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Recent Bookquisitions

My book queue isn't this unorganized. Really... it isn't...
I always have a queue for the books I am reading. Anytime something strikes my fancy I buy it and add it to the stack or else I’ll forget and then miss out. Well, my pile has grown larger and I thought it be fun to share some of my recent acquisitions:

Pallitine Rising
Pallitine Rising by Roderick Davidson
I haven’t read any fantasy in a while and I’ve only heard good things about Roderick Davidson‘s first novel so I picked this up. (It’s on sale right now so nab it while you can.) Adventure, knights, dragons, and creepy cults? Sign me up.

Hawkeye, Vol. 1: My Life as a Weapon

Hawkeye, Vol. 1: My Life as a Weapon by Matt Fraction
Hawkeye had always been a fringe hero and kind of worthless in my opinion. (Sorry die-hard Hawkeye fans… all six of you.) However word on the street is Matt Fraction‘s treatment is amazing, hilarious, and a must read that completely revitalizes the character. Okay. I ain’t going to lie… I read this the moment I got home. Everything I wrote was true. If you read comics pick this up.

Jagannath

Jagannath by Karin Tidbeck
After I posted my recommendation of Elizabeth Bear’s short story Shaggoth’s in Bloom a few weeks back fellow blogger Matt Rice over at Books, Brains and Beer recommended this collection of new weird stories. Looking forward to diving in.

So that’s the most recent editions to my queue. These three will be joining the seven other in the stack. What’s about you? Bought anything good lately? Anything you’re excited about? Leave a comment and let me know! I’m always looking for a good book.

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Reading Recommendations: American Vampire

Skinner Sweet

Every once in a while you read something and have one of those “I should have thought of that” moments. It’s rarer still when those moments happen repeatedly over the course of a book. However that is exactly what kept happening to me as I read American Vampire Vol. 1.

Written by Scott Snyder and Stephen King the story follows two characters in two different tales: The first is Pearl Jones an aspiring actress in 1920s Los Angeles who’s eagerness to please put her in serious trouble. The second story follows the evil and murderous outlaw Skinner Sweet who is captured by a honest lawman in the 1880s. Snyder and King twist these stories together in a lovely tapestry of plots, characters, and concepts that left me stunned. American Vampire is one of the freshest takes on the whole vampire genre in years. Some advice: go into it blind, there’s a lot of amazing ideas to stumble upon and it’s fun to discover them along the way. I eagerly await the next trade.

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Goodreads doubles its membership

Goodreads
I saw this on The Passive Voice (mentioned in my last post) but it was originally announced on the Goodreads blog. Goodreads has passed 20 million members, doubling its membership in one year. Huge growth which is great for readers and for the authors. I bet we’ll see some really exciting things coming from them in the near future.

If you’re not on Goodreads and you’re a writer, get on Goodreads, it’s an amazing resource to communicate with readers and promote your book. If you’re a reader and you’re not on Goodreads, get on Goodreads, it’s an amazing resource to communicate with authors you love and other readers who love the same books as you. (You should also add me, and add The Stars Were Right to your to-read list, since it drops in less than a month. Announcement for that coming soon.)

Okay, I am done promoting Goodreads. (For what it’s worth: I’m not getting paid for this, I just really like the service. For now I’ll avoid talking at length about their UX issues.)

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Reading Recommendation: Blogroll #1

Blogroll
Yesterday I saw a tweet where someone asked “What blogs do you follow?” Great question—’cuz I follow a bunch—but it’s tough to recommend my favorite blogs limited to a 140 characters. So, I figured I should do a Reading Recommendation and cover some of my favorite blogs!

Lauren Sapala
Lauren Sapala is a friend of mine and is an awesome writer, editor, and writing coach based out of San Francisco. On WriteCity she dispatches honest, encouraging, and frank advice and updates often. It’s a great read. Put this at the top of your RSS reader you’ll thank me later.

UPDATE: Lauren has moved her blog to http://laurensapala.com/—all links have been updated.

Marc Barros: One Entrepreneur’s Perspective
Marc and I used to work together. I’ve always found him to be an incredibly intelligent, candid, and really passionate guy. As a co-founder of a successful startup Marc shares his experiences—both positive and negative—and along the way shares some great advice. Even if you’re not interested in tech, there’s a lot of lessons to be learned here for all walks of life.

Dave Farland’s Journal
Another of my go-to blogs, best selling author Dave Farland, shares his own brand of writing advice in a fun and friendly manner. Good stuff.

The Passive Voice
I have actually done a post regarding The Passive Voice before. If I had to describe it I’d say it is to the publishing/writing industry what a site like The Verge is to tech. It’s a nice distillation of news for the author, publisher, or agent, and sometimes a good source of writing related quotes as well.

The Bookshelf Muse
Descriptive tools galore! The Bookshelf muse has some great posts on everything from weather, body types, settings, and character traits. The author’s book: The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide To Character Expression is also quite handy as well covering a wide range of emotions and the bodies reaction both mentally and physically. Really great stuff.

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You’ll note I have numbered this #1—I read a lot of blogs—I figure sooner or later I’ll do another Reading Recommendation: Blogroll so why not prepare myself for that eventual outcome.

How about you? What are your go-to daily blogs? Write up a post similar to mine and post it on your own blog, then come back here and leave a comment below linking to it! I’d love to see a little network of great blogs for folks to explore and visit (including your own.)

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Amazon buys Goodreads

Well now this is interesting…

“Goodreads has helped change how we discover and discuss books and, with Kindle, Amazon has helped expand reading around the world. In addition, both Amazon and Goodreads have helped thousands of authors reach a wider audience and make a better living at their craft. Together we intend to build many new ways to delight readers and authors alike.”

Full Press Release for those who want to read it.