Babel Clash

It seems like I started working on Babel Clash just last week, but it’s already time for me to hand it off to someone else.  I’ll be taking on a completely different set of responsibilities here at Borders.  I won’t be able to resist checking in on Babel Clash and commenting every now and then (especially considering the super awesome - and I do mean really, really, really awesome - group of authors we have scheduled over the next few months), but day-to-day operations here and on Twitter now belong to Mark & Dane.

Welcome to Babel Clash, Mark & Dane!

Well, guys, was I right about buckling up or what?  Jaye & Nicole, it has been a laugh riot having you both on Babel Clash.  You’ve made me blush (which is actually quite easy despite the fact that I come from a long line of sailors) and you’ve made me think.  Jaye, you’ll have to send me a “Destroyer of the Innocent” business card once you’ve had them made.  Nicole, I don’t think we’ve ever had quite as sensational of a final post as yours.  Cheers, ladies!

Next up, we’ll be going for a zombie apocalypse theme as we welcome Mira Grant & Jesse Petersen!

Mira Grant’s Feed envisions a world in which we’ve cured cancer and the common cold, but created something far more deadly in the process.  This new virus slowly takes over bodies and minds with one simple instruction: FEED.

Jesse Petersen’s Married with Zombies, on the other hand tells the story of Sarah & David, a couple on the verge of divorce and in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.  Will the couple that slays together stay together?

Welcome to Babel Clash, Mira & Jesse!

I have really enjoyed reading what Marjorie & Kelley have had to say about comics, writing, and climbing over (or pushing through) writer’s block, but it is once again time to pass the torch.  Anything you want to add, Marjorie or Kelley, before we hand things over to . . .

Nicole Peeler & Jaye Wells!

Nicole writes the Jane True series.  It’s about selkies (among other fantastical creatures), which have been this blogger’s favorite mythological creature for a long while!  Oh, and she’s also a professor in the MFA in Popular Fiction program at Seton Hill in Pittsburgh.

Jaye Wells is the author of the Sabina Kane series, a wicked, dark, funny, and just plain awesome take on urban fantasy.  After years as a freelance writer and magazine editor, Jaye decided to reject reality and create her own, much to my delight.

So buckle up, it’s going to be a fun two weeks as we welcome Nicole and Jaye to Babel Clash!

While I have really enjoyed reading what Jeaniene and Jocelynn have to say about romance in fantasy, sparkly vampires (or lack thereof), and whether or not they’re series junkies, it is time to say goodbye and thank them for spending time on Babel Clash for the past two weeks!  It has been an absolute pleasure having you both on.  Anything you’d like to say (about Eternal Kiss of Darkness & Wait for Dusk, or just in general) before we hand it off to our next guests?

Kelley Armstrong, author of the bestselling Women of the Otherworld series.  The most recent volume, Waking the Witch, just went on sale last Tuesday.

And Marjorie M. Liu, who writes the bestselling Dirk & Steele  and Hunter Kiss series.  A Wild Light, the newest volume in the Hunter Kiss series also came out this past Tuesday.

Welcome to Babel Clash!

First, I’d like to thank Mark & Justina for an excellent run on Babel Clash.  You were both exceptionally thought-provoking and engaging.  It was an amazing conversation!

Now, I’d like to welcome our next Babel Clash guests . . . Jocelynn Drake & Jeaniene Frost.

Jocelynn is the author of the Dark Days series which chronicles the story of nightwalker Mira and her best enemy/friend, the vampire slayer Danaus.  The newest book in the series, Wait for Dusk, is available 7/27. 

Eternal Kiss of Darkness, also available 7/27, is the second book in Jeaniene’s Night Huntress World series.  It takes place in the exciting world of vampires, half-vampires, and bounty hunters we were first introduced to in Halfway to the Grave.

Jocelynn and Jeaniene have some excellent topics lined up for discussion over the next couple of weeks.  Welcome, ladies!

Not really, but I’ve always wanted to use that as a title for a blog post.

We are starting something new here at Babel Clash this week.  We will be syndicating the occasional post from our friends over at orbitbooks.net.  We’ll continue to feature live authors and engage in the same kind of conversations we’ve always had here on the blog, but now we’ll be adding extra posts from Orbit every now and then to stir things up even further.

First post goes up today.  Let us know what you think!

It’s time again to say thank you to our current guests and introduce our next author.  Thank you, Paul & Danielle for your excellent posts (for your excellent books, as well!) and for making us consider what SF/F really is!  Any last posts before we turn it over to an author I’ve being reading avidly for quite some time now?

Guy Gavriel Kay will be joining us from China where he is touring for his latest book, Under Heaven.  Welcome, GGK!

Have you heard about a little book called The Passage?  If you haven’t, you should immediately check out Lev’s Grossman’s excellent review of this book.  Waste no time!  Read the review!  You have just enough time to read what Lev has to say before picking up your own copy of The Passage when it goes on sale tomorrow, June 8.

If you have heard of The Passage, you’ll understand why I’m so excited about the post Justin Cronin wrote for Babel Clash. 

“A confession: I have never blogged before.  I’ve Facebooked, I’ve tweeted, but never have I blogged.  In a recent Facebook status update, I wrote: ‘Justin Cronin is blog free since 1962.’”

My first two books ‘happened’ before the ascendancy of social networking, back when the Internet was slower and crankier and didn’t shoot information into your cell phone like water from a fire-hose.  There were no book trailers or Iphone apps, no Goodreads or Librarything.  When you interacted with a reader, you did it the old fashioned way: you wrote a book, and they read it.  If you were lucky, you might get to visit some bookstores and read it to them, and afterwards sign some copies, and exchange a few words.  But that was pretty much it.

Obviously, times have changed, and for the better.  I’m somebody for whom the solitary life of writing suits me perfectly well, but not always.  Once I’ve written a book, and stumble out of my office like a bear from his cave, blinking in the sunlight, I’m pretty desperate for company.  A book only truly exists when it moves through the mind of a reader.  Writing a book without hearing what people think o fit is like dancing by yourself to music nobody else can hear.

The months leading up to the publication of THE PASSAGE have shown me how different the world of readers and writers has become while I was locked away.  Already I’ve seen hundreds of reviews on various sites.  Most have been terrific, which, believe me, is exactly what any writer wants to hear; but all have been encouraging in some fundamental way.  The book is out there!  People read it!  They have opinions, questions, something to say!  It may seem obvious, but when you’re writing a book, it really isn’t: you’re not alone.  The book isn’t just something in your private little head, like a crazy dream you try to explain but never quite can.  Hearing from readers, and better still, meeting them, makes the book something much larger, no longer in your control, if it ever actually was.  I’m writing volume two now, so the dream of THE PASSAGE isn’t over; but how great it is to wake up, if only for a little while.”

Thank you, Justin, for sending your first blog post ever to Babel Clash!

It is time, once again, to thank our current author guest and pass the torch on to someone new.  Thank you, Alastair, for all of your brilliant posts and excellent conversations.  Do you have anything you’d like to say to wrap up your time with us?

Tomorrow, we’ll hear from Danielle Trussoni, author of Angelology.

And the following week, Paul Hoffman will join us.  His book, Left Hand of God, goes on sale June 15.

Welcome, Danielle & Paul!

It’s that time again.  Adrian & George, it has been an absolute pleasure.  From Batman to dinner guests to steampunk, I’ve been having a great time the whole way.  Any last thoughts on who you’d like to dine with, comments on how the Dark Knight is superior to the Man of Steel, or plain old plugs for your new books before we turn it over to our next guest?

Alastair Reynolds will kick off his time with us by disscussing pessimism/optimism in science fiction & fantasy, so be sure to tune in.