The Book Plank

The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff, Gale Women #1 First volume of an urban fantasy series from the author of The Blood Books. The Gale family can change the world with the charms they cast, and they like to keep this in the family. Alysha Gale is tired of having all her aunts try to run her life, both personally and magically. So when the letter from her Gran arrives willing her a "junk" shop in Calgary, Alysha jumps at the chance. It isn't until she gets there that she realizes her customers are fey. And no one told her there's trouble brewing in Calgary-trouble so big that even calling in the family may not save the day... Urban Fantasy comes in many forms and shapes and I just found another one! Having read her first book in the Confederation series: Valour's Choice, her Tanya Huff showed that she knows how to write cool characters and an even better storyline. The Enchantment Emporium is the first book in the Gale Women series and promises a f...

Author interview with Mark Smylie Author bio: While The Barrow marks his first published prose novel, Mark Smylie has worked as a writer, illustrator, editor, and publisher for over a decade. His epic military fantasy comic book, Artesia , was first published by Sirius Entertainment in 1999, and then later by Archaia, a publishing company that he founded. He was nominated for the Russ Manning Award for Best Newcomer in 1999, and for an Eisner Award for Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition in 2001. His illustrations have appeared in works from Wizards of the Coast (for Dungeons & Dragons ), White Wolf (for Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse ), Brigand Publishing (for Avlis ), Kobold Quarterly , and collectible card games from AEG (L5R and Warlords). He contributed a short story to the Eisner-Award winning Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard anthology; designed and illustrated a roleplaying game based on Artesia that won the Origins Award for Role...

Wild Cards III: Jokers Wild by George R.R. Marin & The Wild Card Trust, Wild Cards #3 The streets of New York have erupted in celebration of Wild Card Day-the annual event held every September 15th to remember the dead and cherish the living. It is a day for fireworks and street fairs and parades, for political rallies and memorial banquets, for drinking and fighting in the alleys. With each passing year, the festivities become larger and more fevered. And this year-1986, the fortieth anniversary-promises to be the biggest and best Wild Card Day ever. The media and tourists have discovered the celebration, and taverns and restaurants expect record-setting business. But lurking in the background is a twisted genius who cares nothing for fun and festivity. The Astronomer has only one concern: destruction. The Wild Cards series has been on my to read list for quiet some time now, I haven't read the first book in the series yet but jumped right into the fray with Insi...

Author Interview with E.J. Swift Author bio: E. J. (Emma) Swift is an English writer who lives and works in London. Her short fiction has previously been published in Interzone magazine. Osiris is her first novel, and the first in a trilogy: The Osiris Project. When not writing, Emma can usually be found festooned with cats, attempting to grow things in an urban garden, or practising aerial circus skills. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   BP: First off could you give us a short introduction as to who E. J. Swift is? What are your likes/dislikes and hobbies? ES: Writing has always been my first love, but if I wasn’t spending most of my free time writing, I’d probably have run away with the circus by now (that still might happen). I’ve always loved dance and in the last few years I’ve become addicted to aerial circus skills. Other than that, home life entails a lot of tea, a lot of...

Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett, Discworld #40 To the consternation of the patrician, Lord Vetinari, a new invention has arrived in Ankh-Morpork - a great clanging monster of a machine that harnesses the power of all the elements: earth, air, fire and water. This being Ankh-Morpork, it's soon drawing astonished crowds, some of whom caught the zeitgeist early and arrive armed with notepads and very sensible rainwear. Moist von Lipwig is not a man who enjoys hard work - as master of the Post Office, the Mint and the Royal Bank his input is, of course, vital... but largely dependent on words, which are fortunately not very heavy and don't always need greasing. However, he does enjoy being alive, which makes a new job offer from Vetinari hard to refuse... Steam is rising over Discworld, driven by Mister Simnel, the man wi' t'flat cap and sliding rule who has an interesting arrangement with the sine and cosine. Moist will have to grapple with gallons of gr...

Author interview Sebastien de Castell Author bio: Sebastien de Castell had just finished a degree in Archaeology when he started work on his first dig. Four hours later he realized how much he actually hated archaeology and left to pursue a very focused career as a musician, ombudsman, interaction designer, fight choreographer, teacher, project manager, actor, and product strategist. His only defence against the charge of unbridled dilettantism is that he genuinely likes doing these things and that, in one way or another, each of these fields plays a role in his writing. He sternly resists the accusation of being a Renaissance Man in the hopes that more people will label him that way. Sebastien lives in Vancouver, Canada with his lovely wife and two belligerent cats ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Sebastien, welcome over at The Book Plank and for taking your time to answer these few questions. SdC: I'm del...