intriguing complications. Bledsoe’s on a roll.”

Wisp of a Thing, by Alex Bledsoe, gets a starred review in Kirkus Reviews!*

Here’s the full review, from the April 15 issue:

 Another tale of Cloud County, Tenn., and its eldritch inhabitants: the dark-haired, dark-skinned Tufa (The Hum and the Shiver, 2011).

When musician Rob Quillen made it to the final stages of a network talent show, the producers insisted on flying in his girlfriend, Anna, but she was killed when her plane crashed, leaving Rob devastated. Then a mysterious stranger advised him to look in Tufa country for a song carved in stone to ease his desolation. With his Hispanic heritage, Rob looks like one of the Tufa, although he has not a drop of Tufa blood. Still, one of the locals invites him to an evening of Tufa music, where he’s astounded at the skill and power of their playing. Later, he tries to strike up a conversation with one of the players, Rockhouse Hicks, a supremely malevolent old man who occupies a chair outside the post office, and nearly gets beaten to a pulp for his pains. He’s rescued from further assault by Bliss Overbay, a Tufa First Daughter and EMT technician. To Bliss’ astonishment, after his head injury, Rob can now see the graveyards of the Tufa, which only Tufa should be able to do, and even read the inscriptions on the tombstones. Rob begins to grasp that there are undercurrents here beyond his comprehension—especially when he hears the eerie cries of a feral girl running in the woods. The girl, Curnen, has been cursed: When the last leaf falls from the Widow’s Tree, she will lose the last of her humanity. Bliss is faced with a terrible dilemma: By Tufa law, she may disclose nothing to outsiders, yet clearly Rob was brought here for a purpose.

This beautifully handled drama of Appalachian music and magic once again comes complete with fascinating characters, a persuasive setting and intriguing complications. Bledsoe’s on a roll.

Wisp of a Thing will be published on June 18th.

*Kirkus Reviews is a subscription-only website.

Spring Cleaning Sweepstakes

Our bookshelves are a little overcrowded right now and we need to make room for new books arriving soon. So, we thought we’d make room by offering up books and more to you! You can win one of the two collections pictured below. Enter by commenting and letting us know which collection you’d like to win most:

COLLECTION #1:

Collection #1 includes: A Memory of Light backpack filled with The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis, Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente, Redshirts by John Scalzi, The Sunless Countries by Karl Schroeder, Off Armageddon Reef by David Weber, A Memory of Light iPhone case, 1 Wheel of Time hookmark, and a Makers tile card game.

COLLECTION #2:

Collection #2 includes: A Memory of Light backpack filled with Honeyed Words by J.A. Pitts, Among Others by Jo Walton, The Hum and the Shiver by Alex Bledsoe, In a Fix by Linda Grimes, The Court of the Air by Stephen Hunt, A Memory of Light iPhone case, 1 Wheel of Time hookmark, and a Makers tile card game.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. You must be 18 or older and a legal resident of the 50 United States or D.C. to enter. Promotion begins March 4, 2013 at 9:00 a.m. ET. and ends March 8, 2013 12:00 p.m. ET. Void in Puerto Rico and wherever prohibited by law. Please see full details and official rules go here. Sponsor: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

Memory of Light Backpack Sweepstakes

We are offering the chance to win one of five Memory of Light backpacks! Each backpack will include a copy of Forge of Darkness by Steven Erikson, Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, Imager by L.E. Modesitt, Jr., Farlander by Col Buchanan, The Sword-Edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe, Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear, and Shadow and Betrayal by Daniel Abraham.

And you’ll get this A Memory of Light iPhone cover too:

Comment below to enter for a chance to win.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. You must be 18 or older and a legal resident of the 50 United States or D.C. to enter. Promotion begins January 7, 2013 at 9:30 a.m. ET. and ends January 11, 2013, 12:00 p.m. ET. Void in Puerto Rico and wherever prohibited by law. Please see full details and official rules go here. Sponsor: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

Memory of Light Backpack Sweepstakes

We are offering the chance to win one of five Memory of Light backpacks! Each backpack will include a copy of Forge of Darkness by Steven Erikson, Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, Imager by L.E. Modesitt, Jr., The Sword-Edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe, Elfland by Freda Warrington, and Shadow and Betrayal by Daniel Abraham. Comment below to enter for a chance to win.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. You must be 18 or older and a legal resident of the 50 United States or D.C. to enter. Promotion begins November 14, 2012 at 10 a.m. ET. and ends November 21, 2012, 12:00 p.m. ET. Void in Puerto Rico and wherever prohibited by law. Please see full details and official rules go here. Sponsor: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.