One of the things I often do as I'm reading a novel or short story is keep track of words whose definitions I do not know or that I find interesting. Either way, these interesting words are ones I feel might be of use in my own writing. That, and it's good to expand one's vocabulary every once in a while.

Read my review of Sky of Swords.

anteroom: a large entrance or reception room or area

argent: a metal tincture used in heraldry to give a silvery appearance

coiffure: the arrangement of the hair (especially a woman's hair)

commissariat: a stock or supply of foods

cortege: the group following and attending to some important person

cynos... [More]

I got a short story rejection back the other day. No big deal. It happens.

The rejection slip was of a form nature, though at the bottom was scrawled a small bit of advice:

Don't skip extra lines between paragraphs.

My first thought was: huh?

After a little investigation, however, I found this setting that was unchecked in Microsoft Word (it's obviously checked now):

Problem solved, and hopefully the next editor will be a little bit happier.

That story, by the way, is already back out to the next publisher.

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I'm taking LibraryThing's 50 Book Reading Challenge for 2010. This is my 18th read of the 50.

There are six books in the King's Blades series. They are:

1. The Gilded Chain
2. Lord of the Fire Lands
3. Sky of Swords
4. Paragon Lost (review forthcoming)
5. Impossible Odds (review forthcoming)
6. Jaguar Knights (review forthcoming)

Sky of Swords by Dave Duncan is the third novel in the King's Blades series. In book two, Lord of the Fire Lands, the reader is left hanging at the end as history inexplicably unfolds in a different fashion compared to what was told in the first novel in the series. Duncan not only has... [More]

As I've been spelling out at the top of each of my recent book reviews, I'm taking LibraryThing's 50 Book Challenge for 2010. The reason LibraryThing is doing this is to, of course, promote reading. I don't know that I necessarily need the extra incentive, but I also can't deny that the challenge coupled with my Kindle, given to me as Christmas present by my wife, has dramatically increased my reading.

So, how am I doing so far?

The goal is 50 books read. I'm currently at 17. Fifty books is about one per week. So, given that for the year thus far we've seen 19 weeks (I'm starting from Sunday, January 3rd), I should have read 19 books by now.... [More]