Dead in the Family, Breaking Dawn and Containment hold strong, and Dead Until Dark and Changes swap places this week.
by Charlaine Harris
by Stephanie Meyer
by Christian Cantrell
by Charlaine Harris
by Jim ButcherBrandon Sanderson is making the rounds, with The Way of Kings slated for release in August. He’s interviewed at The Dragon Page, Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist and Tor.com over the past few weeks, and The Way of Kings sounds like its going to be a great one. Also reviewed this week is Swords & Dark Magic, an anthology in the classic sword & sorcery genre featuring tales by newer authors like Steven Erickson, Scott Lynch, Joe Abercrombie, and many others you’ll recognize. We’ve found reviews of books by Jim Butcher, Tad Williams, Scott Lynch, Stephen King, and Guy Gavriel Kay among other reviews that hit the fantasy blogosphere recently. Wrapping up this week don’t miss the cover art that was recently released for Scott Lynch’s forthcoming The Republic of Thieves; its a beautiful cover for what is likely to be an equally beautiful novel.
Dead in the Family holds the number one slot, and Charlaine Harris continues to dominate the Amazon Fantasy Top 5 Bestseller list this year, with two novels this week making the list. Breaking Dawn also holding strong, while Containment and Changes bounce back into the list, having both appeared in previous weeks.
by Charlaine Harris by Stephanie Meyer by Jim Butcher by Charlaine HarrisWe’ve found so many reviews this week you won’t know where to begin. From Warriors to Furies to Empires you can check out reviews of some of fantasy’s hottest authors and recent works here.
Last on our list this week is an interview at The Dragon Page with Charlaine Harris, and I have to say I was disappointed. Not in the interview, the interview is in fact great, but I was really hoping to find a mastermind behind the wild success of Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse novels. Rather than sounding like the Sookie novels were planned, well organized and well thought out prior to being written, Harris comes off as aloof, making it sound like all the novels in the series were just written on a whim, and that the success really has nothing to do with any semblance of a structured plan. To me, this lends even more credibility to the notion that the whole vampire romance/urban fantasy genre is a fluke, a fad that will pass as quickly as pogo balls and hot pink Hammer pants. The guys at The Dragon Page seem to hint that they feel the same way, but they dance around it a bit, as is only natural when you’re interviewing one of the genre’s heavyweights. They even go so far as to mention an impending collapse, stating that Harris, Jim Butcher and Laurell K. Hamilton would be the only authors in the genre able to survive such an implosion. I’ve been covering the Amazon top 5 fantasy bestsellers for over a year now, and I won’t say I’d welcome such an implosion, but it would freshen up the list a bit. Just sayin’.
Reviews take a back seat this week as we mark the passing of a legend. Legendary fantasy and comic book artist Frank Frazetta has died at age 82, and the world has lost one of its most famed fantasy artists in one single moment. Below you’ll find the obituary from Boston.com, along with a few galleries of some of Frank’s art, which I’ve enjoyed over the years. He’s the only artist for which I’ve ever downloaded fantasy art and used it as my desktop background image. He’ll truly be missed.
On a lighter note, Jones soda has created a variety of D&D Spellcasting sodas, which I strongly advise you check out. Also, Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay is getting some good press this week, and Joe Abercrombie has some surprising news regarding the launch date of his forthcoming The Heroes. Giddy up.
Pairs galore this week, as we feature two interviews with Jim Butcher, and a review and interview with Tad Williams. Check out the reviews of Guy Gavriel Kay and Adrian Tchaikovsky’s most recent works, and don’t miss the US dates for Robin Hobb’s Dragon Haven tour.
Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris moves back into the number one slot, while Bite Me by Parker Blue drops from number one to number three. My top five fave so far for 2010 Jim Butcher hangs in there at number four.
by Charlaine Harris
by J.R. Ward
by Parker Blue by Jim Butcher by Stephanie MeyerChanges by Jim Butcher reaches its fifth week in the Amazon top five fantasy bestsellers, and Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer is breaking records by reaching week 23 in the top five.
by Parker Blue by Charlaine Harris by J.R. Ward by Jim Butcher by Stephanie MeyerChanges in the top five this week. Changes by Jim Butcher drops from number one to number four, with two new entries entering the chart. Bite Me and Lover Mine make their debuts in the top five, with Bite Me in the number one spot, and Lover Mine taking third. Vampires are having quite the strong showing in 2010.
by Parker Blue by Charlaine Harris by J.R. Ward by Jim Butcher by Stephanie Meyer
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