New Review - Blood Rites by Jim Butcher (Orbit)

Okay, my latest review is up on The Founding Fields, a review of the sixth Dresden Files novel, Blood Rites, by Jim Butcher, published by Orbit Books in the UK. Check it out here, and see why I called it, "[A] Typical Dresden [Novel], Butcher does it again with style. Action packed, fast paced, as well as expanding on the background of the Dresden Files series."


You can check out the Goodreads page here, and read the short, Goodreads blurb below:

Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard, takes on a case as a favour to his friend Thomas - a vampire of dubious integrity - only to become the prime suspect in a series of ghastly murders. 


That's all for now, folks.

New Review - Juggernaut by Adam Baker (Hodder and Stoughton)

My most recent review of Juggernaut by Adam Baker is up over on The Founding Fields, where I called it:  "A Brilliant, Fast-Paced Novel that is highly recommended. I couldn't put it down." 


You can check out the Goodreads Page for it here, and the Goodreads blurb for Juggernaut below:

Iraq, 2005. Seven mercenaries journey deep into the desert in search of Saddam's Gold. They form an unlikely crew of battle-scarred privateers, killers and thieves, veterans of a dozen war zones, each of them anxious to make one last score before their luck runs out. They will soon find themselves marooned among ancient ruins, caught in a desperate battle for their lives, confronted by greed, betrayal and an army that won't stay dead... 

Open-Door Submissions - Angry Robot/Strange Chemistry

I've just noticed that over at  Angry Robot, one of my favourite publishers, they have announced the return of "Open Door" submission period, where non-agented authors can attempt to get their stories pitched to the editors at Angry Robot. Only this year, there are a few changes.

They're Only Looking For Epic Fantasy or Young Adult (Of All Flavours) Submissions


So, where does that fit Project: Urban Holmes? Well, I originally intended  UH to be adult Urban Fantasy, along the similar lines as MLN Hanover (Daniel Abraham)'s Unclean Spirits, but I reckon its safer (and easier for me) to label it as Young Adult. I suppose I could attempt to come up with an Epic Fantasy submission as well, but again, it's easier coming up with just one YA Novel for now.

When Does Open Door Submission Month Start?


It starts April 16 and finishes April 30. So that leaves me with the rest of January, February and March, plus most of April, to get Urban Holmes not only completed, but also drafted, re-drafted and drafted again. Hopefully I'll be able to get it done.

If you're interested in having a go yourself, here's the link to the Strange Chemistry (Young Adult Imprint of Angry Robot) page, and here's a link to the Angry Robot Page.

Right, that's all for now folks. This should be the last post of the day. If you like though, you can follow me on twitter @baneofkings, where I will most likely be updating my progress.

New Review - The Perplexing Problem of the Porcelain Bandits by Dan Johnson

Over on The Founding Fields, I've reviewed the Perplexing Problem of the Porcelain Bandits by Dan Johnson. It's a self published novel that I quite enjoyed, describing it as "A surprising Read with well-written and developed characters." 

You can read the Goodreads blurb for the novel below: 

Alex Baker is underemployed and under-motivated, until a cop shows up at his door with strange news about his former house mate, Brent. This is a story of baseball cards, the Chinese Mafia, and many conversations over drinks. If John D. Macdonald and Chuck Klosterman had ever met in San Francisco and shared a few too many glasses of Plymouth, this is the novel they would have written together. 

Obligatory Introduction Post

Hello and Welcome, to what is hopefully the first of many posts on my Writing Blog, which does pretty much what it says on the tin. This is only a short post to say hello, but here's what you can expect from me on the blog in the upcoming weeks:

Book Reviews

Every Book Review that appears on The Founding Fields written by me, will be linked to and possibly posted on this website, so you can expect to see a fair few of these as I am a pretty prolific reviewer if I say so myself.

Links to Other Sites

I'll be hopefully putting up more and more links to other sites in the sidebar as the weeks go on, movie reviews, film reviews, authors, publishers, and generally awesome people or things that I find interesting will appear on the sidebar as we go along.

Film Reviews

I'll be posting Film Reviews on this website for now as The Founding Fields is all book releated and such, bar the exception of fellow reviewer Lord of the Night's review of the Ultramarines movie. Films that could be reviewed are X-Men: First Class, Sherlock Holmes 2 - Game of Shadows and Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol. 

General Writing Stuff

And finally, the blog will also feature numerous posts about writing and Project "Urban Holmes", which I am currently working on. It is an urban fantasy project with a male lead character that relies more on the action that it does romance, like most urban fantasy novels these day seem to rely on. I've currently just written over 4k words, and it looks set to have some pretty awesome set pieces which I'll enjoy writing. 

Right, that's it for now. Hope you've enjoyed my Obligatory Introduction, and remember - spread the word. Follow the blog, post links to Facebook and Twitter, do what you have to do.