Books in the mail

[yendi]

1. Received a copy of His Majesty's Dragon, the debut novel from Naomi Novik. It came from Del Rey with no cover letter or note of any sort, so I'm assuming I won it from one of their newsletters. I've heard good things about this one, and I'm intrigued by the concept (dragons being used in combat during the Napoleanic wars).

2. And yesterday, I got an email from the good folks at First Look Books, letting me know that a copy of Ruby, the new novel by Francesca Lia Block and Carmen Staton, is en route. Of course, anyone who was reading me last year will remember that the last time that First Look Books promised me a free FLB novel, things did not exactly go as planned. Still, I'm psyched. :-)

Comments

[stevietee.livejournal.com]

Those First Look Books people have never contacted me and I signed up many many months ago!

[yendi]

You also fill out the stuff online each month, right? Joining the program just gives you the opportunity to request books, but if you dont' request specific ones, you don't get anything.

That said, I've had four or five-month long dry spells from them quite a few times.

[stevietee.livejournal.com]

Um... of COURSE I fill out the stuff online... every month... yeah...

*runs off to website to fill out monthly form*

His Majesty's Dragon

[curt-holman.livejournal.com]

I look forward to hearing about 'HMD' -- I've been reading good things about it and it's follow-up in 'Entertainment Weekly.'

Re: His Majesty's Dragon

[yendi]

I think I missed (or glossed over) the EW review, alas.

[fmh.livejournal.com]

Alright, how'd you get First Look to opt to use you for a beta? Apparently there's some cut I didn't make. :)

[yendi]

I really think it's just luck. I've written really convincing arguements asking for books, and not gotten squat, and I've written more half-assed ones, and gotten those books.

[mycroftca.livejournal.com]

I picked up the Novik book when it came out, though I doubt I'll get to it this decade...

[yendi]

My reading pile is much the same.

[stephen-dedman.livejournal.com]

HMD was published here as Temeraire, with some fanfare. My wife chaosmanor loves it, and it was our number one bestseller at planetfantastic for several months. As more than one reviewer has pointed out, it blends the feel of earlier McCaffrey Pern novels (particularly Dragonsinger) with 'Master and Commander' or 'Hornblower', with a hint of Harry Potter (much of the novel covers Laurence and Temeraire's time at the academy), and a romance subplot.

Unfortunately, though it's an undeniably intriguing idea, I don't share chaosmanor's love of early 19th novels, and the book was a little lightweight and mannered for my taste. YMMV, of course.

[yendi]

I'm perpetually mixed on historical novels, but I did quite enjoy the two novels that Caroline Stevener and Patricia Wrede co-wrote (set shortly after the Napoleanic Wars), and have definitely had that time period on my brain.

I can see (regardless of overall quality) how any book that did a decent job of appealing to Pern, O'Brian, and Potter fandom would stake out a nice claim for itself.

[modpixie.livejournal.com]

who is carmen statton, and what is her role in working with flb?

[yendi]

Her bio on the site simply calls her a writer in LA, which means, I suspect, that she's a friend of Francesca's.