Idle questions to the other authors on my list...

[seawasp]

1) Per my New Year's revol...er, RESOlution, I'm going to be reading at least one book from all the authors I have a reasonable connection to that have a novel or more published since 2003, assuming I haven't read any of their books since 2003. This is to rectify the fact that my reading has plummeted INCREDIBLY since I got published (and more since I got more kids). So those on my list (e.g., Autopope, LWE, Anghara, etc.) who have published at least one novel in that time, please let me know which novel you think I should read of yours.

EDIT: If you're on my LJ friendslist, that's "reasonable connection". If you're on r.a.sf.c, definitely a reasonable connection.

EDIT 2: "Published" means "traditional publication" -- you were paid an advance, worked with an editor, your book is on Amazon as a paper book,  and not as a self-published thingie.

2) As you know, I've just been informed that Grand Central Arena is to be translated and published in Japan. I'm wondering how common this is -- that is, how often in general do novels get picked up for that kind of treatment? For someone like (for instance) Charlie Stross I presume virtually all his books will, but for a lesser-known author? One in 2? One in 5? One in 10?

Comments

[mouseferatu.livejournal.com]

Does "We've spoken a few times on LJ and other blogs" count as a "reasonable connection"? I'm always happy to pimp my own work, but I want to make sure I'm in the qualified group first. ;-)

[seawasp]

See my edit! :)

[mouseferatu.livejournal.com]

Ah-hah! Then you want The Conqueror's Shadow. Came out last February; it's my first published non-tie-in novel. Strong elements of both sword-and-sorcery and epic fantasy, depending on exactly how one defines them/draws the line.

[rezendi.livejournal.com]

Of mine own, I suppose Invisible Armies.

My first book was translated/published in Japan, but not (yet) the subsequent ones (though there's a hope/expectation that the whole Vertigo Crime series will be translated, so the graphic novel might turn Japanese too.) Apparently it's a combination of repute, quality, and some indefinable perception that it might appeal to the Japanese zeitgeist.

[anghara.livejournal.com]

That depends. If you want sheer damned complexity, then "Secrets of Jin Shei" - but that's been kind of tarred with "girl cooties" right from the git-go (one reviewer called it "feminist fantasy"... [cue astonished face here], so fair warning.) If you want high fantasy adventure, then there's the "Hidden Queen"/"Changer of Days" duology - which is essentially one Very! Large! Book! which the publishers saw fit to put out in two volumes (in other words if you want to read ONE book don't blame me for the humungous cliffhanger at the end of "Queen", it was meant to lead to the NEXT CHAPTER and not another whole novel...)

[julesjones]

I'm not going to expect you to read mine, given the content. :-) On the other hand, you may find the smut-free first chapter entertaining anyway, since it's BOFH territory. It's gone out of print and the rights reverted, so the whole thing is on my website, and the first chapter is also available as a standalone short story.

[ath-winter-lord.livejournal.com]

I read that chapter (and even want to read more, that's rare), but calling it a 'short story' is a bit enthusiastic. If it's a standalone story, what is it about? :)

[julesjones]

The actual background to that piece is that we wrote two short stories, and then a third, at which point I said, "these aren't just short stories, they're chapters in a fix-up novel", and we wrote the rest of the story arc. The prologue got written last, as an introduction to the characters. So it's essentially the story of *why* someone would reach the point of throwing in his lot with a group whose philosophy he doesn't actually agree with. And it's also more of an extended BOFH joke than anything else. :-)

I've read that piece at a Broad Universe Rapidfire Read at a con. I presume from the amount of giggling at appropriate places that the audience was 100% geek.

[lwe.livejournal.com]

I've had maybe four or five novels published in Japan, out of forty-plus.

As for recommendations, you're specifically looking for something published after 2003? That narrows it down to four choices, I guess, depending on what you've read (and liked) previously.

If you read and liked Nightside City back in 1989, you should check out the sequel, Realms of Light, published last year by FoxAcre Press. If you haven't read Nightside City, or didn't like it, this is not a good option.

If you liked the Ethshar series, I've written three more of them since 2003 -- The Spriggan Mirror, The Vondish Ambassador, and The Unwelcome Warlock. (The last isn't out yet. In fact, technically it isn't finished yet -- it's still in first draft.) The Spriggan Mirror is a sequel to With A Single Spell, and The Vondish Ambassador is a sequel to The Unwilling Warlord, so choose according to which you've read, or which you liked better.

If you want something where no prior knowledge is needed, you can choose between The Wizard Lord (first of a trilogy but stands alone), or A Young Man Without Magic/Above His Proper Station (two halves of a story). The former is sort of a deconstructionist approach to traditional fantasy -- it's got your standard Dark Lord and doughty band of destined heroes, but handled in a non-standard fashion.

And the latter was inspired by reading too many swashbucklers as a kid, though in the end it turned out less swashbuckling than I'd hoped -- and you know, swashbucklers never were wall-to-wall action.