What Star Trek Race Are You?

What Star Trek race are you? Read the descriptions on Marcy Kennedy’s blog to discover the answer.

Review: Airman, by Eoin Colfer

Airman, by Eoin Colfer (Hyperion, 2008)

In 1878, Conor Broekhart was born in a balloon at the Paris World’s Fair. Some said he was destined to fly.

Airman is the story of his early years in the fictional Saltee islands (off Ireland) and his survival of the treachery that thrusts him into a brutal prison. And his obsession with flight, which led to the impossible.

The novel is set in the age of balloons and early gliders, when the imaginations of many inventors looked ahead to heavier-than-air craft.

It’s written like a factual account, with reference to historical figures like Queen Victoria and Benjamin Disraeli. As such, it opens with a somewhat dry prologue to set the scene. If it was my first Eoin (pronounced Owen) Colfer novel I might have stopped there, but I decided to give chapter 1 a chance. Within two or three pages, I knew I’d be finishing this book.

Airman isn’t as funny as Mr. Colfer’s Artemis Fowl books, although it definitely has its moments. It’s meant for young adult readers, but carries enough depth to appeal to adults as well. Certain elements stretch reality a bit, but it’s fiction, after all. Swashbuckling fiction, at that.

I’ve enjoyed the Artemis Fowl series, and am happy to see there’ll be one more adventure: Artemis Fowl and the Last Guardian, releasing July 2012. He’s also released his first novel for adults, the crime caper Plugged.

[Book from my personal library.]

Introduction to the Wheel of Time Series

Lovers of epic fantasy, have you read the Wheel of Time series yet? If not, here’s an inexpensive way to have a taste. The rest of the books are bound to be in your local library.

Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series is amazing, and Brandon Sanderson has proved himself to be the perfect choice to write the final installments after Mr. Jordan’s death (working from detailed notes).

If you’re not familiar with the series, TOR books has a special eBook offer: part one of the first book for 99 cents. [It's a long book.] Start now, or start re-reading now, and maybe you’ll be ready for A Memory of Light when it rolls out … before year-end, I hope.

The TOR site says:

The Wheel of Time is a truly epic fantasy series, spanning three decades and fourteen books, and representing many lifetimes’ worth of creativity both on and off the page. [Read the full post and find eBook purchase links here.]

Writer’s Block

I love writing fiction. I’ve had some short stories published and am revising two novel manuscripts in hopes of publication. This Christmas, my characters “bought” me one of the novelty shirts from Signals.com:

My youngest son, who shares my fiction habit, wrapped it on their behalf. This is the tag he wrote:

(If you can’t make that out, it says “Yours, from the voices.” With a heart.)