Club Jade

I’ve been kicking the idea of a general genre book roundup for a while, and when I asked if anyone would be interested on Twitter I got several positive responses. Alas, some of them were folks asking for recommendations – while I was thinking of news roundups. So maybe we’ll try a little of both. (Don’t forget that Erika – who does book reviews for us, among other things – has her own book review blog over at Jawas Read Too.)

One of my favorite people for recommendations is Jo Walton and her posts at Tor.com. I can’t tell you how many books I’ve picked up because she wrote about them. Her latest entries include Poul Anderson’s The Broken Sword and C.J. Cherryh’s Serpent’s Reach. Tor is a great blog if you’re looking for genre news and reviews, but Walton’s recs alone make it more than worth following.

But enough about praise for others… I’m sure what you really want to see are my opinions. I kid, but head beneath the cut for my fiction picks for 2010. (more…)

While I don’t doubt there were still plenty of Star Wars fans still roaming around Saturday and Sunday, with most of the panels being on Friday there wasn’t much new floating around. Well, except for the Mandalorian wedding. (Oye vey.) And Cinematical posted a brief review of Fanboys. And the official site has more pictures, of course, while Rebelscum continues exhaustively documenting the booths and products of every licensee.

• The Dollhouse panel featured Joss Whedon, Eliza Dushku and Tamoh Penikett.

• SPOILERS: They showed the entire first episode of Heroes S3. That’s so not cool. Well, for us, anyway.
• Sorry Paula, but they just won’t shut up about Battlestar Galactica.
• Video: The Movie Blog nabs a few minutes with Paul Ens; Naomi Novik gets a gift from a fan; See a teaser for Pixar’s next, Up.
• Also: Neil Gaiman’s new project, Lost, Futurama, Terminator Salvation, and The Sarah Conner Chronicles

Spotted at NJOE, a brand new Invincible summary in Del Rey’s Summer catalog (on page 75.) A bit spoilery if you can’t been reading the others, so highlight to read:

Luke Skywalker is stuck on the horns of a dilemma. He is convinced that Darth Caedus, the Sith Lord who began life as Luke’s own peace-loving nephew, Jacen Solo, must be destroyed-yet he worries that his vision is tainted by his own anger, pain, and desire for revenge. Jaina Solo, Jacen’s twin sister, has completed her training under the galaxy’s most fierce anti-Jedi warrior, and now it falls to her to fulfill her destiny as “Sword of the Jedi.” And so while the forces of the shattered Galactic Alliance struggle to end the civil war that has set planet against planet, Jaina-along with her parents, Han and Leia, fellow Jedi Knight Zekk, and old friend Jag-heads right into the lion’s den to confront the horrific tyrant who was once her twin brother….

There’s also some black and white cover art that looks like a rough sketch of the official cover. But the most interesting bit may be “Online promotions, including fan video contest, and series timeline and countdown at www.legacyoftheforce.com.” Looks like the site has been around a while, but there’s not much there yet but catalog links.

I’ve been hearing rumblings of a Denning book tour as well, and the catalog pegs New York, Philadelphia, Lexington, Cincinnati, Dayton, Indianapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Denver, and Salt Lake City for author visits. However, this does seem to be a slightly older catalog, so take nothing on pure faith. (The Essential Atlas, page 93, is shown with the June release date.)

Also in the catalog (page 72 and 73) are the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull novelization and The Complete Making of Indiana Jones. Naomi Novik fans might also want to check out page 79 (Victory of Eagles is a hardcover?)

AICN interviews Naomi Novik about her Temeraire series. You know, former fanfic writer, dragons, Napoleon, optioned by Peter Jackson…

Naomi Novik talks a bit about the fourth Temeraire book.

Naomi Novik, author of the Temeraire series, gets profiled by the New York Times. Also, in her LJ, a small correction regarding her comments on fanfic.