Blog Profile / A Dribble of Ink
| URL : | http://aidanmoher.com/blog | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | Genres / Fantasy | |
| Posts on Regator: | 832 | |
| Posts / Week: | 5.2 | |
| Archived Since: | April 27, 2010 | |
Blog Post Archive
Hand-modeled Maps of Westeros and Middle-Earth
I happened across these maps a couple of weeks ago on the Fantasy sub-Reddit (enter at your own risk), and they haven’t left my mind. So, like any thought that won’t escape, I felt it’d be best to set it free so I can move on.These maps are hand-made, and gorgeously textured. The map-fetishist in... Read more »
Review of A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
After nearly twenty three years and countless millions of words vomited out upon thousands of pages, Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series finally concludes with its fourteenth volume, A Memory of Light. It has been a memorable series for those who’ve read, it albeit for some such as myself, it has become more an... Read more »
Review of The Tyrant’s Law by Daniel Abraham
A dark-haired woman had taken the stage, her smile haughty and wild. “Come!” she cried, her voice filling the darkness. “Gather near, my friends, or if you are faint of heart, move on. For our tale is one of grand adventure. Love, war, betrayal, and vengeance shall spill out now upon these boards, and I... Read more »
‘The Many Faces of an Alien’ by Wesley Chu
Aidan was kind of enough to give me the pulpit and asked me to share my thoughts on why I think aliens make such great enemies/sources of conflict in science fiction. Now, before I delve deeper into this, I believe it is important to break down the roles of aliens within the science fiction genre.... Read more »
Catherynne M. Valente’s The Melancholy of Mechagirl looks gorgeous, inside and out
The Melancholy of Mechagirl features fantasy-inspired short fiction by Valente about Japan, including the Hugo Award-nominated novella Silently and Very Fast and “Thirteen Ways of Looking at Space/Time,’ both of which were originally published in Clarkesworld Magazine. Show More Summary
George R.R. Martin’s The World of Ice and Fire delayed until Fall 2014
Err… winter isn’t coming? At least for another year. That’s the appropriate joke, right? It’s been reported by Elio Garcia, co-author of the book, that The World of Ice and Fire, a companion book/encyclopedia about George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, slated for a Fall 2013 release, has been delayed by a... Read more »
Details and Cover Art for The Lowest Heaven, edited by Anne C. Perry and Jared Shurin
Each story in The Lowest Heaven is themed around a body in the Solar System, from the Sun to Halley’s Comet. Contributors include Alastair Reynolds, Kaaron Warren, S.L. Grey, Lavie Tidhar, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Sophia McDougall, Maria Dahvana Headley, Adam Roberts, E.J. Swift, Kameron Hurley and Doctor Who’s Matt Jones. The stories are illustrated with... Read more »
Review of Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legends fade to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. This quote, which opens the main sequence of every single The Wheel of Time book, can, with some alterations be applied... Read more »
Reviewing The Tainted City by Courtney Schafer and Chimera by T.C. McCarthy
When I began writing reviews, I wasn’t sure if anyone would read me, or if I’d ever get review copies. I did, eventually. These two books, reviewed here together, are sequels to the first review copies I ever received: The The Tainted City by Courtney Schafer, sequel to The Whitefire Crossing, and Chimera by T.C.... Read more »
“Rinse and Repeat?” by Freda Warrington
The idea behind my recent series, the Aetherial Tales, is simple: I wanted to write my own version of the “other-race living among us” trope, but in my own individual way. Although each novel can be read as a stand-alone, the most recent volume, Grail of the Summer Stars, completes a bigger story arc that... Read more »
First Details about ‘The Black Irix’ by Terry Brooks
Shea Ohmsford has had quite enough of quests. A year after surviving a harrowing odyssey, he is still plagued by troubling memories and dreams. A mysterious trafficker in spells and potions provides a restorative nostrum for the stricken Shea... along with a warning: Shea will break his vow to never again leave... Read more »
Matthew Stover’s Acts of Caine arriving in the UK. Cover art (extremely) questionable.
Orbit Books announced today that Matthew Stover’s Acts of Caine novels, beginning with Heroes Die, will be arriving, as eBooks only, in the UK for the first time. They say, All four books in the Acts of Caine series – HEROES DIE, BLADE OF TYSHALLE, CAINE BLACK KNIFE and CAINE’S LAW – will be released... Read more »
Review of The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson
Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series has been one of the most sprawling, character-intensive epic fantasies of the past twenty years. Spanning millions of words, this series, now reaching its twelfth volume out of a planned fourteen, has spawned dozens of fansites over the years, as well as engendering heated debates over matters ranging from... Read more »
Cover Art for The Very Best of Tad Williams
If you’re read this blog for any length of time, you’ll know that I’m something of an unabashed Tad Williams fanboy. He’s best known for his long (long, long, long) fiction, like Memory, Sorrow and Thorn or Otherland, multibook epics that would make most other authors weep at their length, but it’s often overlooked that... Read more »
Review of Broken by Susan Jane Bigelow
Whenever I encounter the argument that reviewers ought not to speak negatively of any book they didn’t like, but should instead say simply that the story, while not to their taste, might well be to someone else’s, I experience the overwhelming urge to tear out my hair by the roots. If all reviews were necessarily... Read more »
Introducing Foz Meadows, A Dribble of Ink’s newest contributing reviewer!
I’m happy to introduce Foz Meadows, the newest contributing reviewer here at A Dribble of Ink. Foz joins Justin Landon as a contributing reviewer and will be publishing monthly reviews covering a wide range of novels. You might recognize Foz’s work from her own blog, Shattersnipe, her contributions to the Huffington Post, and her past... Read more »
‘A Rule of Thumb for Escapism’ by Foz Meadows
When it comes to discussing the appeal of SFF and its various affiliated subgenres, escapism is an extremely relevant consideration. Given how strongly a pro-escapist perspective correlates with a pro-SFF perspective, and vice versa, the term has become a loaded one, such that a species of argumentative shorthand has developed around its usage. Thus: if... Read more »
Cover Art for Dream London by Tony Ballantyne
Seriously. There are a lot of great artists out there, but is anyone doing cover art better than Joey Hi-Fi these days? Everything he touches is golden. Tony Ballantyne’s Dream London is slated for release on October 29th, 2013 from Angry Robot Books.
Speculative Fiction 2012 is out now!
A couple of months ago, I announced that one of my essays was chosen to be included in a book called Speculative Fiction 2012, The Years Best Online Reviews, Essays and Commentary. The book is out now, and I’m all tingly with excitement. Justing Landon, co-editor of the anthology, describes the project: This collection contains... Read more »
Review of Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan
From what I’ve gathered, Knife of Dreams was lauded back in 2005-2006 as a sort of “return to form” for Jordan. The MMPB page count reached 860, so perhaps if “return to form” means writing a bunch of pages, then this book achieved that goal admirably. If “return to form” also means that the author... Read more »