One more day to wait.

Charging the Kindle.

(04-07-2017 10:18 AM)TigerBill Wrote:  

(04-07-2017 07:22 AM)JTiger Wrote:  

(03-22-2017 03:18 PM)TigerBill Wrote:  

(03-22-2017 02:25 PM)airric2255 Wrote:  Gunmetal Gray by Mark Greaney (if you like the Jason Bourne type novels). Nice that Mark is a Memphian, born and raised.

I'll second this. The Grey Man series is excellent.

I think he's also continuing the Jack Ryan series for Tom Clancy who passed away. Still really good books.

What is your book called TigerBill? Is it available on Amazon Kindle?

Thanks for asking! Check your PM.

Can you PM also with your books? Need something else to read better than nursing Ceu's.

(04-20-2017 09:02 AM)Claw Wrote:  One more day to wait.

Charging the Kindle.

I'm stoked! I hope you love it.

We set a lofty pre-sale total that we wanted to hit, and as of 9 am today we hit it. Lengthy book tour as well. Look for yourself in the 3rd epilogue.

(03-29-2017 09:21 AM)bmcgee81 Wrote:  I'll read anything Sci-Fi so I'm going to have to check some of these out. Just finished 2001: A Space Odyssey (puts the movie in a whole new perspective) and Journey to the Center of the Earth. Going back to light reading and starting the Star Wars: Darth Bane trilogy

Yea you're right. When I was a young guy I saw the movie a couple of times but didn't get some of what was going on. So I read the book and it was very clear. Enjoyed the book so much more than the movie. Arthur C. Clarke's books are interesting reads.

Stealing From God: Why Atheists Need God to Make Their Case
Dr. Frank Turek

Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi. Pretty good sci-fi about an empire that's falling due to being cut off from each other. A good Dune feel.

If you like historical fiction, anything by Bernard Cornwell is good. He covers many different eras.
The beginning of the 100 year war, in the Holy Grail series.
The Napoleanic wars, in the Sharpe Series.
The great heathen army and Alfred the Great reclaiming and forging England in the Saxon Tales.
And many more.

If you enjoy fantasy I can recommend quite a few great authors and books, similar to the Game of Thrones, but I won't bother unless asked since fantasy really doesn't have a huge following.

(04-20-2017 04:36 PM)nomad2u2001 Wrote:  Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi. Pretty good sci-fi about an empire that's falling due to being cut off from each other. A good Dune feel.

Scalzi is excellent.

(04-20-2017 06:53 PM)TigerBill Wrote:  

(04-20-2017 04:36 PM)nomad2u2001 Wrote:  Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi. Pretty good sci-fi about an empire that's falling due to being cut off from each other. A good Dune feel.

Scalzi is excellent.

He is. I can't get enough of stories that get into the intricacies of politics and the "business of doing business" in a particular universe. I have a hard time finding these things in books.

(04-20-2017 11:52 PM)nomad2u2001 Wrote:  

(04-20-2017 06:53 PM)TigerBill Wrote:  

(04-20-2017 04:36 PM)nomad2u2001 Wrote:  Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi. Pretty good sci-fi about an empire that's falling due to being cut off from each other. A good Dune feel.

Scalzi is excellent.

He is. I can't get enough of stories that get into the intricacies of politics and the "business of doing business" in a particular universe. I have a hard time finding these things in books.

He get a lot of grief for that, you know. A lot of readers want less of that and more action.

(04-20-2017 06:14 PM)memtigbb Wrote:  If you like historical fiction, anything by Bernard Cornwell is good. He covers many different eras.
The beginning of the 100 year war, in the Holy Grail series.
The Napoleanic wars, in the Sharpe Series.
The great heathen army and Alfred the Great reclaiming and forging England in the Saxon Tales.
And many more.

If you enjoy fantasy I can recommend quite a few great authors and books, similar to the Game of Thrones, but I won't bother unless asked since fantasy really doesn't have a huge following.

What gives you that idea? I read and write fantasy and some folks sell a zillion books. Who are your favorites?

Robert Jordan, Wheel of Time is easily my favorite series ever written. Of course, I started the series in my early 20's and if I started reading it now for the first time, at my age, I might not hold the same affection for it.
Even still, The Shadows Rising (book 4) may very well be one of the best written books ever.

Joe Abercrombie lacks prose but has some very interesting stories. His original trilogy The First Law is good but by his 5th book (a standalone in the same universe) The Heroes, he was getting very good. The Heroes is my favorite of his books.

Even though I am not a fan of the writer himself, his books are pretty good, Patrick Rothfus. He is a lot like GRRM. He made a couple of fat paydays now wants to spend all of his time at Cons and anything that is not finishing his series. Because he has dragged his feet so long, I can't recommend running right out and buying his books, but the first book "The Name of the Wind" is absolutely fantastic and it is easy to see why it became a bestseller.

Brent Weeks is a somewhat newer writer as well on the fantasy scene. He started with the Night Angel trilogy. In some ways it is brutal. But, overall, a good - very good series. He started a new series called The Lightbringer. At first it was a little hard for me to wrap my head around his unique magic system, but once I did I fell in love with it and would highly recommend it. Book 4 was recently released and the series will conclude at book 5.

Peter V Brett is the author of the Warded Man series. The final book will be released near the end of this year and I thoroughly enjoyed the 4 books already released in this series.

Anthony Ryan wrote the Raven's Shadow trilogy. The first book of the series is one of the best 1st books I have read in fantasy. It is absolutely gripping. The second book was good and I liked it, but other reviews seemed to wane a little. The third book lost some steam, but it did conclude the series and I thought it was OK overall.

Last, but not least, Brandon Sanderson. In many ways Brandon skirts Young Adult. He is a mormon and from his writing, blogs, interviews, etc. seems to be a very good and moral person. He does not use profanity in the normal sense, and there is not much sexual content. While there is plenty of violence, he will not spend much time explaining how much blood is squirting from a decapitated body. He just happens to be one of the most imaginative and creative writers of our era though. He is an absolute workaholic and is usually writing multiple novels, novellas, short stories all at the same time. He says he does that in order to keep fresh. After Robert Jordan died, he finished the Wheel of Time series by writing the last 3 books. His most recent EPIC is The Stormlight Archive. So far he has released 2 books in this series and I have found both to be fantastic. Once again, this was a universe and magic system I had a hard time grasping initially. Everything was so foreign and alien in the prologue that I gave up on it for awhile. It seemed I wasn't the only one. At some point Tor and Sanderson released a series of sample chapters that followed only one character Kaladin. Kaladin and his first few chapters falls more into the stereotypical fantasy character, a soldier. It was easy to get caught up in his story and then want more. When the book came out, the prologue and everything else fit in much better and was easy to swallow.

Memtigerbb - Some of those I've heard of, some I haven't, but I'm going to keep them all in mind going forward. You're a big fan of epic fantasy, I take it, which is easily the most popular sub-genre.

Do you think you would be a good beta reader?

Did you make it to midsouthcon?

I have not made it to midsouthcon, yet. I was interested this year, but none of the guests really excited me enough to go. At the same time, if more people like me were to show up, then we would probably see more exciting guests.

Yes, I think I would be a good beta reader. Reading is certainly a passion of mine.

On a side note, I would expect you would have kindle. When you have any free time, I would recommend downloading a sample of the first book of Wheel of Time, "The Eye of the World". If you like the prologue, you will most likely enjoy the series. Robert Jordan is an incredible writer and many of his techniques can be found in other books today. He graduated from the Citadel with a degree in physics and served two tours in Vietnam. Each battle in his books are written in different ways and you just can't find better, IMO.

(04-21-2017 06:47 PM)memtigbb Wrote:  I have not made it to midsouthcon, yet. I was interested this year, but none of the guests really excited me enough to go. At the same time, if more people like me were to show up, then we would probably see more exciting guests.

Yes, I think I would be a good beta reader. Reading is certainly a passion of mine.

On a side note, I would expect you would have kindle. When you have any free time, I would recommend downloading a sample of the first book of Wheel of Time, "The Eye of the World". If you like the prologue, you will most likely enjoy the series. Robert Jordan is an incredible writer and many of his techniques can be found in other books today. He graduated from the Citadel with a degree in physics and served two tours in Vietnam. Each battle in his books are written in different ways and you just can't find better, IMO.

):

I tried to be the best guest I could.

I'll give Jordan a shot. I'm met him, just haven't read him. If you're serious about being a beta reader, I'll keep you in mind. Currently I have two novellas finished in rough draft form for my first fantasy book and am doing the illustrations as I type this. They're sword and sorcery, however, not epic.

The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story by Douglas Preston

This is a very important book and a must read.

I certainly didn't mean it as a slight or insult.

No doubt though, if you are writing in the fields of sword and sorcery you should definitely read Jordan.
He wrote numerous Conan books that I never read, but his series Wheel of Time is some of the most influential books in fantasy to ever be written. I would say almost as impactful as J.R.R Tolkien (although I was never a big fan of The Lord of the Rings). I will also say that there are two problems with his series.

1. He began this series so long ago that most editors and publishers at that time thought that all fantasy had to be in line with J.R.R Tolkein and the first 2 books he was pushed to emulate them. Fortunately, he was able to push past that and turn the series into much, much more than your basic Lord of the Rings.

2. In a 14 book series, the middle books (6-9) dragged quite a bit, especially when the readers were waiting several years at a time for the next book. When you can sit and read them one after another it isn't so bad though.

(04-21-2017 08:35 AM)TigerBill Wrote:  

(04-20-2017 11:52 PM)nomad2u2001 Wrote:  

(04-20-2017 06:53 PM)TigerBill Wrote:  

(04-20-2017 04:36 PM)nomad2u2001 Wrote:  Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi. Pretty good sci-fi about an empire that's falling due to being cut off from each other. A good Dune feel.

Scalzi is excellent.

He is. I can't get enough of stories that get into the intricacies of politics and the "business of doing business" in a particular universe. I have a hard time finding these things in books.

He get a lot of grief for that, you know. A lot of readers want less of that and more action.

I can really do without the action to tell you the truth. I often find it hard to read through bunches of action and only really find the flow when reading about the machinations that drive the world. I'd be satisfied by a book set some time in the future, during a war but only showing what's going on in the war room.

One of my favorite scenes in movies is the meeting of the Congress committee in Akira. They're talking money and politics and I adore it.

My favorite shows of all time are Breaking Bad and The Wire. Not chock full of action, but they go deep into the inner workings of their particular societies.

My favorite authors are Elmore Leonard, Stefan Zweig, and Carl Hiaasen. Very good insight into how their worlds operate. Leonard had a knack for painting the world around violent people without using a bunch of violence, putting emphasis on what it costs to live their lives. Zweig often wrote about environments during wartime, but without a lot of overt action.

My problem with a lot of sci-fi is that a lot of readers think that fighting is the crux of the genre.

(04-21-2017 11:00 PM)nomad2u2001 Wrote:  

(04-21-2017 08:35 AM)TigerBill Wrote:  

(04-20-2017 11:52 PM)nomad2u2001 Wrote:  

(04-20-2017 06:53 PM)TigerBill Wrote:  

(04-20-2017 04:36 PM)nomad2u2001 Wrote:  Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi. Pretty good sci-fi about an empire that's falling due to being cut off from each other. A good Dune feel.

Scalzi is excellent.

He is. I can't get enough of stories that get into the intricacies of politics and the "business of doing business" in a particular universe. I have a hard time finding these things in books.

He get a lot of grief for that, you know. A lot of readers want less of that and more action.

I can really do without the action to tell you the truth. I often find it hard to read through bunches of action and only really find the flow when reading about the machinations that drive the world. I'd be satisfied by a book set some time in the future, during a war but only showing what's going on in the war room.

One of my favorite scenes in movies is the meeting of the Congress committee in Akira. They're talking money and politics and I adore it.

My favorite shows of all time are Breaking Bad and The Wire. Not chock full of action, but they go deep into the inner workings of their particular societies.

My favorite authors are Elmore Leonard, Stefan Zweig, and Carl Hiaasen. Very good insight into how their worlds operate. Leonard had a knack for painting the world around violent people without using a bunch of violence, putting emphasis on what it costs to live their lives. Zweig often wrote about environments during wartime, but without a lot of overt action.

My problem with a lot of sci-fi is that a lot of readers think that fighting is the crux of the genre.

I hear ya. I got one review that whined because 'only about 15% of the book is action, the rest is setup and dialogue.'

Well, yeah, because military units spend most of their time training and talking. So you've got to try and hit a fine line.

If you like space opera, try Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet series. There's a LOT of conferences and behind the scenes work.

(04-21-2017 10:57 PM)memtigbb Wrote:  I certainly didn't mean it as a slight or insult.

No doubt though, if you are writing in the fields of sword and sorcery you should definitely read Jordan.
He wrote numerous Conan books that I never read, but his series Wheel of Time is some of the most influential books in fantasy to ever be written. I would say almost as impactful as J.R.R Tolkien (although I was never a big fan of The Lord of the Rings). I will also say that there are two problems with his series.

1. He began this series so long ago that most editors and publishers at that time thought that all fantasy had to be in line with J.R.R Tolkein and the first 2 books he was pushed to emulate them. Fortunately, he was able to push past that and turn the series into much, much more than your basic Lord of the Rings.

2. In a 14 book series, the middle books (6-9) dragged quite a bit, especially when the readers were waiting several years at a time for the next book. When you can sit and read them one after another it isn't so bad though.

I'll work Eye of the World into the schedule. Maybe one of his biggest influences is that epic fantasies now have to be long books or fans are disgruntled. Some fans, anyway.