An auspicious day

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Today is supposed to be a Pokemon league day, but the boy woke up in the middle of the night with a bad cough, and I don’t take him when he’s all coughing on people. At this point, though, he seems fine, so we’ll be heading out.

In other super-fun news, I’ve started tracking my calories with Livestrong as of today. Reading Scott Lynch’s recent post on the topic, I accepted that there’s really no more excuses for putting it off. The writers who’d taken control of their fitness/eating all seem to be quite a bit younger than me–and that will make things harder–but it’s not like I’m going to turn 30 again.

If nothing else, I expect recording everything I eat will be an opportunity to re-examine my food habits. I used to use fasts for this, but my wife hates fasting, so what the hell.

Quick note: I’m not looking for advice regarding weight and weight loss.

In other news that’s all about me me me

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Suvudu has posted a free first 50 for Game of Cages as part of their “Fifty Page Friday” feature.

Circle of Enemies, Chapter One

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Here’s the first chapter of Circle of Enemies.

It was August in Seattle, when the city enjoyed actual sunshine and temperatures in the eighties. I’d spent the day working, which made for a nice change. I’d just finished a forty-hour temp landscaping job; dirt and dried sweat made my face and arms itch. I hated the feeling, but even worse was that I didn’t have anything lined up for next week.

As I walked up the alley toward home, I passed a pair of older women standing beside a scraggly vegetable garden. One kept saying she was sweltering, sweltering, but her friend didn’t seem sympathetic. Neither was I. I was used to summers in the desert.

When they noticed me, they fell silent. The unsympathetic one took her friend’s hand and led her toward the back door, keeping a wary eye on me. That didn’t bother me, either.

I stumped up the stairs to my apartment above my aunt’s garage. It was too late to call the temp agency tonight. I’d have to try them early Monday morning. Not that I had much hope. It was hard for an ex- con to find work, especially an ex-con with my name.

I’m Raymond Lilly, and I’ve lost track of the number of people I’ve killed. Continue reading

The Circle of Enemies post

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Now that each book gets its own dedicated post, I’m going to put this one to be your one-stop shop for Circle of Enemies info.

For starters, the book trailer is here.

The first chapter is available free.

The book earned a starred review from Publishers Weekly. (That makes me three for three so far.)

Here’s the pretty, pretty cover:

Circle of Enemies

Trust me, it’s pretty. I just can’t get a decent scan Fixed. It’s a new design, and personally I really like it.

Here’s the plot description on the back cover.

Former car thief Ray Lilly is now the expendable grunt of a sorcerer responsible for destroying extradimensional predators summoned to our world by power-hungry magicians. Luckily, Ray has some magic of his own, and so far it’s kept him alive. But when a friend from his former gang calls him back to his old stomping grounds in Los Angeles, Ray may have to face a threat even he can’t handle. A mysterious spell is killing Ray’s former associates, and they blame him. Worse yet, the spell was cast by Wally King, the sorcerer who first dragged Ray into the brutal world of the Twenty Palace Society. Now Ray will have to choose between the ties of the past and the responsibilities of the present, as he and the Society face not only Wally King but a bizarre new predator.

What that doesn’t quite capture about the book is that this is the most personal and most emotionally-complicated book yet. It’s somewhat less violent than previous books, but the violence that’s there hurts more.

Now it’s time to do the blurbs:

“Ray Lilly is one of the most interesting characters I’ve read lately, and Harry Connolly’s vision is amazing.” — Charlaine Harris

“An edge-of-the-seat read! Ray Lilly is the new high-water mark of paranormal noir.” — Charles Stross

If you want to buy a paper copy:

| Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository (free int’l shipping!) | Books a Million | Indiebound | Kobo | Mysterious Galaxy | Powell’s Books |

This is quite a book trailer

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It’s a little too long and it has a few uneven moments with the actors, but the production values are startling.

Here’s Brent Weeks’s post about it.

Another take on Conan

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Chris Sims liked Conan more than I did.

Also, over the weekend, I posted a link to what appears to be the French cover for Child of Fire. (I know it’s plural; no big)

Today I’ll be writing and taking my son swimming.

Can’t be a hero without cubes

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I read comics in the trade collections. Sure, that puts me months behind the main stories, but the truth is I don’t have the money to spend on them, and I’m only casually interested in the storylines. There are very few comics I genuinely care about, far fewer than I read.

Anyway, one of the comics I’ve been half-following is SECRET WARRIORS, which is a sort of spy/superhero mashup, with a pack of unknown superpowered non-heroes as the operatives and Nick Fury running it all.

It’s fun, it’s shaggy in a pleasing way, and unlike some comics the story isn’t an incomprehensible mess. It also has a hero named Druid, who I liked because he has pseudo-magical powers and because he’s a fat guy.

It’s pretty rare to see a fat hero in comics. I’m not going into the history of it, but when Blue Beetle fell into a depression and put on a bunch of weight, all he needed to do was beat up an obnoxious guy and snap out of it. Easy, right?

Well, Druid was a powerful character who didn’t have full control of his powers (magic!) and who was a little insecure because he made mistakes. See, I like him even more. Then, at the end of the previous trade, Nick Fury kicked him off the team.

In the trade I read over the weekend, we pick up his story: he’s gotten the boot, goes home, sits in a chair and is all “Now what?” Then he goes home and finds one of Fury’s agents waiting for him (a guy who’s a human head on a robot body, but never mind). Fury’s buddy is one of those grizzled old commanders who doesn’t take any nonsense, and he quickly informs Druid that with spies and Nick Fury, there is no “out.” The agent sits Druid down with a stack of papers and tells him to fill out the test, it’s the same one he’s been giving to his raw recruits for decades. Then this happens: (I’ll put in a cut for the scan) Continue reading

Conan the Barbarian

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So, I went to see CONAN yesterday at the first 2D showing. I’m pretty sure you couldn’t see it any earlier in my time zone, but I didn’t go because I’m such a huge fan. I’m not. I like Conan well enough as a character, but I went so early because of convenience’s sake.

And I write fantasy, so I thought I should see it.

Well, as you expected, it’s not really what you’d call a great movie. I did enjoy parts of it, though you wouldn’t think so to read this post.

There are a few things I expect to see in a good sword and sorcery movie (assuming somebody makes one someday) Spoilers! Continue reading

Is this the French cover for Child of Fire?

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I don’t know, because it popped up while I was looking at Goodreads.

What do you think?

Randomness for 8/20

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1) Interview of a One-Year-Old Child. Video. Way funnier than it sounds.

2) Moebius did concept art for the movie WILLOW. Check out the art design that could have been.

3) Astonishing bike stunts in abandoned industrial facility. Video. Music’s nice, too.

4) Better Book Titles.

5) Everything you need to know about the video game industry in one graphic.

6) The 10 Most Brutal Moments in ‘The Savage Sword of Conan’!

7) A steampunk apartment.