Author's Workspaces

Recently, someone asked me post a picture of my workspace -- the place where I write my novels. I've have seen other people asking this of authors in the past, and I must say it is interesting to see the diversity in various workspaces.  Awhile ago, I changed my picture on my author Facebook page to focus on that glorious place where the "magic happens. And here it is:

A few things about this picture:

• Yes, it is always that clean. I abhor mess, especially where I work so if I bring out a book or something for reference, I use it and put it back (what this picture doesn't show is the bookcases on the wall behind me.
  
• Yes, the clocks don't match. I love the look of the wall-clock (given to me as a gift) so I display it proudly on the wall...but it "ticks" loudly and when I write I want complete silence.
  
• The dagger is my "Stabby" from reddit's Fantasy sub. It's an engraved award given out at the end of year. Mine was a community achievement award for best overall redditor.
  
• The coffee mug is always by my side. I'm fueled by coffee, especially since I do most of my writing in the morning.
  
• My computer is a Mac - which I love dearly. It's clean and beautifully designed. The fact I have no wires for my keyboard and touchpad  (preferred over mouse) is something I appreciate to no end.  Robin accuses me of loving my Mac more than her...that's not true, but I must confess I spend more time with the Mac then with her....hmmmm.
  
• The microphone and earphones are used for podcasting. I also sometimes use earphones...for instance if Robin is on the phone, as any noise is distracting.
  
• The lamp on the left is new -  a big splurge from a recent royalty check.

My feet are up on the bedpost - yes, my office is in my bedroom - REALLY short commute.  Robin is in the process of getting me a "writing cabana" - a separate building where I can isolate myself. The building is actually "done" and will be delivered to some land we bought in the mountains as soon as the ground has dried out and can accept a truck with a heavy payload.

Authors Helping Authors: Thierry Sagnier's Thirst

I have a local writing critique group that I don't go to very often. It occurs on the same night that I head out to the pub, and sometimes authors I'm friends with come meet me at the bar before or after. When someone I know has a piece up for critique, I do go and help them out with my feedback (most of which I share privately because I'm a very picky reader). My goal in critiquing is to help the author be better, not to stroke their ego and I'm a harsh critical reader.

At a few meetings I've come across some submissions by Thierry Sagnier.  I don't really know him, but his work was always well received by the group. One thing led to another and we (my wife and I) ended up meeting him for lunch to talk about various things.

Robin has a way of volunteering me for things, and I knew after a short while she was going to ask me to "whip up a cover." Luckily, I had already read the book and really enjoyed it, providing a bit of help on restructuring of the start.

For her part, Robin volunteered to do the book's layout and create a new ebook file (formatting in the old version was jacked up for reasons none of us understood).  She also was willing to help him get the book posted on various sites and making the paperback available for sale.

Thierry hired a copy editor to go through the book from top to bottom and it has now been released and is live on goodreads and Amazon.

As I said, I really enjoyed the book, and Thierry is an accomplished author. He was a Pushcart Prize Nominee and has been writing since the 1970's including works for The Washington Post. Thirst is a hard-boiled suspense thriller set in Washington DC.  Here's a bit about the book:

A fortune in drugs is missing. Finding them starts with finding her.  Colin isn’t a cop. Joe is, but isn’t up for this. Mamadou was an excellent police officer back in Senegal, but in Washington DC he drives a limo. Josie’s just a girl—a recovering crack addict fed up with her parents and with Herbie, her boyfriend. She’s planning on giving him a piece of her mind. Trouble is, Herbie stole a shipment of drugs, and now he’s dead.  And let’s not forget Mollie Catfish… Now the Zulu wants his drugs, Mamadou wants revenge, Joe just wants to do his job for once, and Colin wants to save his girlfriend’s daughter. All Josie wants is to remember what Herbie might have told her, what the Zulu insists she knows. If she doesn’t—she’s dead too. Mollie? She wants it all. Behind the polished marble of Washington DC, lies dark alleys where everyone thirsts for something.

I should note that I rarely give blurbs for books, although I'm asked to all the time. Remember how I started this post about being a "picky reader"? Well I have no reservation about providing one for Thierry's book so here goes:

"Sagnier builds characters as solid, gritty, and as broken as a DC street, with prose that

lights up like monuments on a starry night." — Michael J. Sullivan,

best-selling author of The Riyria Revelations

So if you happen to read suspense thrillers, please take a look at the sample of Thirst or check out Theirry's goodreads page and it to your "to be read pile."  If you do give the book a try, please let me know what you think.

Tools for Authors: Grammarly

Sorry, I missed this post last week. Things got pretty crazy here, and I couldn't get it written in time. I'm trying to use Saturdays for Tools for Authors.  And previously spoke about Natural Reader. Today I want to talk about Grammarly.

What is Grammarly?

According tot their site it is:

Grammarly is the world's leading writing enhancement app. It checks for more than 250 types of spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors, enhances vocabulary usage, and suggests citations. 

Widely used, they have more than 4 million registered users, including myself.

Here's an example of Grammarly in action.

One of the features I find particularly nice is that you can classify they "type" of the writing.  In other words, something more formal (like a research paper) will have slightly different analysis criteria than say a creative writing piece like a novel.

Now it should go without saying that Grammarly is not a replacement for a good editor, but it does do a good job pointing out some common problems and alerting you to something that might be an issue. The little "x" on the right can be used to ignore something that you know is correct. If you are not sure what it's trying to say, then the down arrow will give you more information.

How much does it cost?

Well like most programs it has a free trial.  It also offers several different payment plans:

• $29.95 if you get a month-by-month subscription
• $19.98 if you get it for a quarter (3 months) at a time
• $11.66 if you commit to a full year (which is what I did)

Additional Resources

Grammarly also has a Handbook, which you can use to learn the rules of grammar with topics such as how to use commas or hyphens. 

I've found Grammarly to be well worth the money. Check it out, and maybe you'll agree.

Great Eight under a buck

The GrimDark Alliance posted a list of Eight Great Short Stories under $0.99.  And I thought I would share it. Here is a link.

Here's the full list and where to get them:

• The Face in the Window by Brian McClellan ($0.99 Amazon)
• The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr by George R.R. Martin ($0.99 Amazon)
• Select Mode by Mark Lawrence (Free Wattpad)
• Sleeping Beauty by Mark Lawrence ($0.99 Amazon)
• The Viscount and the Witch by Michael J. Sullivan (Free: Amazon | Wattpad | From Author)
• The Jester by Michael J. Sullivan ($0.99 Amazon | Free: Wattpad | From Author)
• Allanon’s Quest by Terry Brooks ($0.99 Amazon)
• Hisses and Wings by T. Frohock & Alex Bledsoe ($0.99 Amazon)

Enjoy!

2014 Reddit Best Novel List

In 2014 /r/fantasy had more than 50,000 members and p0x0rz created a poll resulting in "the big list" to find the top series recommended by members of the board.  When all the voting was in (511 votes) a list of 105 series were compiled.

Here's the complete list:

1. A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin  
2. The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien  
3. The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss 
4. The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson  
5. The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan  
6. The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson  
7. The Gentleman Bastards by Scott Lynch  
8. Discworld by Terry Pratchett  
9. The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher  
10. Harry Potter by JK Rowling  
11. The First Law by Joe Abercrombie  
12. Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson  
13. The Dark Tower by Stephen King  
14. The Broken Empire by Mark Lawrence  
15. The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb  
16. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien  
17. The Black Company by Glen Cook  
18. His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman  
19. Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K Leguin  
20. American Gods by Neil Gaiman  
21. The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis  
22. The Drenai Saga by David Gemmell  
23. Watership Down by Richard Adams  
24. The Riyria Revelations by Michael J Sullivan  
25. Prince of Nothing by R Scott Bakker  
26. The Belgariad by David Eddings  
27. Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay  
28. Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolf  
29. The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny  
30. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke  
31. Raven's Shadow by Anthony Ryan  
32. The Riftwar Saga by Raymond Feist  
33. The Demon Cycle by Peter V Brett  
34. The Last Unicorn by Peter S Beagle  
35. Lightbringer by Brent Weeks  
36. Codex Alera by Jim Butcher  
37. The Coldfire Trilogy by CS Friedman 
38. Dragonlance Novels by Various Authors (linked the first one listed on Goodreads)  
39. The Sarantine Mosaic by Guy Gavriel Kay  
40. The Liveship Traders by Robin Hobb  
41. The Sandman by Neil Gaiman  
42. The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien  
43. Lions of AlRassan by Guy Gavriel Kay  
44. The Magicians by Lev Grossman  
45. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman  
46. The Princess Bride by William Goldman  
47. The Tawny Man Trilogy by Robin Hobb  
48. The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski  
49. Acts of Caine by Matthew Woodring Stover  
50. Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie  
51. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephend R Donaldson  
52. The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper  
53. The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie  
54. Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams  
55. Abhorsen by Garth Nix  
56. Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman  
57. The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon  
58. The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel kay  
59. The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks  
60. The Powder Mage by Brian McClellan 
61. A Song for Arbonne by Guy Gavriel Kay
62. Vlad Taltos by Steven Brust  
63. The BasLag Cycle by China Mieville  
64. The Black Jewels by Anne Bishop  
65. Conan the Cimmerian by Robert E Howard  
66. Dune Chronicles by Frank Herbert  
67. The Dying Earth by Jack Vance  
68. Elric by Michael Moorcock  
69. The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson  
70. The Empire Trilogy by Ramond Feist and Janny Wurts  
71. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman  
72. Kushiel's Legacy by Jacqueline Carey  
73. The Long Price Quartet by Daniel Abraham  
74. Night Watch and Day Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko  
75. The Once and Future King by TH White  
76. A Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde  
77. Red Country by Joe Abercrombie  
78. The Saga of Recluse by LE Modesitt Jr  
79. Stardust by Neil Gaiman 
80. The Sun Sword by Michelle West  
81. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle 
82. Alices Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll  
83. Bartimaeus by Jonathon Stroud  
84. Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold  
85. The Dagger and the Coin by Daniel Abraham  
86. Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey  
87. Elantris by Brandon Sanderson  
88. Exiles by Melanie Rawn  
89. Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake  
90. Guardian of the Flame by Joel Rosenberg  
91. The Inheritence Cycle by Christopher Paolini  
92. The Iron Dragon's Daughter by Michael Swanwick
93. Last Call by Tim Powers 
94. The Legend of Eli Monpress by Rachel Aaron  
95. Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny  
96. The Low Town Trilogy by Daniel Polanksy  
97. Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock  
98. The Old Kingdom Trilogy by Garth Nix  
99. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster  
100. The Redemption of Althalus by David and Leigh Eddings  
101. RiddleMaster by Patricia A McKillip  
102. River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay  
103. Song for the Basilisk by Patricia A McKillip  
104. The Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind  
105. War for the Oaks by Emma Bull  

For 2015 there were more than 73,000 members and the "voting list" was determining authors rather than series. The results aren't yet in (the thread has more than 800 posts), but you can see the votes here.

There is another poll going on related to series. You can vote for it here.

It's St. Patty's day - which means Robin and I will dine alone

Every year is the same. St. Pattys means I'm going to whip up my FAMOUS mustard creme sauce and laddle it over a big plate of corned beef, cabbage, and boiled potatoes.

Robin and I look forward to this meal all year long, and even tried having it on non March 17th days as well. The problem is it's the sure-fired way for our kids to scatter.  How can the fruit of my loins turn their backs on a timed-honored Irish tradition?  Sacrilege!

Oh well, more for me and I'll lift a Guinness and sigh in ecstasy as I dig in.  Hope your day is as good as mine will be ;-)

Authors helping authors: Underrated and Underread Fantasy

If you love fantasy and haven't been to the reddit Fantasy sub you really should check it out. It's an amazing group for a number of reasons including:

• A lot of authors hang out there and are very open to interactions.
• A fabulous set of moderators that keep the group growing by leaps and bounds by fostering an incredibly friendly and respectful online presence.
• Really great contributing members who have great posts and comments.

As is the nature of such forums, a lot of names come up time and time again in recommendations: Patrick Rothfuss, Brandom Sanderson, Joe Abercrombie, even myself - for which I'm very grateful. But there are a ton of quality authors that just don't get the mentions that they should. 

From time to time some of the members hold polls and I thought one of the best was a poll to highlight those authors that aren't often mentioned, but should be. Running these polls can take a lot of work and I'm grateful for p0x0rz for putting it together. You can find the full list here. But I'm reproducing it here sorted alphabetically by author's first name.

So, if you find yourself looking for something new, I suggest you check out some of these books. You just might find your next favorite read.

Author	Book or Series
Adrian Faulkner	Four Realms, the
Adrian Tchaikovsky	Shadows of the Apt
AE Marling	Brood of Bones
Alex Bledsoe	Eddie LaCrosse series
Andre Norton	Witch World
Anne Lyle	Night Masque series
Anthony Horowitz	Gatekeepers, the
Ari Marmell	Goblin Corps, the
Barbara Hambly	Those Who Hunt the Night | Darwarth Trilogy
Barry Hughart	Bridge of Birds
Ben S Dobson	Scriber
Blake Charlton	Spellwright
Bradley Beaulieu	Lays of Anuskaya
Brian D Anderson	Godling Chronicles
Brian Ruckley	Godless World
Brian Staveley	Emperor's Blades, the
Caitlin R. Kiernan	Drowning Girl, the
Carol Berg	Lighthouse Duet | Rai Kirah trilogy | Song of the Beast
Carrie Vaughn	Discord's Apple
Catherynne M Valente	Orphan's Tales, the
Chris Claremont and George Lucas	Chronicles of the Shadow War
Chris Kellen	Sorcerer's Code series
Chris Wooding	Tales of the Ketty Jay series
Christopher Buehlman	Between Two Fires
Christopher Kellen	Arbiter Codex, the/ Elements of Sorcery | Kane Series
CJ Cherryh	Fortress series
Courtney Schafer	Whitefire Crossing
D. B. Jackson	Thieftaker
Daniel Abraham	Dagger and Coin Series | Long Price Quartet, the
Daniel Polansky	Low Town
David Dalglish	Shadowdance series
David Gemmell	Hawk Queen duology | Troy series
David Hair	Moontide Quartet
Dawn Cook	Decoy Princess, the
Diana Wynne Jones	Fire and Hemlock
Django Wexler	John Golden: Freelance Debugger | Thousand Names, the
Donna Boyd	Devancroix Dynasty
Douglas Hulick	Tale of the Kin, A series
EE Knight	Age of Fire series
Eliezer Yudkowsky	Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality
Elizabeth Bear	Eternal Sky
Ellen Kushner	Riverside series, the
Emma Bull	Territory
Eve Forward	Villains by Necessity
Felix Gilman	Half Made World
Francis Pauli	Kingdoms Gone series
Fritz Leiber	Lankhmar series
Gene Wolfe	Latro in the Mist
Genevieve Valentine	Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti
George Macdonald	At the Back of the North Wind
Glen Cook	Dread Empire | Garrett P.I.
Glenda Larke	Havenstar | Watergivers trilogy
Greg Keyes	Kingdom of Thorn and Bone
Gregory S Close	In Siege of Daylight
Ha Il-Kwon	Annarasumanara
Harry Harrison	Hammer and the Cross series
Helen Lowe	Wall of Night series
Holly Lisle	Korre series, the
Hope Mirrlees	Lud-in-the-Mist
Howard Andrew Jones	Chronicles of Sword and Sand
Ian Tregillis	Milkweed Triptych
Irene Radford	Dragon Nimbus, the
Isobelle Carmody	Green Monkey Dreams
J. V. Jones	Barbed Coil, the
J.D. Hallowell	War of Blades
J.M.M. McDermott	Dogsland trilogy
J.S. Morin	Twinborn series
Jack Vance	Lyonesse | Dying Earth series
Jacqueline Carey	Sundering, the
Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennet	Havemercy
James Clemens	Banned and the Banished series
James Sutter	Death's Heretic
Janny Wurts	War of Light and Shadow
Jeff Salyards	Bloodsounder's Arc
Jeff VanderMeer	Annihilation
Jennifer Fallon	Tide Lords
Jim Grimsley	Kirith Kirin
JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst	S.
JL Doty	Gods Within series
John Brown	Servant of a Dark God
John Gwynne	Faithful and the Fallen series, the
John Marco	Tyrants and Kings and Lukien
John Morressy	Iron Angel series
Jon Sprunk	Shadow Saga
Judith Tarr	Alamut
Julian May	Saga of Pliocene Exile series
JV Jones	Sword of Shadows, a
Kage Baker	Anvil of the World | House of Stag
Kameron Hurley	Bel Dame Apocrypha
Karen Rae Levine	Sister Raven
Kate Elliot	Spiritwalker series | Crossroads Trilogy
Katherine Kurtz	Deryni
Kay Kenyon	Entire and the Rose series
Ken Scholes	Psalms of Isaak series
KJ Bishop	Etched City
KJ Parker	Folding Knife | Purple and Black | Sharps
Laini Taylor	Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy
Lavie Tidhar	Violent Century
Lindsay Buroker	Emperor's Edge, the
Lord Dunsany	King of Elfland's Daughter
Louise Cooper	Time Master Trilogy
Lyndon Hardy	Master of Five Magics
Lynn Flewelling	Luck in the Shadows | The Tamir Triad
M. Todd Gallowglas	Tears of Rage series | Halloween Jack series
Marie Brennan	Memoir by Lady Trent series
Mark Charan Newton	Legend of the Red Sun, the | Drakenfeld
Mark Frost	List of Seven
Mark T Barnes	Echoes of Empire
Markus Heitz	Dwarves
Martha Wells	Cloud Roads, the | Death of the Necromancer
Mary Gentle	Ash: A Secret History
Maryna Dyachenko	Scar, the
Mat Nastos	Wier Codex
Matthew Stover	Acts of Caine
Max Gladstone	Three Parts Dead
Mazarkis Williams	Emperor's Knife
Melina Marchetta	Finnikin of the Rock
Mercedes Yardley	Bone Angel Trilogy, the
Mervyn Peake	Gormenghast
Michael Montoure	Still Life
Michael Scott Rohan	Winter of the World series
Michael Stackpole	Once a Hero
Michael Swanwick	Iron Dragon's Daughter, the
Michelle West	Sun Sword | House War
Mike Carey	Felix Castor
Mike Shevdon	Courts of the Feyre
Miles Cameron	Traitor Son Cycle
Mitchell Hogan	Sorcery Ascendant Sequence
Moses Siregar	Black God's War
Multiple Authors	Sundering D&D series
Myke Cole	Shadow Ops series
N.K. Jemisin	Dreamblood Duology | Inheritence Trilogy
Nick Harkaway	Gone Away World, the
Nnedi Okorafor	Who Fears Death
P. C. Hodgell	Kencyrath
Pamela Dean	Tam Lin
Patrica A McKillip	Riddle Master trilogy | Alphabet of Thorn | In the Forests of Serre | Od Magic
Patricia Bray	Sword of Change, the
Paul Kearney	Monarchies of God | Macht Trilogy
Paul S Kemp	Egil and Nix series, the
Paula Volsky	Illusion
Peter Orullian	Unremembered, the
Peter Stenson	Fiend
Poul Anderson	Broken Sword
Rachel Aaron	Legend of Eli Monpress, the
Raymond Feist and Janny Wurts	Empire Series
Richard Adams	Shardik
Rob J Hayes	Ties That Bind series
Robert Asprin and Lynn Abbey	Thieves' World series edited
Robert E Howard	Savage Tales of Solomon Kane
Robert Evert	Riddle in the Stone series
Robert Holdstock	Mythago Woods
Robert Jackson Bennett	Troupe, the | American Elsewhere
Robert Silverberg	Lord Valentine's Castle
Robert VS Redick	Chathrand Voyage
Robin Lythgoe	As the Crow Flies
Rosemary Kirstein	Steerswoman
Rowena Cory Daniells	King Rolen's Kin
Russel Kirkpatrick	Fire of Heaven series
S M Wheeler	Sea Change
Saladin Ahmed	Throne of the Cresent Moon
Sam Bowring	Strange Threads Duology
Sam Sykes	Aeon's Gate series
Sarah Monette	Bone Key, the
Sean Williams	Books of the Cataclysm
Sebastien de Castell	Greatcoats series, the
Sherwood Smith	Inda
Simon Brown	Chronicles of Kydan
Simon R Green	Blue Moon Rising
Snorri Kristjansson	Valhalla Saga, the
Stella Gemmell	City, the
Stephen R Lawhead	Dragon King Trilogy | King Raven Trilogy
Steven Brust	Vlad Taltos series
Tad Williams	Bobby Dollar series | Shadowmarch Series | Otherland series
TC McCarthy	Germline
Ted Chiang	Stories of Your Life and Others
Ted Dekker	Circle, the series
Teresa Frohock	Miserere: An Autumn Tale
Terry Brooks	Genesis of Shannara, the
Tim Powers	Drawing of the Dark, the
Tom Lloyd	Twilight Reign | Empire of a Hundred Houses series, the
Wesley Chu	Lives of Tao, the
Wil Wight	Traveler's Gate
wildbow	Worm
William Horwood	Hyddenworld Quartet
William King	Gotrek and Felix series
William Nicholson	Noble Warrior Trilogy
Wu Ch-Eng-En	Monkey
Ysabeu S Wilce	Flora Segunda Series, the
Zachary Jernigan	No Return