Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!

 

Photograph by Amy Carroll

 

After a few weeks away from the computer and a life-changing event or two, I have returned alive, excited and tan. Aside from a pair of glasses or two that had to return to the ocean from which they came, I'm mostly intact. Actually, you can consider me more than intact as I gained a beautiful better half (see wonderful picture by fantastic photographer Amy Carroll above). Look closely, I'm the arm candy on the right.

Close followers of the blog may have noticed that my output has diminished slightly the past few months, mostly a result of planning a wedding, a honeymoon, buying a first home, and working enough hours to somewhat afford it. On a completely related note, I do accept review submissions from publishers... Or if anyone needs a graphic designer or photographer, my new roommate is pretty good at it. But ignoring all that, I anticipate being a bit more productive over the next few months, particularly once we finally get our lives unpacked.

One of the frightening realities benefits of moving is that you realize exactly how many books you have and you get an opportunity to rearrange them all. I've just put together a few new bookcases (and a sweet bookcase/desk combo) and within the week I expect to be organizing a second bedroom/library that is closer to my dream of wall-to-wall books than I've ever been. It's looking to be a fairly stunning BookCave 3000 and I'll sure to post pics once it's a fully operational Blogger Station.

So what to expect in the coming weeks and months?

More Reviews! - I think I'm currently four books behind at the moment and I should be able to find some more reading time around here somewhere.

Books Pending Review

• Bitter Seeds - Ian Tregillis - (Dark but excellent, can't wait for the sequel)
• Ghosts of Manhattan - George Mann - (Somehow I ended up with an incomplete ARC, hopefully the finished copy was better)
• The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms - N.K. Jemisin - (Strong debut from a promising storyteller)
• Ship Breaker - Paolo Bacigalupi - (There is a reason why he just won the Nebula. Ship Breaker is Bacigalupi Lite)

Reading Queue

• Zoo City - Lauren Beukes
• Shades of Milk and Honey - Mary Robinette Kowal
• Occultation - Laird Barron
• King Maker - Maurice Broaddus
• Under Heaven - Guy Gavriel Kay
• For the Win - Cory Doctorow
• The Last Page - Anthony Huso
• Gardens of the Sun - Paul McAuley
• New Model Army - Adam Roberts
• Spellwright - Blake Charlton
• The Conqueror's Shadow - Ari Marmell

New Interviews! - Due to other commitments and a determination to make sure my pieces are well researched, I only got through 3 of the 5 introduction pieces for my new interview series, Authors Worth Watching. I intend on spotlighting the last 10 authors and kicking off the first few interviews most likely with authors N.K. Jemisin and Ian Tregillis whose debut novels were excellent.

Opinion Pieces! - My new wife got me a Kindle for my birthday and I haven't really given my impression yet. I've got a lot of half finished pieces lying around that I just didn't have the time to write. I hope to wrap those up and get my thoughts down and finalized.

Finished Blog Updates! - I've been trying to organize things around here so you could see who is sending me what and what I've reviewed or who I've interviewed in the past. I lost the drive after an epic IE crash destroyed about 4 hours worth of work and haven't went back since. I'm going to give that another go.
 
Anyway, I'm back and ready to stomp. What have you been doing?