I'm taking LibraryThing's 50 Book Reading Challenge for 2010. This is my 28th read of the 50.

Bright of the Sky by Kay Kenyon is the first book in The Entire and the Rose series. Subsequent novels include A World Too Near, City Without End, and Prince of Storms. Bright of the Sky was (and still is) a free Kindle giveaway, which is how I obtained this gem. Free is always easy; you didn't pay anything for it, so if it doesn't live up to expectations, no big loss. Fortunately, Bright of the Rose did not disappoint.

The novel is a blend of science fiction and fantasy, the latter coming into play because the technology is so far ... [More]

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.

This latest round of interesting words comes from Karl Schroeder's Sun of Suns.

armature: The rotating part of a dynamo, consisting essentially of copper wire wound around an iron core.

boatswain: A warrant officer or petty officer in charge of a ship's rigging, anchors, cables, and deck crew.

contrail: A visible trail of streaks of ... [More]

Forbes published an article that lists the top 10 highest-paid authors based on the time period from June 1, 2009, through June 1, 2010. Earnings are based on the sale of books, film rights, television, gaming deals, and other income.

I reproduced the list here (or you can view Forbes' picture slide-show):

1. James Patterson ($70 million)
2. Stephenie Meyer ($40 million)
3. Stephen King ($34 million)
4. Danielle Steel ($32 million)
5. Ken Follett ($20 million)
6. Dean Koontz ($18 million)
7. Janet Evanovich ($16 million)
8. John Grisham ($15 million)
9. Nicholas Sparks ($14 million)
10. J.K. Rowling ($10 m... [More]

Now that I own an eReader and thus a viable way to read eBooks without having to print them, I plan to read and review each of the featured Tor.com giveaways. This is the eleventh of those reviews.

I'm taking LibraryThing's 50 Book Reading Challenge for 2010. This is my 27th read of the 50.

Sun of Suns by Karl Schroeder starts out flat out hard to understand. Not the writing, or the language, or even the plot (though it does take a while to fully unfold). It's the world itself that took me way too long to comprehend. The setting is a sort of blend of science fiction and steampunk and takes place on a planet called Virga. Maybe 'planet' is th... [More]