The Warbler Books

Journey, A Short Story (Vol. 1) – Richard Saunders

October 24, 2015 No Comments

When Inkshares sent over the description of Journey, A Short Story (Volume 1), its description was something of a caveat emptor. The story was described as a “meta-novel” with a strange structure, which contains a cypher leading to a real-life geocache that supposedly holds items having to do with the larger story. My interest was piqued by this description. Particularly the notion of the “meta-novel”. The prologue, written by Mkyl Walsh, pseudonym for the actual author Richard Saunders, is a science fiction piece set in the year 10,001. A pair of explorers from a distant planet arrive on a devastated world, Earth, after some cataclysm destroyed it. They descend to the surface, and their scanning equipment detects an anomaly underground, which is turns out to be a time capsule. In the time capsule, one of the characters finds a book and begins to read. The scifi piece ends there, and a new story begins. The story within is Secret Agent Man,

The Hunt for Vulcan – Thomas Levenson

October 15, 2015 2 Comments

Another very exciting development in the world of The Warbler: I had the privilege of reading (and now reviewing) a book from Random House (!) thanks to this whole “building a brand” nonsense I’ve been trying to do. Learning about the options available to independent book reviewers has been exciting and illuminating. Publishers want books read and reviewed. I want to read and review books. It’s a wonderful match. But let’s stop talking about talking about books, and get to the talking about books, shall we? Outside of speculative fiction, I best like reading books on science designed for laypeople. Many (if not most) books like this focus on successes of science. On discoveries that change the world, and a glimpse at the far-reaching ramifications they may have had. Not so with Vulcan. The Hunt for Vulcan tells a tale — and a tale it is — of hubris, ego,

Karl Ove Knausgaard – My Struggle: Book One

September 30, 2015 No Comments

A few months back, it seemed the literati were unable to focus on anything but this Norwegian author who, supposedly, had written something truly spectacular. I’d heard these whispers—read them, to be precise—all over the book-loving web, but didn’t pay much attention to them. Finally, my dad handed me a copy of the New York Times Magazine containing an article—no, a story—written by Karl Ove Knausgaard, the aforementioned Norwegian. That story, My Saga (part I, part II ) provides the perfect entry into Knausgaard’s world. I highly recommend reading it, regardless of whether or not you decide to embark on the larger Knausgaard journey. Karl Ove Knausgaard’s writing is unlike anything I’ve read before. He has a remarkable ability to express profound notions with simple language. He writes sentences that slam their way into your psyche. Even in My Saga, there were moments when I had to reread a sentence or twoa

Inkshares Authors Spotlights, Round Two

September 18, 2015 No Comments

A few days ago, I featured five projects from the Inkshares/Nerdist contest, in which I’m currently competing. That book just to the right? That’s my book! You can preorder it, if you’d like. Odds are you already have, so thank you. I’m under no illusions about the odds of my getting some 200+ preorders in the next two weeks, which would put me back in the winners’ circle. I’m glad to have participated, honored to have gotten so much support, and even gladder to have joined a wonderful community of writers in the process. There are some excellent books out there, waiting to be read. There are people out there, waiting to read them. Inkshares provides a place where that magic can take place on a grassroots level. Check out these books, and support the authors if you’re so inclined. John Robin – Blood Dawn A god-king’s empire has crumbled. His dream of

Updraft – Fran Wilde

September 15, 2015 No Comments

Well, this book was absolutely wonderful. It also happens to be the first “galley” I received from Tor/Forge (which is unbelievable, and feels like the greatest achievement of this website) through NetGalley. So, thanks NetGalley and Tor! If Fran Wilde’s debut novel is any indication of what’s to come from her, she’s going to have a prominent space on the bookshelves in my home. Updraft is fantastic. The setting is rich, interesting, and mysterious, and is as much a character as the (well-written) characters in Updraft, the unfolding mystery of which plays a pivotal role in the story, though much is left to the imagination,. Updraft takes place in a city the sky, built of impossibly large towers, grown of living bone. The humans living there have long forgotten — or perhaps never even knew — the world beneath the clouds. Their society is governed by a complex set of

Inkshares Author Spotlights, Round One

September 13, 2015 No Comments

You may have noticed the recent addition to the sidebar on this here website. I’ll give you a second to take a gander. … Done? That’s right, friends! I’m trying to get a novel published on Inkshares! Initially, I was hoping to do so by being one of the top 5 finalists in their Nerdist Collection Contest, but now I’m going for the longer game. If we can get 630 more books sold in 130 days, I’ll be published digitally. If we get 880 more books sold in that time, it’s going to get printed and sold around the country! Exciting stuff. One of the benefits of participating in this contest is that I’ve had the opportunity to “meet” some delightful writers whose books I’m excited to read. Take a look below, and support up-and-coming writers! A.C. Weston – She Is the End Relai went to sleep thinking she’d wake

Ancillary Justice – Ann Leckie

September 9, 2015 2 Comments

There are occasions when a book grips you by the skull and demands that you ingest it whole, unhinging your mind’s jaw, if need be, and shoving the whole thing in there without pausing for breath. Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Justice is kind of like that. Let’s go over its reception. It won the Hugo and Nebula for best novel, the Arthur C. Clarke award, the BSFA Award for Best Novel, the Locus Award for Best First Novel, and the Kitschies Golden Tentacle for Best Debut Novel. The more I heard about it, the more intriguing I found it, but never got around to reading it, even when a friend came over and left it on my dinner table about eight months ago. I finally picked it up for my e-reader in July, long after giving the paper copy back and relocating to California, and that’s when it sank its hooks

The Monstrous – Ellen Datlow

August 25, 2015 No Comments

I have to admit to some trepidation when I first received this collection of short stories in the mail from Tachyon. Granted, I asked for this book, but I was still wary of the genre. You see, I had read almost no horror fiction prior to this collection. I respond very viscerally to frightening visual media, regardless of if it’s gory, psychologically thrilling, or suspenseful. I assumed that reading horror would prove an analogous experience. I am so glad I read this anthology. Ellen Datlow has an remarkable CV. A sci-fi, fantasy, and short fiction editor of 30+ years, she is considered one of the best (if not the best) horror editors in the business. Among other awards, she’s won Hugos, Stokers, Locuses, Horror Guild awards, and a lifetime achievement award from the Horror Writers association. She’s pretty serious about horror fiction. The Monstrous was an excellent introduction to Horror,

Shades of Milk and Honey – Mary Robinette Kowal

August 16, 2015 No Comments

As a fan of the Writing Excuses podcast, I felt it was incumbent upon me to branch out beyond Brandon Sanderson, and the Shadows Beneath anthology provided ample opportunity to read the writings of the rest of the crew: Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. Kowal’s story in that anthology, A Fire in the Heavens, is wonderful, fascinating, and original. Really, you’ve got to read it. A tremendous story. Anyway, between that, her work on Writing Excuses, and The Lady Astronaut of Mars (another short of hers I fell in love with), I knew I had to read her series, the Glamourist Histories. That series has a straightforward elevator pitch: Jane Austen with magic. So when she tweeted that Shades of Milk and Honey, the first book in the Glamourist Histories, was available for Kindle for $1.99, I jumped into it right away. I had never read any regency

The Battle for Oz – Jeyna Grace

August 4, 2015 No Comments

Imagine, if you will, a linear accelerator for fiction. Say someone took The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland, put them in the machine, and slammed ‘em together. Sifting through the results, you’d find The Battle For Oz, Jeyna Grace’s exciting adventure published by Inkshares. The novella is a quick read, and is helped along by swift pacing and simple description that relies on a (perhaps faded) recollection of worlds you remember from your childhood. There’s a certain shock factor to the brutality and gore that appears now and again in the story, reminding you that this is not a children’s fairy tale, replete with fairies though it may be. That vicious Queen of Hearts, down but not entirely out after her altercation with Alice, sets her sights on a new conquest: Oz. She breeds horrifying monsters and uses them to take over the Emerald City, enforcing with a

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