Results tagged “ce murphy”

It is Saturday! Drink that coffee! Eat the croissant! And sit back and relax while reading some of the interesting posts made by fans of fantasy and science fiction this last week!

In unordered intention:

• Review: Jacqueline Carey’s Naamah’s Kiss by Fantasy Book Critic
• Review: James Enge’s Blood of Ambrose by A Dribble of Ink
• Review: Judith Tarr’s Bring Down the Sun by Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review
• Comment: Terry Goodkind’s Fantasy Retirement by The Wertzone
• Review: C.E. Murphy’s The Pretender’s Crown by SF Site
• Comment: Pathetic… by Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist

There are a great many fans out there who put in a a lot of time and effort helping others find the most enjoyable books, reviews and interviews the internet(s) have to offer. Every week this will be a shout-out to those people if they have contributed something interesting in sci-fi and fantasy! Know of a fan-run blog that deserves to be read but it isn’t featured here? Let me know!

I swear it isn’t my intention to write a weekly movie review here at Suvudu. OTOH, the mere fact that there are enough science fiction, fantasy and comic book films coming out to make it a viable possibility is really kind of awesome. I love living in a world where the geeks have won.

Now, look. I go to movies to be entertained. I’m willing to forgive plot holes as long as they don’t distract me in the moment, and I’m almost always willing to be pleasantly surprised. I had hopes, but not much confidence, in Wolverine, and was, well, pleasantly surprised.

But Star Trek. Man. I remember watching the original episodes (in re-runs) when I was less than five years of age. I watched TNG and DS9 and most of Voyager and…hardly any Enterprise, honestly. I loved the even-numbered films, particularly Star Trek Saves The Whales and Star Trek Does Hamlet. So the possibility of JJ Abrams screwing this up was nerve-wracking to me. Forget half-naked Hugh Jackman; Star Trek was this summer’s must-see TV (as it were) for me, and I couldn’t restrain my hopes. I was either going to love it or be crushingly disappointed.

The fact that the trailers, right from the very first one with the Enterprise in spacedock and Leonard Nimoy’s “Space: the final frontier” voice-over, were apparently hard-wired to my tear ducts was both a positive and a negative sign. If I was that affected, maybe they were doing it right. But if I was that affected, holy crap, if they screwed up I was going to spend a week sobbing under the bed.

As far as I’m concerned, they hit it out of the ballpark. (Continued without spoilers below.)

My twelfth published novel hits the shelves on April 28th.

I gotta say, so far, this never gets old. :)

THE PRETENDER’S CROWN is sequel to last year’s THE QUEEN’S BASTARD, out from Del Rey. They’re stories of sex, politics, murder and betrayal, and in some ways they’re the most fun I’ve ever had writing. Most of my other stuff is urban fantasy, so getting to roll around in the lush, alternate-Elizabethan world of the Inheritors’ Cycle was and is a sheer joy. Complex world-building, political intrigue, unlikeable heroines…what’s not to love?

Okay, maybe that last. Belinda Primrose, heroine of these books, is to me perhaps the most interesting character I’ve written. She’s a seductress, a spy, an assassin, and a manipulator: not precisely lovable qualities. To me, though—and hopefully to others—she is at least compelling. And one of the terrific things about writing THE PRETENDER’S CROWN was finding out just how far this unlikeable character could bend before she broke.

Pretty far, it turns out. Maybe farther than even I thought, which is quite something, given that she lives in my head.

But you’re going to have to read it to find out how.

Happy Release Day. :)

PS: Oh, jeez, I just remembered. While you’re at it, pick up Lane Robins’ KINGS & ASSASSINS, which is also out from Del Rey on April 28th. Between that and PRETENDER’S CROWN, you should be reveling in political backstabbing for a week!