Grasping for the Wind

Ask the Bloggers: Book Covers

This edition of "Ask the Bloggers" asks the question:

What kind of book cover attracts your attention? What attributes of the cover make you more or less likely to take it off the shelf? Does the spine of the book have any effect on your choices?

Gav @ NextRead: This is from a UK perspective so it might be different across the pond but I think that branding is important when it comes to a particular writer and keeping covers similar helps that. So all The Dresden File books are the similar and use the same basic idea then it's easy to tell what they are from a glance. Terry Pratchett is instantly recognisable. So is Iain M Banks. Most-long term authors have covers that are similar or so it seems.

A refresh of covers can also attract interest when you consider things Gollancz's recent Terror 8 and Future Classic promotions. I think Richard Morgan is getting another refresh this autumn and his books are always stunning in terms of concept and design. Neil Gaiman also has some stunning and simplistic designs on his covers.

Also looking similar to other books helps identify a book so painted covers seems to be used for space opera and epic fantasy for example.

Imitation seems to go on a lot. But anything that makes it easier for someone to recognise the genre is a good thing.

What attracts me? Well I think I'm conditioned slightly by what I've read before so if the cover looks like something I've already read then I'm probably going to pick it up. The quality of the design and art makes me buy books I wouldn't normally buy but this is mostly as I
love the design aspect. I do still have to like the story before handing over the cash.

I like seeing the changes that are made sometimes from hard to paperback. And how the publisher has taken a different approach.

I don't think that I've ever been put off by a cover unless it looks like it's from a genre or on a subject I'm not going to like.

The spine does have to match the covers as I've got a good visual memory and keeping them the same does help me find things quicker and I think that publishers do put a lot of effort into making the spines a strong point as it's usually the only showcase the books has to show off it's wares.

Lisa @ Danger Gal:I make my living as a graphic designer, so the cover element composition is usually what first draws my attention. I gravitate toward either very simple covers or particularly lush covers, no matter the genre. I never realized just how much of a challenge designing a book cover is until I designed one for my critique partner Jordanna Kay for her novel TABOO. I do pay attention to the information on the spine, but I'm not sure the non-writer type of reader notices that much. As a writer I'm looking at not only what genre is printed there, but who the publisher is.

When it comes to Science Fiction I'm looking for art that conveys the scope of the story. For instance, the covers by Paul Youll for Elizabeth Bear's HAMMERED trilogy were very simple and it was that minimalism that caught my eye in the bookstore. The story deals with some pretty big issues, but they're all through the filter of the main character Jenny Casey. I'd say another example of this minimalist approach can be seen on David Louis Edelman's INFOQUAKE. At the other end of the spectrum are some of the covers done for the Juno line of books, like CLOCKWORK HEART by Dru Pagliassotti and Chris Howard's SEA BORN -- I don't even know what those stories are about yet, but the covers are so enticing I want to read them. The same is true of the art Stephen Martiniere did for Edelman's MULTIREAL and Kay Kenyon's BRIGHT OF THE SKY. These two latter examples show off the galactic scope a Science Fiction cover can convey.

In the Romance genre, I'm looking for a variation on what's called the "clinch cover" that depicts the couple the story is about. I prefer the more subtle variations on it though, such as any of the J.R. Ward covers and the rebranded covers of Linnea Sinclair's books. I don't mind the male torso covers in Romance any more than I mind the "butt covers" in Urban Fantasy showing the torso of the female protagonist. I think covers are meant to be evocative, and sex appeal certainly plays into that. Of the former group, recently I liked the tattoo art on Gena Showalter's DARKEST KISS. Two cover examples in Historical Romance that have just the right touch of ornate lushness to them are Deanna Raybourn's SILENT IN THE GRAVE and SILENT IN THE SANCTUARY.

Regardless of genre, some of my all-time favorite covers are the Thomas Canty ones done for Pamela Kinnealy-Morrison's and Michael Moorchock's books, and the Leo & Diane Dillon covers done for Joan Vinge's Snow Queen/Summer Queen books. There are so many elements interacting on those covers that I see something new every time I look at them.

SQT @ Fantasy and Scifi Lovin' Book Reviews: Covers do matter. If I see something that looks like a romance cover, heaving bosoms and all that, then I'm out.

What attracts me? Something different I guess. I think Orbit has some great covers on their books, especially Brian Ruckley's. I like those because they seem to set a mood. There's also the Night Angel series by Brent Weeks and I like those too. They all tie together so, like Gavin said, it's easy to recognize all the books that go together. A lot of different types of books seem to have similar covers. It's pretty easy to recognize paranormal fiction by the covers now.
Everyone seems to be going for the whole dark and brooding thing. Sword and sorcery novels are kind of the same way. When I think of high fantasy I think of men in armor on horseback.

Spines... I don't really know.... I'm sure if I see something eye-catching on the spine that does encourage me to pick up the book and check it out.

SMD @ The World in the Satin Bag: For me, the cover is practically the selling point. If I don't like the cover, I'm not going to even pick up the book. I know we're not supposed to do that, judging a book by its cover and all, but quite frankly I don't have time to pick up every single book when I'm at Borders or any other book store. I'm sorry. If that were the case and I picked up all of the books and read all their back covers, I'd never leave the store. Seriously. And trust me, a lot of people would be very irritated with me for having to stand around for twelve hours waiting for me to finish. Sometimes the cover doesn't matter if I see a name I'm familiar with, but otherwise I need a nice looking cover or I'm not going to bother looking closer.

Covers that tend to grab my attention the most depend on the genre. I personally hate all the cliché fantasy covers--buff man with a sword and his ragtag group of folks in the background, or whatever other common "standards" show up. It's just old and boring for me. I like fantasy covers that do something new, quirky and original. Fantasy tends to be a really hard sell for me, which is tremendously unfortunate because I know there are a lot of great fantasy books out there, but the covers are just so boring, and often times the back cover sounds like just another cliche tale, which I think is a disservice to the authors who are writing more complex tales than the synopsis presents.

As for science fiction, I am a big fan of Martiniere's covers. His artwork is brilliant. I also really like covers that look like they are done in watercolor. There was a Sci-Fi Essential for John Scalzi's Old Man's War and it was that cover that made me go "whoa, that's cool" and eventually buy it. I'm glad I did, because Old Man's War is one of the best sci-fi books I had read in a while (at that time, which was a few years ago now). When it comes to sci-fi, I'm more interested in covers that let me know "this is science fiction".

Covers that are ambiguous or just don't look like anything "sci-fi" tend to fail to draw my interest. Stuff like Martiniere or watercolorish things almost always grab my attention. I've bought many books with that style on the cover, and will continue to do so.

The only thing about a spine that can get me to pick up the book is if I know the author or if the title is particularly catchy. I generally don't pick up titles that sound ridiculous or too "genre". I like the unusual title, such as some of Connie Willis' titles and what not.

Mostly, though, I rely on author familiarity, which really sucks for new authors. But let's be honest here: who has the time to pick up every book to see what it's about when browsing for new books?

Thankfully we have the lovely Internet to help us find new books we might not have heard of before. All you unknown folks should bug us blogger folks. That's my opinion though.

Heather @ The Galaxy Express: Covers that scream "sex sells" attract my attention because of blatant attempts by marketing conglomerates to incite me to orgasm right there in the bookstore. (Well, it only happened a few times, but still....)

Cheap and/or poorly executed covers attract my attention. When I encounter a homely or slapdash cover, I don't know whether to laugh or cry--or I'm laughing so hard I cry.

Pretentious-looking covers attract my attention, but then I try and pretend they don't exist.

Repetitive covers, especially those using stock footage attract my attention because even within a genre/subgenre, each story is unique and stock footage degrades the art.

Now for the Big Reveal! My personal bookshelf contains all sorts of covers: ugly, sexy, highbrow, stock footage city, you name it. And man titty. Though I may harbor a preference for certain covers, I'm up the creek without a paddle if I want to read certain books regardless of my reaction to the window dressing. Covers are a subjective business, except when it comes to the business side of publishing. I understand and accept that. It comes part and parcel with the necessary evils of marketing.

Most of the time I already know a little about the story before entering the bookstore or making an online purchase. In the end, it's all about the story. I appreciate an artistically intriguing cover, but if I allowed covers or spines to dictate my buying choices,I'd miss out on some pretty great books.

Mark @ Walker of Worlds: Cover art is something that I have a love/hate relationship with. Some I love, some I hate. The differences between the two though are very blurred as some covers that I adore can be very similar in style to ones that I hate, including covers from the same artist. I go against the saying and usually judge a book by its cover - if I like the cover the chances of me picking up the book increase dramatically. I usually make up my mind of whether or not I'll buy a book within seconds of seeing the cover. Of course, I will make exceptions if I hear good things about it and it sounds like it would be right up my street, but it won't be put out on display. Hell no. My 'public' bookshelf only consists of books with relatively good looking covers (with a couple of exceptions) - I don't want crap looking stuff on there. I'm sure some will disagree with me, some might agree, but at the end of the day I have books that I want on the shelf and in view to visitors.

There is a fine line between what looks good and what looks tacky when it comes to science fiction and fantasy. From personal experience, a lot of books in these genres take a scene from the book and immortalise it as the cover. In my opinion this can either make or break my decision to look further into that book. I'm sure there are some truly great books out there that I have picked up, seen the cover and just put back down because of this very reason. The other killer, at least from my point of view, is when a book has got a cover that doesn't give any indication to what it actually is (like that god awful future classic series by Gollancz). Reading the blurb is all well and good in these cases, but when there is no sort of indication of the genre I find it annoying. To make it even clearer, I want a cover that wouldn't look out of place as a print hung on my wall.

So, after my moaning about what I do and don't like I'll go on to some examples. I'll use a couple of my favourite authors for this, seeing as they can represent what I love and what I hate about cover art. Firstly, Peter F Hamilton whose UK covers are done by Jim Burns. These are great pieces of art and suit the book they adorn - I know I'm getting something sci-fi when I pick them up. I love most of the covers as they are everything I said I liked above: it's a piece of art, is a snapshot of a scene in the book and it gives and idea of what to expect. There are a couple which could be better, but I'm quite happy to see all of these on my shelf and would love to have a couple up on my wall.

As for another example: Neal Asher. Neal's UK books have some great digital style art from Steve Rawlings and are some great pieces of art that suit Neal's writing. The first few of Neal's books had one style, which weren't bad, but needed improving upon. Since Voyage of the Sable Keech his books have had another style, one that makes them look stunning when you look at the front, side or back. They stand out from other books on the shelf and although they are all different, they are all very much the same, which I like.

I'm going to use The Skinner, one of Neal's books, as my main example of what is great, good and just butt ugly about book covers. The original release in the UK had a cover from Steve Rawlings done in the same style as his first book (http://www.panmacmillan.com/images/frontCovers/pdf/9780330484343-01.jpg). The Skinner is probably the nicest of all Neal's books released in this style, although you have to read the book to fully appreciate it. This is on the better side of being a good cover. When The Skinner was released in the US by Tor it was with a cover by Jim Burns. It sucks (http://www.alisoneldred.com/imageJimBurns-Illustration-0-26.html[Editor's Note: This is the cover on your right.]). Wait - didn't I say earlier how much I love Jim Burns' covers for Hamilton's work? Yep, but this one just sucks. It looks bad and when you get closer it just gets worse. I won't complain any more, it just sucks, although thankfully the publisher has hit the nail on the head with the other covers for Neal's books. The third cover is one that was for the French release of The Skinner and done by Stephan Martiniere (http://www.martiniere.com/imagepages/skinner.htm). This cover is the dogs bollocks and gives a superb example of how one scene can be so different (between this and Jim Burns') and rock so much.

No matter how good a book can be, if it's given the wrong cover it's already facing an uphill struggle, and that's what I hate the most about covers. It's the first thing you see and publishers really should take that extra time to get the right one for the book - and if that's what they've been doing for some of the vomit inducing stuff on the market, sack the person in charge of the cover and hire someone who has got taste. I'm sure the extra they'll fork out to have a better one done will more than pay for itself in extra sales.

Neth @ Nethspace: I've blogged extensively in the past about cover art, but it eventually bored me since I found myself saying more or less the same thing over and over again. Count me as a person who generally dislikes 'traditional SFF covers'. I don't want to see dragons, elves, etc. Or silly space battles, or scantily clad women in a subservient position to some macho man. In short, I don't want a cover I feel like I need to hide if I'm reading in public.

I've argued in the past that I think book covers are becoming less relevant in the internet age. Sure book buyers may still rely on them, but I think they are somewhat behind the times. Larger and larger percentages of books are sold on the internet - no cover art is making someone pick a book on the internet. It's much more likely to be an author's name, the book title, an author blurb, or something similar that brings attention to a book on-line. I rarely find myself browsing in a bookstore and if I do, the vast majority of books I'm looking at are shelved in a way that hides the cover art. So, the two most important things to catch my eye on a shelf or on the internet are the author's name and the title of the book. One pet peeve that I've developed is when the book title font on the spine of the book is so fancy or colored in a way to make it very difficult to read. If I can't read it or if I have to go out of my way to read, you can be assured that I won't be picking it up.

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Ask the Bloggers: Mapping SF&F

This week, I asked our participant bloggers to discuss their opinions on using maps in SF&F.

Should SF&F books have maps included for the readers? Are there any special conditions when they should or should not? Was there ever a book you wished had map that didn't? Or vice versa?

Heather @ The Galaxy Express: "I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the maaaaap!"

This, of course, is the famous ditty sung by the geographically fluent character "Map" from the television show DORA THE EXPLORER (if you're a parent I'm sure you recognized the lyrics right away). And yes, there is a point other than the fact that in our home Dora is a staple for our Lewis & Clark wannabe toddler.

SF&F maps aren't just for looks (as sexy as a few of them are). Neither do they exist simply for directionally-challenged readers such as me. Much like Dora's Map, SF&F maps are part of the interactive experience between reader and story.

Witness the role-playing and cosplay phenomena. Many SF&F readers immerse themselves in a story not only through their imagination, but also through outlets that connect them with other fans.

Maps of fantasy kingdoms or exotic worlds are a means of interacting with a story on a deeper level. They're a fundamental tool that helps readers jack into the author's creation and become part of it.

An author should always write a story independently of the need for visual aids. It's a medium of words, after all. (Plus, I can't imagine it's a guarantee that a publisher will commission one just because it's an SF&F novel). However, it's become an expected part of the package. So I don't evaluate books in terms of "Should they have maps?" But rather, "How strongly are the maps enhancing the reading experience?"

Now if someone could also figure out how to make them sing, that would be fantastico, indeed!

Mark @ Walker of Worlds: Should SF&F books have maps? When I think of maps in books I particularly think of fantasy and things like Lord of the Rings, Wheel of Time and the like. However, I don't read fantasy and space opera is my poison of choice in science fiction, but this subject is interesting, especially when I think about it with the books I like. I've only read a few books that have maps included so this has given me food for thought.

First up, of the books that I've read that include maps, only a couple stick in mind - these are The Many-Coloured Land by Julian May and Crystal Rain by Tobias Buckell. Both of these are set in a fairly limited area (although they both have that wider universe) which makes the maps more relevant. I enjoyed reading both of these books and while reading I found myself looking at the maps every so often to see where the action was happening or just to get a sense of where the story is taking place. So, seeing as I felt that the maps contributed to these two books would I like to see more? To be honest, no.

One of the main reasons I read is the escapism it brings, letting my imagination run wild all over the created worlds and universes that the authors have given me - having maps included can take away from that escapism. As I said above, if the story is set in a small area or place then it can help to visualise what you're reading about, but when you get to bigger stories and worlds I love recreating in my mind what the author has put in words, I don't always want to be shown how I should picture the location. Besides, most of the books I read would end up with pages upon pages of maps just to highlight the key locations.

I'm currently reading a series - Peter F Hamilton's Void Trilogy - which has two halfs to it. One half is set in the Commonwealth where humanity has spread over hundreds of planets, the other is set on one world within the Void and particularly in one city, Makkathran. What Peter has done is made available a relatively simple map of Makkathran on his website. It's not going to be in the books, but simply a web exclusive for fans to see if they so wish. Would I have liked to see the map in one of the books? Probably, but I'm glad it isn't. I had a clear image of Makkathran before I saw it and although it has influenced how I visualise it, it wasn't the basis.

Maps work for stories that are set in relatively small locations, but not for stories that span tens of places over hundreds of worlds. If maps are going to be included, stick them at the back of the novel, not the front. Put a note pointing to it, but let the reader choose whether to look at it first, not turn a page and be faced with it.

Alice @ Sandstorm Reviews: I'm a big fan of maps, which is possibly due to growing up with a big Middle Earth map on my parents' dining room wall. As with so many other things, Tolkien is the gold standard for proper map use - the map was well-drawn, with all the relevant places clearly marked, and it was useful to the narrative, which depended largely on following a quest through unknown (but realistic) geography. I do like to see maps in my fantasy books, but only if they can fulfill those criteria - no need for them in a city or a less realistic fairy-tale setting, for example, and they're more annoying than useful if half the important places are missing.

I can see why there's been a bit of an anti-map backlash - among British SFF publishers at least - as it's probably in the same vein as the reaction against covers with red dragons and chainmail bikinis on, an example of fantasy's worst excesses. I'm sure there have been too many pointless maps, but it seems a shame to throw the baby out with the bathwater; often a map can be a really useful tool for helping the story along, and removes the authorial dilemma of Excessive Infodump vs Reader Confusion. I know Joe Abercrombie would disagree, but I reckon The First Law trilogy would have benefited from some kind of mappage. Conversely, Erikson has plenty of maps, and they're nearly all useless. Much as I love Malazan, I'm not sure we really need all those maps of Capustan, Darujhistan and Malaz City, and it would be nice if we were given some kind of idea of how the many continents joined up, at some point. As with any technique, in order to add to the story, it needs to be appropriate, and it needs to be done well.

SMD @ The World in the Satin Bag: In my honest opinion I don't think it matters one bit. I never look at the maps while I'm reading. The way I see it is if the author cannot write well enough so it's clear where things are (at least to a point), then they clearly aren't doing a good job of writing. You shouldn't require a map to get a general idea what the world looks like.

That said, I do like the maps they put it books. I'm a big map-making enthusiast, and I really enjoy the professional maps that show up in books because they give me ideas for my own map-making. I don't think it's necessary to have the maps, but I'm thankful that they are there for my future perusal.

I can't imagine there being any special conditions that would make a map a necessity. Perhaps if someone is dealing with a really complicated SF concept, such as quantum physics, where trying to explain the worlds or something would result in a long-winded, incomprehensible science babble. Then I would think it might be necessary. The ten dimensions can be pretty confusing, even if someone explains it in idiot terms.

And I can't think of any book that I wish had a map, at least not because I needed it for the story. Sometimes if I really like a fantasy world it's nice if there is a map for it, just so I can have something pretty to look at. Otherwise, I never look at the maps while reading. They're just pretty things that are nice to have, but not necessary.

Neth @ Nethspace: I always feel undeceive when answering this question. First, I love maps - ever since I was a very young child one of the best way to entertain me was to hand me a map. If someone I am with is looking at a map I have an intense need to take that map and look at it myself. Now I'm a geologist by trade and interact with maps of various types many times a day, and being the spatially-oriented person I am, I love that aspect of my job.

But, no book needs a map...well I should qualify that statement - no well-written book needs a map. If a book truly needs a map, then the author has failed in very fundamental ways. However, I generally won't complain about a map in a book. If it's a good map, I can loose myself for significant amounts of time just exploring it. I think that sometimes a map can be a beneficial extra to a book, but as I said before, if the book needs a map, it has failed.

Since I believe that any well-written book doesn't need a map, I can't think of any book I've read that wished had one. However, the vice-versa happens much more often - all too often a map is thrown together for sake of having a map. A map that is poorly-constructed and that doesn't at least look a little like it could be a realistic map can infuriate me.

SQT @ Fantasy and Scifi Lovin' Blog: This isn't a huge thing for me but there have been times when I wished there was a map included. Usually when I'm reading a "quest" fantasy and the characters are travelling all over I like to get a mental image of where the story is taking place. I don't choose to buy or not to buy a book based on whether it includes a map-- that's not a factor. But I'll refer to them if they're there. I guess I like visual references.

Tia @ Fantasy Debut: When the map is there, it's nice. However, If you're going to put a map in the book, I will look at it whenever the story refers to a new locale. When that locale isn't to be found, then it is a bit annoying. This usually happens when the scale of the map is so huge that tiny towns are left off.

I find maps most useful when the action takes place across a relatively small area, like a city. I have not read many city-based novels where there is a map.

When reading epic fantasy, I look for a map. In my opinion, if there is going to be a whole new world presented to the reader, then a map is practically required.

John @ Vast and Cool and Unsympathetic: I like maps in books, generally. I love the whole world-building side of science fiction and fantasy, so I usually enjoy that sort of setting information. On a more practical level, it can be helpful if you're reading something set in an expansive setting where long-range travel is important to the plot- Tobias Buckell's Ragamuffin would be a good recent example of this. I also usually like having a map if warfare or diplomacy figures prominently in the story, to get a better sense of who the players are.

Finally, it's good to have a map if the geography of the setting is somehow special in an important way. Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep is a good example of this- the whole setting and plot hinges on the idea that different parts of the galaxy have different physical laws. The little galaxy map in the book, showing the borders between regions, is quite simple but helps make the idea easier to grasp.

Aidan @ A Dribble of Ink: Ahh maps, always a favourite subject of mine.

Joe Abercrombie (whose been oft criticized for the lack of maps in his trilogy, The First Law) has a fantastic quote from Last Argument of Kings:

"'The Fall of the Master Maker,' muttered Glokta. 'That rubbish? All magic and valour, no? I couldn't get through the first one.'
'I sympathise. I'm onto the third one and it doesn't get any easier. Too many damn wizards. I get them mixed up one with another. It's all battles and endless bloody journeys, here to there and back again. If I so much as glimpse another map I swear I'll kill myself.'"

In all seriousness, though, I'm a big fan of maps, both as an addition to literature and just in general. They look rad framed on a wall.

If a novel contains a map, especially a good one, I constantly find myself flipping back to it, relating the lay of the land to what's going on in the story; this is doubly important, in my mind, in military type fantasy (such as Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen and Paul Kearney's The Ten Thousand). Maps aren't necessary, by any means, but I certainly don't mind having them to complement the text of the novel, especially when they're as well crafted as the ones found, for instance, in Greg Keyes' The Kingdom of Thorn and Bone series.

One of my favourite implementations of maps in a Fantasy novel comes in Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. Along with the usual maps at the beginning of the novel, before the action starts, there's another map at the beginning of each of the novels' several sections, further exploring the area of the world that those chapters take place. It's a great way for the reader to really get to know the lay of the land.

I don't know that I've ever found a novel where I felt the map detracted from the experience, though there are certainly novels which could have benefited from a better artist. Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy and Terry Goodkind's The Sword of Truth novels are the first to come to mind.

All of this, though, is with regards to Fantasy, rather than Science Fiction. When it comes to SF, I'm rather impartial to maps and, well, don't really miss them when they're not there. I suppose that has a lot to do with the type of brain power needed to comprehend a map that would need to be used in novels like John Scalzi's Old Man's War (which spans various planets and has ships skipping across vast distances) or Robert Charles Wilson's Spin (which takes place, mostly, on an Earth we're already very familiar with).

Any time I can open a novel and find a map that I'd kill to have framed on my wall, is a very good thing indeed.

There is another roundtable from authors, Brian Ruckley, Alastair Reynolds, Jeff Somers, and Jaine Fenn at Bookgeeks on this very subject.

You als might want to check out this cool blog called Fantasy Cartography, if maps are your thing.

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Ask the Bloggers: Vote For a New Title

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Ask the Bloggers: Aidan's (Re?) - Ruminations on 'Urban' Fantasy

Aidan, who participated in our original roundtable discussion of urban fantasy, decided to needed to expand somewhat on previous comments due to the comments made by Larry at OF Blog of the Fallen and the discussion there. There is the full text of the original answer, plus some recommended reading outside of the "paranormal romance" sub-category of urban fantasy, which I think are excellent reading suggestions.

Ask the Bloggers: The Rewards of Blogging

This fourth edition of Ask the Bloggers (still a working title) asks the bloggers about the rewards they find in blogging.

What has been your most rewarding moment as a blogger?

Neth: This is a tricky question.

I certainly remember the almost exhilarating feeling of realizing who some of the people reading my blog were and then sheepishly asking for ARCs (and getting them). Though I'm not sure I'd call that rewarding.

With the blog I've had a chance to speak (well, exchange emails) with some of the powerhouses of the SFF genre - George R.R. Martin, Steven Erikson, Michael Moorcock, Michael Swanwick - as well as some exciting newcomers - Scott Bakker, Joe Abercrombie, Tobias Buckell, etc. It's always a pleasure joy to interact with these authors, but them I'm not sure rewarding is the best word for it.

I suppose the most rewarding moments come when I find an unexpected reference to something I've written on the blog - especially when some fan indicates that they found a new-to-them book as a result of me. That is definitely rewarding.

Tia Nevitt: My rewarding moments come every time someone leaves a comment on my blog. For me, web traffic analysis is nice, but comments are tangible evidence that someone has stopped by, read what I had to say, and felt it worth responding to.

And even more rewarding is when a conversation starts in the comments, with people checking several times a day to see what has been said since they last stopped by. I love that.

But the most rewarding moment comes whenever another blogger gives a shout-out to a particular post. That means someone has been particularly struck by something I had to say, and felt it worth bringing to the attention of their own readers. I am always gratified at how generous other bloggers are with their web traffic.

SMD: Probably the most rewarding moment for me is when someone (anyone) says they enjoy my blog. I can't imagine anything more rewarding than that, even if it is one person. I don't hear it often (which sounds bad, but all bloggers realize that most readers don't comment in the first place), but it's nice when it happens. I've heard it about my blog novel and a few times about the actual blogging aspect. I actually really love receiving emails from random people telling me they enjoyed reading. It makes me feel good. I encourage people to email me about whatever. Seriously. I'd rather spend my email time replying to useful emails than going through spam.

Other rewarding moments are when people link to me, either in a blogroll or directly, or whenever an author agrees to do an interview with me. I also feel somewhat rewarded just by the fact that my blog is almost 2 years old. A lot of bloggers have been at this for longer than I have, and I've grown a lot as a blogger (or I think so), but it feels great to have succeeded in keeping at it for so long. I don't know if I ever truly thought I would remain so dedicated, but I absolutely love my blog and the process of blogging. It's exciting and fun. What's not fun about talking about what you enjoy most?

So, that's my answer to that.

SQT: Rewarding moments come in so many ways I think. I think the first time blogging was really satisfying to me was when I got some traffic to my blog and had a couple of people email me to tell me how much they like it. I even had a couple of readers ask if they could contribute posts now and then and that was a small thrill.

But I think the most rewarding thing is when authors and publicists email me and ask if I would review a book for them. To me, that is such a huge compliment. I read other review blogs and think they're so much better than mine, so it makes me feel good to think that someone wouldn't mind having their book featured on my site.

Dark Wolf: The rewarding moments come in different ways, but the feeling is pretty much the same, joy. I enjoy seeing comments on my post, I know that readers don't make comments (when I was just a reader I commented in pretty rare occasions), but I enjoy when I see comments. I also enjoy when they compliment my blog, it is rewarding to see my work appreciated even though I do it mainly for fun.

It is rewarding when I receive mail and I find books there, I love when they arrive and it gives me a pleasant feeling. Also when I'm asked to review a book I'm happy, beacause I feel my work appreciated in a new way. And I love when the authors agree to make interviews with me, this part is something I never thought off or dreamed off before I started my blog.

A rewarding thing is that since I started my blog I made so many friends and I met so many nice people, who are a joy and a pleasure to talk too.

To find out more about an individual blogger, click their name to be redirected to their blog.

If you would like to participate in a further discussion and you own a blog (authors who blog are welcome too!) that writes SF and Fantasy Reviews, send me an email, or leave a comment. Question suggestions are also welcome.

"Ask the Bloggers" is a working title for this ongoing feature. Should you have a better suggestion, please leave it in the comments. The contributor whose suggestion I like best will receive a $10 Amazon gift certificate.

Ask the Bloggers: Larry Responds

Larry at Of Blog of the Fallen responds to our recent roundtable discussion about "urban fantasy" saying that he felt we didn't discuss enough of the variety of urban fantasy, being too focused on "paranormal romance".

He has a valid point, and I plan to take that constructive criticism and apply it to more questions in the future. Go join the discussion there. Maybe we can actually define it better through constructive dialogue.

Ask the Bloggers: Urban Fantasy and the Next Big Subgenre

Here we are at the third edition of Ask the Bloggers (still looking for a good title) and interest has been very high. Don't forget the contest at the bottom of this post.

Our question this time is a two-parter:

In recent years, there has a been a rise in interest in the urban fantasy genre, even prompting some publishers to republish older urban fantasy works, such as Pyr's recent publication of Stalking the Unicorn by Mike Resnick. What is your explanation for the recent rise in the popularity of this subgenre?

Secondly, since the rise and fall in popularity of fantasy and SF subgenres tends to be cyclical, what subgenre of fantasy do you predict will see an upsurge in its popularity once urban fantasy is on the wane?

Alice of Sandstorm Reviews: It's easy to see the rise of urban fantasy as a reaction to the typical rural setting populated by farmboys, wandering knights and dark woods, but I think a lot of the impetus behind it is also an issue of branding. Urban Fantasy used to have a much narrower definition, along the lines of "magic in the real world", and now it incorporates everything from Steampunk to New Weird to standard epic fantasy that happens to have a city setting - now all you need is a City, and the fantasy is Urban. With just a few big hits under that rather broad umbrella, it can suddenly be billed as the Latest Big Thing and a chance to revive parts of your backlist. The fact that the backlist exists is proof that "urban fantasy" is not a new idea; it's just happy coincidence that some talented authors have given the genre a boost, making it easier for new urban fantasy writers to sell their work, and for older ones to revive theirs.

As for the next subgenre to take the spotlight, I've been seeing more than a few barbarians creeping back in, from Cnaiur to Logan to everyone's favourite Karsa, so there may well be some re-imaginings of Conan on the horizon. The steppe is not quite as versatile a setting as the city, though, so my best guess would be for more SF/Fantasy crossover novels, along the lines of Richard Morgan's recent The Steel Remains, something that's had a bit of a lull since The Dying Earth in the '50s. If Morgan's novel does well, that could open the door for plenty of similar offerings. Though maybe that's just wishful thinking!

Heather of The Galaxy Express: A heaping portion of urban fantasy fans are adventurous romance readers who branched out first into paranormal romance. But first let's take a quick jaunt in the time machine, shall we? In the very early 1990's, the paranormal romance market was "dead" when Laurel K. Hamilton first started shopping around her Anita Blake vampire hunter series. Even her agent had to submit over a two year period before it sold.

But after the success of Anne Rice's vampire tales, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER television show, and Hamilton's Anita Blake series, paranormal romances were on the rise. Yet there was more to the boom than that. Christine Feehan became a published author and she wrote super sizzling hot, graphic sex scenes along with the ultra Alpha heroes. Now romance readers saw what they'd been wanting all along, without even realizing that they'd been missing it.

So when urban fantasy became the "It" genre, many of these paranormal romance readers had already been primed on stories that featured the fantastic or supernatural. They crossed the proverbial aisle even though a romance wasn't the primary draw. Urban fantasy also features many intelligent, kick butt heroines and that element became a significant draw for readers tired of insipid, TSTL ("too stupid to live") romance heroines.

For a lively discussion that relates to this topic, click here. (A shout out to Paula at the Intergalactic Bar and Grille for the link.)

Steampunk is the new black. I think the trend has already begun, actually. Books such as WHITECHAPEL GODS, CLOCKWORK HEART, and MAINSPRING have hit the shelves. There's also been an increase in recent films that feature très chic steampunk set designs and/or storylines. Graphic novels such as Alan Moore's LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN and Kaja Foglio's GIRL GENIUS are fueling the trend.

Not only that, but you can't walk into a comic book convention anywhere without passing a posse of people draped in steampunk regalia. It seems that everything, including Star Wars, is being remade in the image of steampunk. And who doesn't love airships?!

(Incidentally, I'm planning a weeklong extravaganza on the steampunk genre at The Galaxy Express in September 2008--with giveaways! So everyone, count yourself invited.).

I also predict that demand will increase for science fiction romance. First of all, the current trend from romance publishers is toward more SF elements and grittier stories and characters. These aren't your momma's futuristic romances anymore.

Second, there's a trend for many SF books these days to routinely include a romantic subplot, even if it doesn't follow the structure of a typical romance novel (what many folks refer to as "romantic SF"). Because there's such a range of types and definitions of these stories, I expect more people are reading this blended genre than we'll ever know.

Whether science fiction romance will overtake urban fantasy or paranormal romance is up in the air right now. However, I predict that once SF publishers begin marketing to romance readers and once romance publishers start exploiting this niche market, it's going to be hot, hot, hot. There's also a strong possibility that science fiction romance will gain popularity starting with e-books. New York publishers will then start cashing in and then everybody's happy!

Aidan of A Dribble of Ink: Being about 50k words into writing an Urban/Contemporary Fantasy myself, this subject is near and dear to my heart, and so I've been watching as this shift in focus has spread through the industry. To that end I've spent a lot of time thinking about it, rolling it over in my head and contemplating just why Epic Fantasy's been pushed to the wayside in favour of urban sprawl, werewolves, modern dialect and a ton of sex.

Over the course of this low level philosophizing I've come to the conclusion that there're three reasons that have led to the 'fall' of Epic Fantasy and the rise of Urban Fantasy.

The first is simple. Epic Fantasy ruled the roost for decades, from the time Tolkien first published The Lord of the Rings (and one could easily argue that its reign stretches well before that, to the works of Homer), and it's simply hard to keep atop the hill for that long. Even the mighty Roman Empire finally fell to pieces, right? The same stories can only be told to the same people for so long before they start looking for something new. The market was becoming oversaturated and publishers started to look elsewhere, to see what was selling.

So what was selling? Thrillers and Chick-lit. Wait a second... doesn't that sound a little familiar? Like, perhaps, two of the major elements that drive those Urban Fantasies which are selling like hotcakes these days? Which brings me to my second point: Women.

Women like to read, no one will be shocked to hear that. But consider who (anecdotally) make up the largest contingent of fantasy fans: overweight, sweaty mouth-breathers with neck beards. Now, of course this is a major generalization (I don't have a neck beard, nor do I breathe heavily through my mouth; I'm not overweight, either), unfortunately this is how the fan base is perceived by the general public; not fair, but hard to deny. Women (for good reason) generally don't like to be associated nerds like us (unless they're nerdy, too).

Working at a bookstore (and generally haunting the Fantasy/Science Fiction section while on shift) taught me one thing: for every female to wander into the section, there were four to five males. Of course it doesn't help that the publishers have been marketing fantasy to males for decades (swords, dragons, scantily-clad princesses, and all that other cool junk one might see airbrushed on the side of a bitchin' van), and 50 years of that is hard to overcome.

The publishers, realizing they're missing out on 50% of their potential audience, wise up and release the likes of Laurell K. Hamilton, Stephanie Meyer, and Kelly Armstrong -and suddenly there were novels on the shelf of the 'Fantasy' section that doesn't make women feel like they belong in the basement of their parents' house with a scattering of dice before them, sixteen empty cans of Mountain Dew littering the floor and a 'Dragonforce' album blaring in the background.

This phenomenon spreads further (away from women in general, and to a wider market) when one considers authors such as Neil Gaiman, Jim Butcher, Charles De Lint and Sergei Lukyanenko, who take fantasy out of the needlessly complex secondary worlds and drop it into a world we can all understand: our own. We know the rules, we know the language, we know the places. People, however, are endlessly fascinated by watching those things we are so comfortable with being twisted and played with by a skilled writer, by having another perspective of the world thrust upon them.

The third reason, then, is that Urban Fantasy is just easier to read and thus has the potential to reach a wider audience. No confusing maps, no archaic dialogue (hopefully), no endlessly nuanced magic system to digest, no otherworldly politics and wars being waged by make-believe countries. I think a lot of people who read fantasy (and especially those who are just getting in via the Urban Fantasy trend) are the type who read for escapism - to get whisked away from their daily life into something exciting, something new, something dangerous. Urban Fantasy is grounded in real life, but also reveals to readers that there can be so much more; that there is magic lurking out there, just waiting to be discovered.

Publishing trends, like almost everything, are cyclical. Urban Fantasy is the hot thing at the moment, but that won't always be the case. I expect we'll see the rise of Epic Fantasy again, but whether that is sooner rather than later is hard to tell. It's a tried and true genre and (despite all the drawbacks mentioned earlier) I feel that with the likes of Patrick Rothfuss, Joe Abercrombie, Richard Morgan, Brandon Sanderson and George R.R. Martin still thriving in this new market, it's hard to imagine that anyone could consider Epic Fantasy to be unhealthy... maybe just not as healthy as Urban Fantasy at the moment.

Tia of Fantasy Debut: I've heard it speculated that epic fantasy will make a comeback, but I'm not sure it ever really went "out" because it's always been my favorite subgenre, and I'm finding plenty of new epics to read these days.

I have a hard time explaining the rise of urban fantasy's popularity because I'm not a big fan of the subgenre. I enjoyed the urban fantasy of the 80s and the early 90s -- most notably those of Charles de Lint -- but I'm not interested in vampires or various other undead, and I usually don't empathize with the snarky voice of many urban fantasies. (I do keep meaning to try Jim Butcher.)

One subgenre that is suffering from a distinct lapse in popularity these days seems to be the so-called high fantasy, or elf/dwarf/hobbit fantasy. Its popularity seems to persist in young adult novels, such as Eragon, but adult novels based on elves don't seem to do well these days unless the author brings in a significant new twist, such as what Lisa Shearin did with her Raine Beneres series. Maybe we'll see a renewed interest in elves, but it is my guess that we'll need a few more years before such novels become popular again. We need time for nostalgia to set in.

In the meantime, maybe someone will come along and invent an entirely new subgenre. It's happened before.

SMD of The World in the Satin Bag: I really can only guess as to why the urban fantasy genre has grown as much as it has in recent years. I guess that it has a lot to do with the surge of popular urban fantasy films, such as the success of Anne Rice's vampire movies (Interview With a Vampire, Queen of the Damned,and The Feast of All Saints), which sparked what I would consider to be a larger movie craze for the vampire/werewolf genre, giving us both Underworld films, three Blade movies, and bunches of other movies I've yet to see involving some rehash of the vampire or werewolf or similar ethos. And there are also quite a few other films that are escaping my mind which took elements of the fantastic and shoved them into a city setting (even the Harry Potter films had a slight element of that if we remember Diagon Alley and the train station). The film industry can sometimes have a significant impact on books, and I imagine those films mentioned pushed interest into the vampire/werewolf stuff. And then we got Laura K. Hamilton and a bunch of other authors churning out books that gave the market exactly what it
wanted, and bam, it was a hit.

The problem I see with urban fantasy is that there isn't enough non-vampire/werewolf stuff, which may cause it significant harm in the long run when it becomes very tired and boring due to authors using the same character archetypes repeatedly. What might help stall the subsequent fall of urban fantasy is authors pulling these creatures and ideas out of their element. Vampires are typically synonymous with the city setting.

As for subgenre I see having an upsurge, well, I think it's quite possible that we'll see a bigger boom in adventurous, Golden Age hat-tipping science fiction. I have no idea what you will call the books that fit into these. They'll be part space opera, part pulp, part other stuff. Right now we have John Scalzi and Tobias S. Buckell really working on bringing some of that wonder and amazement and I think there is great potential for writers similar to them to break out and drive this subgenre to the front. As for fantasy, I think what makes urban fantasy so successful is that it's fantasy stuff outside of the norm. We don't have magic in a faraway land that is eerily similar to medieval England, fighting dragons and evil knights and what not. The problem is, that will grow old, as I said, and eventually people are going to have to go elsewhere for their fix.

So, I have a feeling that we may see a surge in heroic fantasy again, although, probably not for very long. I'd love to say that historical fantasy will explode, but I don't see that happening. Perhaps some obscure explosion of quirky fantasy will see the light of day. The problem with predicting anything in fantasy is that most of it is selling well to begin with. Urban fantasy is just selling slightly better than everything else right now. I'm not sure sure that when urban fantasy stops doing so well that other fantasy subgenres will necessarily fill in the gap.

And that's my longwinded answer.

Neth of Nethspace: This is a very interesting question and I think it really gets to the heart of where society is (and I'll be speaking about society here in the USA).

The world we live in is a very different place these days - gone is the Cold War and advances in computing and telecommunications via things like the internet have turned our world into a true global village. Throw in the tragic events of 9-11, the state a fear perpetuated by the powers that be, gloomy economic conditions, and an ideologically divided country and things just look bad.

In this environment we've seen a shift from SFF novels with some evil dark overlord/alien species with absolute right and wrong. Gone is the optimistic near-future SF thriller. Now everything is shades of gray and it's the creature lurking in the shadows that can get anybody that keeps us awake at night.

Urban fantasy feeds into our current fears and generally features 'ordinary' people (or people who were at least ordinary at one time) overcoming these fears and kicking major ass. The government tends to be a non-issue or simply another version of this distrusted, shades of gray evil.

Another important aspect is that urban fantasy is largely written by women for a female audience. In a time where readership of books continues to decline, women are making up a larger and larger percentage (already well over half) of readers out there. Romance is the big performer in fiction sales and the new urban fantasy readily taps into this.

As for where things go from here, I think it's largely dependent on where society goes. We may be in for a long haul of this type of fiction if society continues in the direction it seems to be going. So, I'm not sure that anyone will be able to get it right, but I think at some point it will become very popular to take a look back to better times - and exactly how SFF chooses to do this will be a fun thing to see.

To find out more about an individual blogger, click their name to be redirected to their blog.

If you would like to participate in a further discussion and you own a blog (authors who blog are welcome too!) that writes SF and Fantasy Reviews, send me an email, or leave a comment. Question suggestions are also welcome.

"Ask the Bloggers" is a working title for this ongoing feature. Should you have a better suggestion, please leave it in the comments. The contributor whose suggestion I like best will receive a $10 Amazon gift certificate.

Ask the Bloggers: How did you get your start?

This second edition of Ask the Bloggers (working title) discusses the origins of a few of your favorite review bloggers.

What got you started in blogging, and why did you choose to become an SF book reviewer?

Shaun Duke: I guess technically my blogging started long before I created http://wisb.blogspot.com/. I had a LiveJournal that I used to babble about my personal life, but I stopped that after about six months when I realized that whining and complaining about life wasn't really all that interesting. Besides, I got over that stage and came to the conclusion that there was no point being depressed and upset all the time when you could spend your days being happy (or at least try to be).

So I stopped blogging for a while. Some time later I started getting the urge to write a novel noticed that some folks were doing blog novels. After looking into it I thought, "What the heck. Why not try one of these things?" I did, creating WISB (which went through several name changes beforehand). I spent almost a year writing and posting The World in the Satin Bag and babbling about science fiction, fantasy, etc. After I finished the novel I decided to keep blogging and plan a second book, and I've been doing it all for almost two years now.

As for doing reviews: I started doing them randomly on my blog, decided I liked it, and ended up becoming involved with SQT's blog (http://fantasyscifibookreview.blogspot.com/) doing reviews. Now I review for small presses and the occasional big press and it's fantastic. Not sure why I chose to become involved, though. I enjoy reading and enjoyed writing the reviews. There's always that side of you that goes, "Hey, I get free books." That's always a perk. I also have the fortune of reading new works I might not have seen in the bookstore or maybe never would have picked up in the first place (and should have). Once I got involved I couldn't stop. I love small presses. Some of the best works I've ever read have come from such places. Hopefully I'll get to keep doing this too. It's opened up a few doors for me, I think (such as becoming a judge for the Gaylactic
Spectrum Awards and speaking directly with writers/authors/publishers).

Gav: What a question! I guess I started blogging when I was in uni doing my creative writing degree. I was blogging about writing, and reading and other personal stuff on gavsstudio.co.uk. You can still find an archive of some of the posts in the pre-2008 part of nextread.co.uk.

Then I got offered a book to review in January 2007 and from their I decided to court a few publishers into sending me books. Not because they're free but because I've always loved books and my book bill every year is more than I spend on almost everything else. And I wanted to share as many books as I can with people and I thought no better place than on a blog. It also forces me to read and find out about authors that I wouldn't normally have come across.

As for SF. I think that it's easier to slip mainstream reading into a SF blog than it is to slip scifi into mainstream reading. But the main reason is that I read a lot more speculative fiction than mainstream. I still have a love of poetry but I find mundane situations in fiction well mundane and it needs to be a good writer to engage me. I like David Leavitt for example. I've always been interested in sf and fantasy in all its form and its the area that will always get me excited.

I no longer write creatively. I have too many other interests to give writing the concentration and times it needs but I guess the blog is my outlet for the writing itch and flexing it slightly for when I start writing creatively again. But that's another story.

SQT: I started blogging because after being a stay-at-home mom for 6 years. I was going nuts and need some kind of adult interaction.

I had gone to school and gotten a degree in Journalism, so my first blog was dedicated to bias in the news media. I learned real quick that I had picked a blog theme that could be way too time intensive if I let myself get too carried away. I was linking to all kinds of current news articles and comparing biases, but I just didn't have the time to devote to a blog that didn't pay when I kids to take care of and I took it down.

I started off with my Fantasy & Sci-Fi Lovin' blog on a whim. It seemed like a fun thing to do and I didn't intend to keep the name. I thought I'd think of something better before anyone visited my blog.

But, like lots of things we do just for the fun of it, it took on a life of its own before I knew it and I actually had people visiting. After I had that blog up for about a year, and I did some book reviews, I decided to put up a separate review blog because I noticed that the reviews had a completely different audience than the rest of the blog posts. Plus, I wanted a place to devote just to books and giveaways. I alternate between the two pages day to day.

I've been very lucky. My blogs are fun and somehow I managed to get contributors to both sites. I have a good relationship with a couple of publishers and that keeps me as busy as I want to be.

Dark Wolf: I love reading since I can remember, or since I've learned to read. I grew up in a Communist regime (not that I had an unhappy childhood, on the contrary) which had a pretty nasty censorship. Few books would hit the market and SF and fantasy were the most unfortunate genre when it came to that. But I really like fantastic stories, I refer here to legends, mythology and some very wonderful Russian folklore stories. My favorite genre was SF.

After 1989 revolution the SF titles grew a little bit more, but the fantasy ones were still nonexistent. Until 8 years ago when J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Fellowship of the Ring" was translated for the first time in Romanian. It was love at first sight. It was like finding the
perfect match with me (please don't tell my wife :)) and since then I looked mostly for the fantasy titles. About 4 years ago a friend of mine told me about a new card at a bank here that was accepted on the Internet and that was a big help, because from Amazon I acquired some very wonderful titles (that is because fantasy genre is still in his
first days in my country). So, I have to say that this genres are my favorite ones and that will be the natural choice when comes to blogging.

About 9 months ago I stumbled upon the first review blog. On a constant rate I began to seek information about the old and upcoming titles and through the first blog's blogroll I found many wonderful blogs (Thank you very much guys). One day I was wondering if I could do a review. Finding a contest on a Romanian blog, the author of the
posted review on the publishing house blog will receive a 50% deduction on 3 titles, I wrote an review. Being posted there gave me courage and inspired by the blogs I read I started my own.

And I'm very happy until now and I'm certain that it will not make me unhappy because with the help of my blog I've met some wonderful persons, my fellow bloggers, I've received some free books, always a joy when that happens and I got the chance to talk about my passion.

The Book Swede: I started my blog in April and didn't post anything until July -- I simply forgot, stumbled on it again, sent an email to Orbit and was shocked and delighted by their really pleasant reply and agreement in sending me one or two books to start with to see how I did. I gradually committed more and more time to it, and it very quickly became a hobby rather than a spur of the moment plan for free books. There's more work involved than I ever thought, but there's a lot more fun and a greater community of really cool people than I expected.

As for why SF: it was pretty much all I read at the time; and while I do read a lot more non-genre and, ahem, "highbrow" literary things, than a year ago, SF in all it's forms is still my main reading type.

Without being verbose and using words like verbose (...damn...), my childhood was pretty much saved by having books to distract me and heal my wounds. I taught myself to read to a very large extent, but the myths and legends and fairy-book stories taught me, in the words of G.K. Chesterton, not that monsters are real -- for I knew that -- but that they could be beaten.

'Course now, I just read for fun :) Anything and everything that interests me. Be it classics, or the worst-written-but-still-enormously-fun books-ever.

Tia Nevitt: If you'll look at my blog profile, you'll see that I started my blogger account in February of 2002. That makes me something of an early adopter in blogging terms. Google didn't even own Blogger back then, and many of the features we now get for free were "premium" features way back when.

I had a series of personal blogs that I didn't keep up for one reason or another, or that I decided to take offline for various reasons. My first blog is still available on my dashboard, but you can no longer see it from my profile. One blog I deleted altogether due to privacy issues. I came to realize that it just isn't wise to shout about your personal issues online.

I decided to start Fantasy Debut because I enjoy reading first novels and I thought it would be an interesting niche. I wanted to start a review blog because no one I know in real life reads fantasy except one brother-in-law. Almost immediately after starting FD, I started finding other fantasy blogs and they started finding me.

This is the only blog that I've ever had any success at, but that's ok, because this is also the only blog I really put any effort into. Since I didn't expect any success, it's all a bonus for me.

Neth: As I've said before, I started blogging largely by accident.

I've been active in one way or another at the Wotmania OF message board since its inception in 2001. As an active member of that community, other members were interested in my thoughts of reviews, and the community promoted writing short reviews as a way of generating discussion of books and expanding awareness of other books.

Eventually I had several reviews under my belt and found myself referring back to them - which can be a pain on any message board, particularly with the antiquated format at Wotmania OF. With the recent (at that time) success of Pat and his blogging, I decided to start a blog to function as a single place to hold reviews I had written - this was early 2006 (so in internet years, my blog is long past its adolescence).

After I installed a stat counter and found out that people from all over the world were reading my blog and the realization that some of the commenters were in fact editors and the like, I started to take the blog a bit more seriously. It has continued to evolve from there.

To find out more about an individual blogger, click their name to be redirected to their blog.

If you would like to participate in a further discussion and you own a blog (authors who blog are welcome too!) that writes SF and Fantasy Reviews, send me an email, or leave a comment. Question suggestions are also welcome.

"Ask the Bloggers" is a working title for this ongoing feature. Should you have a better suggestion, please leave it in the comments. The contributor whose suggestion I like best will receive a $10 Amazon gift certificate.

Ask the Bloggers: Writing Good Reviews of Bad Books

Today is an inaugural day. Today we begin a new feature at this blog called "Ask the Bloggers" (working title). Each post will contain one question that is put to some of your favorite SF/F bloggers, and their replies. This weeks' question comes from Dark Wolf, of Dark Wolf's Fantasy Reviews.

Dark Wolf asks: "Since you blog and review have you been compelled or did you write in a particular case a good review despite not liking the book?"

Shaun Duke: No. I don't write good reviews if the book is bad. When I review books I tend to try to give both the good and the bad. People who read the reviews can then decide whether it's a book for them. Sometimes you get books that aren't to your liking (perhaps because the story isn't something you'd usually read), but the book itself isn't bad. So you write the review looking at both sides and let people decide. But if a book is bad for obvious reasons, I'm not going to intentionally write a good review of it just to make the author or the publisher feel better. Bad books are bad books. I'll either choose not to review it, or I'll point out what's wrong with a book. I've been fortunate enough to not have to deal with the issue of bad books much, at least from publishers. Since I do take self-pubbed books I have already received one book that was actually really good (with some minor flaws, which probably wouldn't matter to the intended audience--elementary school children) and one that, unfortunately, I couldn't finish (and am still in a dilemma about whether I should review it, because there won't be much good to say). Honesty is the best policy, because lying to your audience is probably not a good idea. If you keep telling them that the books you read are perfectly wonderful, eventually they'll catch on and realize that you're saying that on purpose (or you just love every single book and think they are all perfect little bits of art, if that's even possible). That's why I point out the good and the bad, if both exist. There are no perfect books. There are awesome books, sure, but no perfect books. Even the classics, books we all love from the dawn of science fiction and fantasy, have flaws. We love them for being great books despite those flaws, but are able to acknowledge that the flaws exist.

Another way to look at it, perhaps, is that the authors who read your criticism may take your "complaints" to heart. Authors are always wanting to improve their craft and if you have a constructive criticism about their work, they're likely to think about in something else they read. Not all authors will do this, but some will. You can't help them if you give only glowing reviews of the books you look at and you can't help your audience find new and exciting books that they might like if you never tell them the truth (that books aren't perfect). But that's my opinion.

Scooper: No. If I don't like the book I tell why I didn't like it. It's unfair to people who take time out of their busy schedules to read my blog to do that. I give what was good and bad to me and the reader will either read the book and make their own decision. If I'm wishy-washy about it, I'll end with something like,"It was okay, but I won't read it again."

SQT: I'll admit it, I did feel pressure to be more favorable in my reviews at first. I felt insecure when I first started and I didn't want to alienate the publishers who were sending me books-- or the authors.

The first book I reviewed was a hard sci-fi book, though I tend to prefer fantasy. People were raving about this book and I just couldn't get into it. I could tell it was a quality book and there was nothing wrong with the writing, it just didn't do anything for me stylistically. I reviewed it the best I could without being as negative about it as I probably would be now. I think I was more critical than any other reviewers that were reviewing it at the time but I wasn't as critical as I really wanted to be.

I feel more secure now in saying what I really feel. A book that came up recently was Joe Abercrombie's Before They are Hanged. Joe's another author who gets a lot of glowing reviews. I like Joe a lot and I do think his books are good. But I could feel the impact the other reviews were having on my opinion, so I shelved the book for awhile and went back to it. I still liked it, but I think I was to be more objective by waiting a while to do the review. I still gave it a positive review, but added some criticism I might not have had I read it sooner.

It is hard though. I can tell when certain authors don't really like the review and there's that little part of me that cringes a little when that happens. But I feel a responsibility to be honest and it does get easier with time.

Aidan: Aidan of A Dribble of Ink touched on this topic in a recent post. Even though he didn't submit to this query, I thought it worth the linkage.

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