The Leaning Pile of Books
Oct
31
2010

Yesterday I finished a draft of a review of Elfland so hopefully that will be up in the next couple of days. After that, I only have Lady Lazarus left to review – at least until I finish reading The Broken Kingdoms (I’m about halfway through it now). As soon as that is done, I’m starting The Habitation of the Blessed. After that, I think I may dig a science fiction book out of the to read pile since I haven’t read that much of it this year. I’m thinking about doing another “which book should I read” poll for that one since it’s been a while since I did that and I’m not sure which one to pick.

This week was a very good week for books. I got 5 books – 3 I bought for next year’s Women of Fantasy and Women of Science Fiction book clubs, 1 ARC and 1 review copy. These are all ones that I’m rather excited about reading.

The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie

This book will be out in the UK in January 2011 and in the US in February 2011. The Heroes is set in the same world as Joe Abercrombie’s First Law trilogy and Best Served Cold, but it is supposed to be a stand alone novel. I really enjoyed all his other books for their dark view and cynical humor so I was pretty excited to open up a package in my mailbox and find this inside. As if I wasn’t already excited enough about it, the press release that came with the book also has this great quote from George R. R. Martin:

 

“The battles are vivid and visceral, the action brutal, the pace headlong, and Abercrombie piles the betrayals, reversals, and plot twists one atop another to keep us guessing how it will all come out. This is his best book yet.”

An excerpt from The Heroes is available on the author’s website.

“Unhappy the Land that is in Need of Heroes.” Bertolt Brecht

They say Black Dow’s killed more men than winter, and clawed his way to the throne of the North up a hill of skulls. The King of the Union, ever a jealous neighbour, is not about to stand smiling by while he claws his way any higher. The orders have been given and the armies are toiling through the northern mud. Thousands of men are converging on a forgotten ring of stones, on a worthless hill, in an unimportant valley, and they’ve brought a lot of sharpened metal with them.

Bremer dan Gorst, disgraced master swordsman, has sworn to reclaim his stolen honour on the battlefield. Obsessed with redemption and addicted to violence, he’s far past caring how much blood gets spilled in the attempt. Even if it’s his own.

Prince Calder isn’t interested in honour, and still less in getting himself killed. All he wants is power, and he’ll tell any lie, use any trick, and betray any friend to get it. Just as long as he doesn’t have to fight for it himself.

Curnden Craw, the last honest man in the North, has gained nothing from a life of warfare but swollen knees and frayed nerves. He hardly even cares who wins any more, he just wants to do the right thing. But can he even tell what that is with the world burning down around him?

Over three bloody days of battle, the fate of the North will be decided. But with both sides riddled by intrigues, follies, feuds and petty jealousies, it is unlikely to be the noblest hearts, or even the strongest arms that prevail…

Three men. One battle. No Heroes.

My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me edited by Kate Bernheimer

This is a collection of dark fairy tales complete with a forward by Gregory McGuire, the author of Wicked. Since I love fairy tales closer to the original Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen on the creepiness scale, I think this one looks pretty interesting. Plus one of the stories is by Neil Gaiman. The story list includes where the original tale it is based on is from and there are stories from all over the world – Russia, Germany, Norway, Italy, Ireland, England, Denmark, Japan, Vietnam, Greece, the United States, France, and Mexico. Although there are quite a few of the familiar Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen stories, I’m glad to see there are also quite a few I’m not familiar with at all.

The fairy tale lives again in these forty new stories by some of the biggest names in contemporary fiction

Neil Gaiman, Michael Cunningham, Aimee Bender, Kelly Link, Lydia Millet, and more than thirty other extraordinary writers celebrate fairy tales in this thrilling volume-the ultimate literary costume party.

Spinning houses and talking birds. Whispered secrets and borrowed hope. Here are new stories sewn from old skins, gathered from around the world by visionary editor Kate Bernheimer and inspired by everything from Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen” and “The Little Match Girl” to Charles Perrault’s “Bluebeard” and “Cinderella” to the Brothers Grimm’s “Hansel and Gretel” and “Rumpelstiltskin” to fairy tales by Goethe and Calvino.

Fairy tales are our oldest literary tradition, and yet they chart the imaginative frontiers of the twenty-first century as powerfully as they evoke our earliest encounters with literature. This exhilarating collection restores their place in the literary canon.

Indigo Springs by A. M. Dellamonica

This is one of the selections for the Women of Fantasy book club. I’d actually been considering getting it before I saw it was one of the books since the trade paperback was available on Amazon for about $5 as a bargain book (probably because it is coming out in mass market paperback this week). This is another one of those books that I don’t remember hearing about at all. I found it in the back of Elfland when I was reading it and immediately looked it up because I so loved Elfland. It sounded very good so I immediately added it to the wish list. I want to wait until closer to its month in the book club to read it so I don’t forget the details about it, but I’m very tempted to read it soon.

Indigo Springs is a sleepy town where things seem pretty normal . . . until Astrid’s father dies and she moves into his house. She discovers that for many years her father had been accessing the magic that flowed, literally, in a blue stream beneath the earth, leaking into his house. When she starts to use the liquid “vitagua” to enchant everyday items, the results seem innocent enough: a “’chanted” watch becomes a charm that means you’re always in the right place at the right time; a “’chanted” pendant enables the wearer to convince anyone of anything . . .

But as events in Indigo Springs unfold and the true potential of vitagua is revealed, Astrid and her friends unwittingly embark on a journey fraught with power, change, and a future too devastating to contemplate. Friends become enemies and enemies become friends as Astrid discovers secrets from her shrouded childhood that will lead her to a destiny stranger than she could have imagined . . .

Prospero Lost by L. Jagi Lamplighter

This is the first book in the Prospero Daughter’s trilogy and another selection for the Women of Fantasy book club. Like Indigo Springs, it was one I was planning to get soon anyway even before seeing it was on the list. It’s been on my wish list since last year, but now that reviews of the second book have started coming in it’s reminded me just how intrigued I was by the first book. Fantasy based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest is right up my alley so I’m very excited about this one. I really should wait until closer to March to read it, but it sounds so wonderful it may be difficult to do so…

More than four hundred years after the events of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, the sorcerer Prospero, his daughter Miranda, and his other children have attained everlasting life. Miranda is the head of her family’s business, Prospero Inc., which secretly has used its magic for good around the world. One day, Miranda receives a warning from her father: “Beware of the Three Shadowed Ones.” When Miranda goes to her father for an explanation, he is nowhere to be found.

Miranda sets out to find her father and reunite with her estranged siblings, each of which holds a staff of power and secrets about Miranda’s sometimes-foggy past. Her journey through the past, present and future will take her to Venice, Chicago, the Caribbean, Washington, D.C., and the North Pole. To aid her, Miranda brings along Mab, an aerie being who acts like a hard-boiled detective, and Mephistopheles, her mentally-unbalanced brother. Together, they must ward off the Shadowed Ones and other ancient demons who want Prospero’s power for their own….

Lilith’s Brood by Octavia E. Butler

This is one I purchased for the Women of Science Fiction book club, and it has also been on my wish list for a little while. It’s an omnibus containing Dawn, Adulthood Rites and Imago. This nearly 800 page trade paperback was available on Amazon as a bargain book for about $7 so I snatched it up.

The acclaimed trilogy that comprises LILITH’S BROOD is multiple Hugo and Nebula award-winner Octavia E. Butler at her best. Presented for the first time in one volume, with an introduction by Joan Slonczewski, Ph.D., LILITH’S BROOD is a profoundly evocative, sensual — and disturbing — epic of human transformation.

Lilith Iyapo is in the Andes, mourning the death of her family, when war destroys Earth. Centuries later, she is resurrected — by miraculously powerful unearthly beings, the Oankali. Driven by an irresistible need to heal others, the Oankali are rescuing our dying planet by merging genetically with mankind. But Lilith and all humanity must now share the world with uncanny, unimaginably alien creatures: their own children. This is their story…

A Few Links
Oct
29
2010

There are two great book giveaways over at the Tor/Forge blog right now (they are only open to US residents, though).  One is a Brandon Sanderson prize pack, which consists of hardcover copies of the Mistborn trilogy, Elantris, Warbreaker and The Way of Kings.  The other is 25 assorted fantasy books from them, and there are some really interesting sounding books there (including one of my new favorites, Elfland, which I’m working on a review of now).  It also includes A Shadow In Summer by Daniel Abraham, Servant of a Dark God by John Brown, Passion Play by Beth Bernobich, Dreadnought by Cherie Priest, Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson, Prospero Lost by L. Jagi Lamplighter, Eye of the World by Robert Jordan, and Night of Knives by Ian C. Esslemont.

Thanks to Sarah at Bookworm Blues, I also saw that Tor.com had a conversation with Steven Erikson and Ian C. Esslemont about the Malazan books today.  They were answering questions from visitors so if you’re a fan of the series it should be pretty interesting.  (I’m afraid to read it all myself since I have a lot of catching up to do on the series as I’ve only read the first 3 books and 2 of the novellas.)

Also at Bookworm Blues, I saw the US cover for The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi, which is coming out in spring 2011.  I’ve been curious about this one for a little while but I love the cover and am now even more curious about this book.

Scholastic has a new social networking site, You Are What You Read, that is about connecting with other readers who have been influenced by the same books or have similar favorite books.

Review of The Spirit Thief by Rachel Aaron
Oct
26
2010
The Spirit Thief
by Rachel Aaron
320pp (Paperback)
My Rating: 7/10
Amazon Rating: 4/5
LibraryThing Rating: 3/5
Goodreads Rating: 3.6/5
 

The Spirit Thief is the first book in The Legend of Eli Monpress series by Rachel Aaron. It just came out the beginning of this month, and the next two books in the series will both be out by the end of this year. The Spirit Rebellion is available now, and The Spirit Eater will be available in December. A fourth book, The Spirit War, is in progress with plans for release in 2011.

The king of Mellinor is ecstatic to have captured the infamous thief and wizard Eli Monpress. After all, there are two bounties on Eli’s head for a total of twenty-five thousand gold and he could use a new arena.  However, he hardly has time to figure out how to spend his all that money before he’s informed that Eli has somehow escaped. For while the king was gloating over his imminent increase in wealth, Eli convinced the door to his cell that it was not in its best interests to remain attached to the wall.

During the chaos resulting from the unknown whereabouts of Eli, the wizard Miranda arrives at the castle gates. Miranda traveled to Mellinor on behalf of the Spirit Court with a warning for the king.  The Spirit Court members heard that Eli had recently shown interest in Mellinor and suspect he intends to steal a dangerous artifact from the royal  treasury. Unfortunately, the message comes after Eli’s plan has come to fruition, although the Spirit Court’s guess about the thief’s intentions was not entirely accurate: Eli did not want a magical item but the king himself.

Miranda determines to search for Eli but soon discovers the kingdom is faced with an even greater threat than this conniving thief – and the only way to stop it may be for her to work with him to overcome it.

First of all, I’ve seen a lot of posts on different blogs mentioning they got this book in the mail but don’t think they will read it because the cover makes it look like paranormal romance in disguise.  That is not the case at all.  This is light, sometimes humorous fantasy adventure, and there is no romance in this book, not even a romantic subplot.  It seemed more like a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, albeit one set in a different place than the Dungeons and Dragons universe.  It did not surprise me at all to read the interview at the end of the book and discover that the idea for the book began with a character from a D&D game- a thief whose goal in life was to increase his bounty to one million gold, which is Eli’s motivation for much of his thievery.

For the first half of the book, I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to like it.  Even though it had an interesting universe, it also had a fairly conventional plot and one dimensional characters.  By the end, I did find that a couple of the characters had really grown on me, though, and there were also enough hints of larger developments for future installments that my curiosity is piqued.  In particular, I’d like to see the ramifications of living in this world explored in greater detail and hope to see more of that in the next book.

Since the next book looks like it deals more with the Spiritualists in the Spirit Court, this wish just may come true.  In The Spirit Thief, everything has a spirit – even normally inanimate objects such as doors and naturally occurring objects such as trees, wind, fire, and rocks.  Wizards are those humans who can actually communicate with these spirits, and the Spirit Court is a group of wizards who are spirit rights activists.  Part of being a wizard is being able to control spirits, and the members of the Spirit Court believe it is unethical to force a spirit to do their bidding without that spirit’s willing consent.  For this reason, the Spiritualists make mutually beneficial contracts with the spirits that serve them.  There were a couple of scenes that showed the types of dilemmas living in a world in which essentially everything is alive cause, and these were some of my favorite parts of the novel.  Although it may not really be fitting with the overall light tone of the novel to dwell on more serious issues too much, I am rather hoping future installments show at least a little more of the consequences of living in this sort of world.

Other than the setting and magic, not much else in the book stands out as particularly unique, although it was an enjoyable story once it got going.  The plot starts as a heist but soon turns into two enemies putting aside their differences for the greater good of the world (or, er, part of the world anyway).  At the beginning I thought the characters were rather generic, although I did like Eli from the very beginning.  (How can I resist a charismatic, competent thief as a protagonist?)  As the story progressed, it made me more and more interested in the origins of his powers.  In addition to being a thief, Eli is a wizard – but as is apparent from the very first scene, he’s not the same as the other wizards.  He’s better able to communicate with the spirits, who are very willing to accommodate him thanks to his amazing powers of persuasion.  There are some brief parts about where this power came from, but I’m definitely looking forward to learning more details about how this came about.

By the end of the book, I also found Miranda had grown on me a lot.  She’s obviously compassionate because she believes so strongly in doing no harm to any living spirit, but she’s also tough and admirable.  If she needs to, she can put aside her qualms to do what she thinks needs to be done, and she’s also able to change her actions when she realizes she is wrong.  For instance, when the librarian at Mellinor is annoying her with ill-informed questions about wizardry, Miranda’s first reaction is to snap at her.  Yet Miranda quickly reminds herself it’s not her fault she doesn’t know anything.  She puts herself in the young woman’s shoes, realizing she has lived her entire life in a country that hates wizards.  Soon, Miranda is ashamed of herself for her treatment of the one person who seems interested in learning more about her profession, and she becomes friendlier and more informative.

Other than Eli and Miranda, none of the characters were that compelling so I’m hoping they get better fleshed out in the next book.  Nico, the demonseed who appears as a girl, definitely has potential, but both her character and the warrior Josef need more depth.  At this time, they don’t actually seem to be more than figures with a few traits.  Josef wields a huge magic sword and fights well, and Nico is freakishly strong with a dark side to her nature.  The villain was also one dimensional, although at least his actions made sense with how he had been treated.

The ending was well done – very exciting, and it also wrapped up the main storyline nicely while leaving the feeling that there’s more to the overall story.  At the same time, there are also plenty of small threads left open for the next books, such as more background on some of the characters and the mysterious League of Storms that shows up a couple of times.  The way some of these were included felt a little clunky since there were a couple of perspectives that just came up once or twice and seemed somewhat out of place, but at least by the conclusion it felt like setup for the next book instead of pure randomness.

Even though the beginning of The Spirit Thief had me wondering whether or not I’d enjoy it, I found I had rather enjoyed it once I reached the end.  It’s a fun story set in a fascinating world in which everything has a spirit, and wizardry is not spell-casting but the ability to hear these spirits.  While some of the characters are rather shallowly depicted in this first installment, the charismatic Eli and dutiful Miranda are both engaging, likable characters.  I’m looking forward to finding out what happens in The Spirit Rebellion.

My Rating: 7/10

Where I got my reading copy: ARC from the publisher.

Read the First Two Chapters

Other reviews:

The Leaning Pile of Books
Oct
24
2010

It’s my first leaning pile of books post on the new site!  I’ve also finished a draft of a review of The Spirit Thief by Rachel Aaron so I’m hoping to have my first book review at the new site up on Tuesday.  Today I’m hoping to get most of the way through a review of Elfland by Freda Warrington as well.

Before getting to the books, I just wanted to mention a couple of bargains I just noticed at Amazon for those of you in the US who may be planning to participate in either The Women of Fantasy or The Women of Science Fiction book club next year.  Lilith’s Brood and Indigo Springs are both available as bargain books (or at least they were a little while ago).  They are both trade paperbacks and they were both about $10 off.

Now on to books from this week – 3 review copies (2 of which I will be reading immediately) and 1 purchased (and already read) by my husband.

The Broken Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin

This is the second book in the Inheritance trilogy, following The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms which was just released earlier this year.  The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms was one of my very favorite books I’ve read this year (review). It had such an engaging narrative style and a wonderful mythology so I’ve been really looking forward to this one.  I somehow ended up with 2 review copies so I am giving away the duplicate copy.  This giveaway is open worldwide, and it looks like I’m far from the only person excited about this book since it was already the most popular one I’d ever had after less than 24 hours of being posted.  The Broken Kingdoms will be released on November 3. In the meantime, the first three chapters are available online: Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three.

In the city of Shadow, beneath the World Tree, alleyways shimmer with magic and godlings live hidden among mortalkind. Oree Shoth, a blind artist, takes in a strange homeless man on an impulse. This act of kindness engulfs Oree in a nightmarish conspiracy. Someone, somehow, is murdering godlings, leaving their desecrated bodies all over the city. And Oree’s guest is at the heart of it. . .

The Habitation of the Blessed by Catherynne M. Valente

This is volume 1 of A Dirge for Prester John.  There will be two more books in the series, The Folded World and The Spindle of Necessity.  These books will all be released a year apart in November 2010, November 2011, November 2012.  Ever since I first heard about this book I’ve been really looking forward to it.  Valente’s The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden (review) is imaginative, beautifully written and unlike anything else I’ve read before.  As soon as I finish reading The Broken Kingdoms, I’m starting this one.

This is the story of a place that never was: the kingdom of Prester John, the utopia described by an anonymous, twelfth-century document which captured the imagination of the medieval world and drove hundreds of lost souls to seek out its secrets, inspiring explorers, missionaries, and kings for centuries. But what if it were all true? What if there was such a place, and a poor, broken priest once stumbled past its borders, discovering, not a Christian paradise, but a country where everything is possible, immortality is easily had, and the Western world is nothing but a dim and distant dream?

Brother Hiob of Luzerne, on missionary work in the Himalayan wilderness on the eve of the eighteenth century, discovers a village guarding a miraculous tree whose branches sprout books instead of fruit. These strange books chronicle the history of the kingdom of Prester John, and Hiob becomes obsessed with the tales they tell. The Habitation of the Blessed recounts the fragmented narratives found within these living volumes, revealing the life of a priest named John, and his rise to power in this country of impossible richness. John’s tale weaves together with the confessions of his wife Hagia, a blemmye–a headless creature who carried her face on her chest–as well as the tender, jeweled nursery stories of Imtithal, nanny to the royal family. Hugo and World Fantasy award nominee Catherynne M. Valente reimagines the legends of Prester John in this stunning tour de force.

Bitten in Two by Jennifer Rardin

Even though I’ve never read Jennifer Rardin’s books, it was with some sadness I saw this one since I had read that she passed away recently.  This is the seventh book in the Jaz Parks series.  I have heard this series was good and have been wanting to read the first one but I’ve got some catching up to do before reading this one…  It will be released on November 8 and the final book in the series, The Deadliest Bite, is scheduled to be released in June 2011.

Jaz Parks here. I. Am. Pissed. Just as Vayl and I arrive in Morocco to secure an ancient artifact, he wakes up calling me by another woman’s name. And it’s not even a good one. But since any form of argument transforms him into an unholy terror, I’m forced to play along until the gang and I can figure out what kind of power has so vastly altered his perceptions.

So it’s time for me to do what any well-trained assassin in my position might do. I attack. What follows is a hair-raising, breath-taking bullet train ride to the finish as the crew battles on multiple fronts. I now know what I have to do – I must return to hell one last time.

Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold

A long-awaited new book in the Miles Vorkosigan series just came out!  I’m not caught up to this one yet, but my husband recently read a good chunk of the series and had to pre-order this one.  Thankfully, since after he finished the last Miles book he kept asking me to recommend him more books.  Then every time I handed him a book he’d ask me if it had Miles in it and reject it when, of course, it did not.  Unfortunately, he already finished this one two days ago so he may be back to requesting more books with Miles in them…

Miles Vorkosigan is back!

Kibou-daini is a planet obsessed with cheating death. Barrayaran Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan can hardly disapprove-he’s been cheating death his whole life, on the theory that turnabout is fair play. But when a Kibou-daini cryocorp-an immortal company whose job it is to shepherd its all-too-mortal frozen patrons into an unknown future-attempts to expand its franchise into the Barrayaran Empire, Emperor Gregor dispatches his top troubleshooter Miles to check it out.

On Kibou-daini, Miles discovers generational conflict over money and resources is heating up, even as refugees displaced in time skew the meaning of generation past repair. Here he finds a young boy with a passion for pets and a dangerous secret, a Snow White trapped in an icy coffin who burns to re-write her own tale, and a mysterious crone who is the very embodiment of the warning Don’t mess with the secretary. Bribery, corruption, conspiracy, kidnapping-something is rotten on Kibou-daini, and it isn’t due to power outages in the Cryocombs. And Miles is in the middle-of trouble!

Around the Internet
Oct
21
2010

Lately I’ve come across a few articles of interest that I’ve been meaning to mention but haven’t with all the time spent on getting this new site up and running. The first of these are a couple of book clubs for next year that each have a wonderful selection of books: The Women of Fantasy and The Women of Science Fiction.

Women of Fantasy

Erika of Jawas Read Too is hosting The Women of Fantasy, which consists of a wonderful list of books:

  • The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin
  • Elfland by Freda Warrington
  • Prospero Lost by L. Jagi Lamplighter
  • Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest
  • War for the Oaks by Emma Bull
  • The Dark Mirror by Juliet Marillier
  • All the Windwracked Stars by Elizabeth Bear
  • Indigo Springs by A.M. Dellamonica
  • Firebird by Mercedes Lackey
  • Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton
  • The Gaslight Dogs by Karin Lowachee

I haven’t read all of these but some books I really loved are in this list – The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (review), Elfland (which I just finished last night), and All the Windwracked Stars (review).  Out of these I’ve read one other book on the list, The Gaslight Dogs (review).  While it wasn’t a book I loved, it was set in an interesting world and has the potential to be the start to an interesting series.  Prospero Lost, War for the Oaks, The Dark Mirror, Indigo Springs and Tooth and Claw are all books I really want to read so I’m going to read at least one (hopefully more) for this.

Women of Science Fiction

TJ at Dreams and Speculation is running The Women of Science Fiction.  The list of books for this book club also looks amazing:

  • Dust by Elizabeth Bear
  • The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
  • Darkship Thieves by Sarah A. Hoyt
  • Dooms Day Book by Connie Willis
  • Mappa Mundi by Justina Robson
  • Lilith’s Brood by Octavia Butler
  • Cordelia’s Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold
  • China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh
  • Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon
  • Farthing by Jo Walton
  • The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
  • City of Pearl by Karen Traviss
  • Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree, Jr.

My science fiction reading seems to be lacking since I’ve only read one of these – Cordelia’s Honor, which is a GREAT book (review).  Dust and City of Pearl are both on my to-read pile, and I should definitely use this as an excuse to read Dust since I love Elizabeth Bear and can’t believe I haven’t read it yet.  The Dispossessed, Lilith’s Brood, China Mountain Zhang and Farthing are all on my wish list so maybe I should use it as an excuse to read one or two of those as well.

This piece of news made me squeal a little: there are plans to make Storm Constantine’s Wraeththu into a TV mini-series or movie.  The Wraethththu Chronicles is one of my favorite series ever.  It would be interesting to see as a movie or mini-series, at least if it was done well.

Welcome to the New Fantasy Cafe!
Oct
19
2010

Image by Joshua Sosrosaputro

It’s finally here – the new site! Although I’m a little sad (and a little nervous) about leaving the old one behind, I do love the new header image my husband made for this one. But it has been over 3 years since I’ve had the other one now and it’s time for a change.

If you have any feedback or suggestions for the new site, please let me know! My husband and I have tested this one in several different browsers and are hoping it will be a little friendlier to a wider variety of browsers and computers than the old site.

A few pieces of business to attend to first:

  • The posts and comments from the old site were imported here, but I did notice that occasionally there was a comment that didn’t get moved for some reason. Content from the old site was imported before October 3, which means all posts from that point forward had to be entered here manually and do not have comments.
  • Depending on which RSS subscription option you were using, you may need to re-subscribe. There is a link under “Follow” on the top right for the new one.
  • If you happen to link have a link on your site to Fantasy Cafe, please update the URL to https://www.fantasybookcafe.com. And thank you to everyone who does link to my site!

As a tradeoff for my nervousness in leaving the Blogger behind, this WordPress install has a ton of new toys to play with!  Some you’ll notice and some you won’t, but here are a couple of examples:

  • Fantasy Cafe is now much more friendly to mobile users!  A mobile version of the site loads with an iPhone-like interface that is easy to read on small screens.
  • Disqus integration provides a cleaner and more advanced commenting system.  You can now log in to comment using your Open ID, Facebook, Twitter, Disqus, or Yahoo! account (or no account at all as a guest).
  • Though it has existed for a while, there is now a link to Fantasy Cafe’s Facebook page along with all the other follow options on the upper-right corner of the page.
  • Some new layout widgets like hidden spoiler sections and a bookbox template – which you might think just looks nice, but building it out as a template shortcode saves me a lot of time when I’m trying to format my reviews.
  • …and more to come, once we figure out if the new site has any kinks that need working out!

I hope those of you who visit will continue to stop by even though I have moved!  Thanks to everybody for a great first four (almost)  years, I’m looking forward to many more!