Saturday, April 30, 2011

I know that Game of Thrones is a big deal to a lot of people. And I have to admit that I only read the free Kindle sample, and watched the first two episodes of the miniseries (which seemed to follow the sample fairly faithfully). After all, there are people who've read all of the GoT books ten times.

But I'm not falling in love with it. Is it because everyone is so sad, and mean? Is it because I feel betrayed that after a promising start with "the white walkers," magic doesn't show up again, and therefore it's just sort of vaguely medieval without being historical? Is it because there is a great deal of talking and little action, and the talking isn't exceptionally clever or interesting? Is it because Sean Bean walks around with a single, pained expression on his face -- more or less the pained expression that young Emilia Clarke has?

Oh, well, I suppose I'll keep watching for a bit.

UPDATE: Just couldn't get through episode 3.

Labels: reading books, watching TV

9:01 AM

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Monday, April 18, 2011

The Circle Cast is on the British Fantasy Awards Long List, so if you are a British Fantasy member, please vote for it!

Labels: awards

8:02 AM

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Sunday, April 17, 2011

Laurie Rezanoff of Historical Novel Review just posted this lovely review of TCC:

I thoroughly enjoyed Alex Epstein's look into her life, in Ireland and how that exile helped her to become the driven and powerful woman she was later known to be...

Alex has captured the raw energy of the land, the people of that time in history, and the mythical person who we know as Morgan Le Fay. Her encounters with power-hungry figures influenced her decisions and ensured her survival to become the Sorceress of legend. Her thirst for revenge against the man who killed her father and changed her life forever was never quenched, yet it certainly was later transferred onto Arthur.

Labels: reviews

11:38 AM

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My publisher would like to shoot a book trailer for The Circle Cast. I'm jazzed about it; his director has shot some stylish short films.

What are your favorite book trailers? If you've read my book, what scenes stand out for you?

Labels: trailers

9:45 AM

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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

OneBookShy says TCC is: "a fascinating tale ... a great addition to the many King Arthur stories, although he doesn't play a part in this early story until the end. I definitely recommend it to those who enjoy a good adventure story as well as new takes on old legends."

Labels: reviews

7:26 PM

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Thursday, April 7, 2011

Forever Young Adult is a really awesomely witty and fun blog (see her posts on YA Book Covers and YA Deal Breakers), so I was thrilled to read her review of THE CIRCLE CAST. There isn't a single quote that catches the magic of her image-packed style, but:

Morgan le Fay, King Arthur’s half sister, is exiled when her mother sleeps with Uter Pendragon and Uter kills Morgan’s father, Gorlois. If her exile is mentioned at all, it’s usually that she’s sent to a convent, or as Marion Zimmer Bradley would have you believe she hones her craft on the lost isle of Avalon, but sa-noooooooooze. Epstein has a way more awesome version of Morgan’s lost years — she heads off to Ireland where she goes from being a guest of a kinswoman to a slave to a totally badass warrior queen and sorceress, all bent on hellfire vengeance against Uter.

She totally gets what I was going for:

This is one of my favorite writing styles — concise. Clean. Evocative. Decidedly not poetic or flowery. Epstein also tackles the druidism and magic and religion head on without getting all woo-woo about it. In the same way great myths work, his matter-of-fact tone makes the early Christians and the power-hungry druids and Morgan’s exploration of the elemental forces of the natural world makes the book ring true, rather than seem like it comes out of The Girl’s Tarot and Spirit Guide to the Wonderful World of Like, Magicks and Wicca and Stuff.

And this:

I have learned a big part of Arthurian legend is how the High King brought Christianity to Britain, and Morgan the sorceress represents the old ways of nature gods and goddesses, blah blah blah. Epstein could have easily lampooned the early Christians, but he chooses instead to give them the power of their faith, even if Morgan rejects the reality of their one god. It’s a fine line to walk, and the respect the book gives to both Christianity and Wicca (for lack of a better word) saves it from hokes-ville and makes it pretty cool.

Oh, just read the review for the Goddess' sake.

Labels: reviews

8:41 AM

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Sunday, April 3, 2011

I really enjoyed Tim Powers' DECLARE so much I went to library to grab a couple more. LAST CALL and THE ANUBIS GATES looked good.

I was a few pages into THE ANUBIS GATES when I realized I had read it a few years ago.

But it was so good, I read it again. Just finished. Yep, just as good as I remember.

I am beginning to get a handle on Tim Powers, I think. I have a feeling he does an awful lot of historical research, and then works his stories around the historical facts of the time. In DECLARE, he created a story that would wrap around the facts known about the famous traitor spy Kim Philby, yet leave room for the existence of djinns.

The Anubis Gates is a fantasy story about a scholar who gets sucked into a plot to restore the Egyptian gods, set in 1983, 1802 and 1685. It's got the massacre of the Mamelukes, and the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion, and Coleridge giving lectures on Milton, and the St. Giles rookery.

I don't start with historical research, myself. I started THE CIRCLE CAST with the traditional, medieval King Arthur. My first wife did her Ph. D. dissertation on the Morrígan, so I learned a lot about Cúchulainn and the Tuatha Dé Danaan. I ran across a book by Geoffrey Ashe that made a convincing case for the historical King Arthur living in 500 AD or so. I wound up doing a lot of research, but the research came later.

I sort of wonder if Tim Powers reads up on interesting times and places to write about, and then comes up with a novel plot that will allow him to justify the research.

Anyway, it's on to LAST CALL now. So far it's only about Las Vegas in 1948, but I'm sure that will change.

Labels: reading books

2:26 PM

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