Giveaway! Enter to win a copy of 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Stefan (Far Beyond Reality)

2312Well, I’ve made it no secret that I love 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson. There’s my review. There’s my interview with the author. And there’s Far Beyond Reality’s Best of 2012 list. (Of course I’m not the only one: the novel was shortlisted for the Hugo, Nebula and Locus Awards since I posted my review, and won the Nebula!)

So with the recent release of the shiny new paperback edition of 2312, I thought it’d be nice to set up another giveaway! Thanks to the kind people at Orbit, I have one paperback copy of 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson up for grabs, for one lucky reader in the US or Canada.

To enter, simply send an email with subject line “2312” to fbrgiveaway AT gmail DOT com with your full name and mailing address. One entry per person, please: multiple entries will result in immediate disqualification, but please feel free to tell your friends! Please note again that, at the publisher’s request, this giveaway is limited to the US and Canada.

The giveaway will end on Sunday, July 7th at 11:59 PM, and I’ll announce the winner the following day. Void where prohibited by law, rules are subject to change, harmful when swallowed, batteries not included.

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The Corpse Reader by Antonio Garrido

Posted on June 28, 2013 by Stefan (Far Beyond Reality)

TheCorpseReaderThe Corpse Reader by Antonio Garrido came to my attention thanks to a blurb I saw on Booklist: “CSI: Song Dynasty”. Having read Guy Gavriel Kay’s excellent River of Stars relatively recently (my review, author interview), I was eager for more stories set in the Song Dynasty, and this story about Song Cí, the 13th Century pioneer of forensic pathology, sounded perfect. To be clear: The Corpse Reader is a historical novel, rather than the fantasy-based-on-history “quarter turn to the fantastic” fiction Guy Gavriel Kay writes, but I’ve been trying to read more historical fiction lately so I decided to give it a try.

From the publisher:

After his grandfather dies, avid scholar and budding forensic investigator Cí Song begrudgingly gives up his studies to help his family. But when another tragedy strikes, he’s forced to run and is also deemed a fugitive.

Dishonored, he has no choice but to accept work as a lowly gravedigger, a position that allows him to sharpen his corpse-reading skills. Soon, he can deduce whether a person killed himself—or was murdered.

Continue reading →

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Giveaway winner! (The Daedalus Incident giveaway)

Posted on June 27, 2013 by Stefan (Far Beyond Reality)

TheDaedalusIncidentThe winner of last week’s giveaway is…

Brittany M. of Alpharetta, GA

Congratulations, Brittany! Your copy of The Daedalus Incident by Michael J. Martinez (my review) should reach you soon.

And… for those of you who didn’t win this time: thanks for dropping by and participating. Make sure to keep an eye on Far Beyond Reality (if you don’t have a replacement for Google Reader yet, may I suggest Bloglovin or The Old Reader) because I’ll have another great giveaway coming up very soon.

(Also, new reviews! Any day now. Promise.)

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Lookin’ Good: 23 Years On Fire by Joel Shepherd

Posted on June 24, 2013 by Stefan (Far Beyond Reality)

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23YearsOnFireI’ve been going on for years now about how under-appreciated the Australian SF and fantasy author Joel Shepherd is. He’s written a great SF series about Cassandra Kresnov, a synthetic person and fascinating multi-dimensional kickass heroine (Crossover, Breakaway and Killswitch), and a great fantasy series entitled A Trial of Blood and Steel (Sasha, Petrodor, Tracato and Haven) about Sashandra Lenayin (another complex and kick-ass female protagonist) that should be a treat for any fans of George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones out there.

(I reviewed all of these books back when I was part of the Fantasy Literature team – you can find those reviews on the author’s page at FanLit if you’re interested.)

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The Daedalus Incident by Michael J. Martinez (includes giveaway!)

Posted on June 21, 2013 by Stefan (Far Beyond Reality)

TheDaedalusIncidentBefore I get to the actual review, a brief side-note: the story of this book’s publication is interesting in itself. The Daedalus Incident was originally scheduled to be released a while back, but then the whole Night Shade Books situation happened, putting the novel’s future in limbo. Much has been written about this, but for the purposes of this review, the most important point is that the situation now appears to be resolved. The book’s already available in electronic formats, and I’m told that it’s scheduled to be the very first print release by the newly reconfigured Night Shade Books after its acquisition by Skyhorse Publishing and Start Publishing.

(Edit: Since this review was posted, author Michael J. Martinez was kind enough to write a guest post about this topic for Far Beyond Reality. You can read it here.)

So. I reviewed the novel for Tor.com a while back, based on an early electronic ARC I received from the author. This was one of those books that jumped out at me and just begged to be read and reviewed, and since I had trouble getting a copy from NSB (understandably, in retrospect), I ended up just contacting the author. I’m glad I did, because in addition to getting an early look at the novel, I also got the chance to chat with Michael J. Martinez and gain a valuable new perspective on the NSB situation.

When this review was originally published at Tor.com, the book’s future was still uncertain. I’m re-posting it today to help make people aware that The Daedalus Incident is now available in electronic formats and soon will be as an actual paper book. I’m also excited to offer a giveaway (EDIT: now concluded), and I’ll have a guest post by Michael J. Martinez appearing here in the next few weeks.

But first, after this long introduction, the review!

Continue reading →

Posted in Fantasy, Giveaways, Reviews, Science Fiction | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Giveaway winner! (Love Minus Eighty giveaway)

Posted on June 20, 2013 by Stefan (Far Beyond Reality)

LoveMinusEightyThe winner of last week’s giveaway is:

Miranda J. of Seattle, WA

Congratulations, Miranda! Your copy of Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh is on its way, courtesy of Orbit.

And… for those of you who didn’t win this time: thanks for dropping by the site and participating, and make sure to keep an eye on Far Beyond Reality. I will have a few more giveaways coming up very soon…

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YOU by Austin Grossman

Posted on June 19, 2013 by Stefan (Far Beyond Reality)

You

We were feeling something they never had— a physical link into the world of the fictional— through the skeletal muscles of the arm to the joystick to the tiny person on the screen, a person in an imagined world. It was crude but real.

Father, forgive me, for I have sinned: it’s been a month since I last read Austin Grossman’s second novel You, and I still haven’t reviewed it. I’m not even sure how to approach reviewing it. I read it. I loved it, despite a few misgivings. I thought about it a lot. I went back and reread a few chapters, to see if I really loved it as much as I thought I did, and to see if those few misgivings were really justified. I did, and they were, yet I still didn’t know how to sum up my reading experience in such a way that it would possibly make sense for others.

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Giveaway! Enter to win a copy of Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Stefan (Far Beyond Reality)

LoveMinusEightyWell, if my review and the guest posts by author Will McIntosh and Art Director Kirk Benshoff weren’t enough to convince you yet, maybe the chance of winning a free copy of Love Minus Eighty will do the trick? Thanks to the generosity of the folks at Orbit, I have one gorgeous trade paperback copy up for grabs for a lucky reader in the US or Canada.

To enter, simply send an email with subject line “LOVE” to fbrgiveaway AT gmail DOT com with your full name and mailing address. One entry per person, please: multiple entries will result in immediate disqualification, but please feel free to tell your friends! Please note again that, at the publisher’s request, this giveaway is limited to the US and Canada.

The giveaway will end on Wednesday, June 19th at 11:59 PM, and I’ll announce the winner the following day. Void where prohibited by law, rules are subject to change, harmful when swallowed, batteries not included.

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Guest Post: Designing the Cover of Will McIntosh’s Love Minus Eighty, by Kirk Benshoff (Art Director at Orbit)

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Stefan (Far Beyond Reality)

LoveMinusEightyThe cover of Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh is a thing of beauty. It’s hard to really get the full effect without holding the book in your hands, so imagine: the trade paperback is wrapped in a gorgeous transparent vellum. The vellum itself shows the hand, reaching out to the reader, and the title logo. Remove the vellum and you just see the picture of a young woman underneath, on the actual book cover. Put the two together again and you have the multi-layered image seen to the right. It’s beautiful and striking and it all fits in perfectly with the novel’s theme and content. You can see the two separate images and the combined effect here (hover over the image to click through to the next one).

I was so impressed with this innovative design that I asked Orbit’s Art Director Kirk Benshoff to write a guest post about the design process. Please enjoy this inside look at a very important aspect of book production.

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Guest Post: Leaps in Time and Too-Much-Techno Phobia, by Will McIntosh

Posted on June 11, 2013 by Stefan (Far Beyond Reality)
Will McIntosh (photo credit: Paul Harrison)

Will McIntosh (photo credit: Paul Harrison)

As announced yesterday, I’m proud to present this guest post by author Will McIntosh, whose new novel Love Minus Eighty is out today. You can find my review here.

Will McIntosh’s debut novel, Soft Apocalypse, was a finalist for both a Locus award and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award.  His second novel, Hitchers, was published in 2012 by Night Shade Books.  He is a frequent contributor to Asimov’s, where his story “Bridesicle” won the 2010 Reader’s Award, as well as the 2010 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.  His third novel, Love Minus Eighty (based on “Bridesicle”) is published by Orbit books in June, 2013.  Will recently moved to Williamsburg, Virginia with his wife Alison and twins Hannah and Miles.  He left his position as a psychology professor in Southeast Georgia to write full time, and still teaches as an adjunct, at the College of William and Mary.  Will is represented by Seth Fishman at The Gernert Company.

In this guest post, Will explains why the ending of Love Minus Eighty is so different from the story “Bridesicle”, something I questioned in my review of the novel.

Continue reading →

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