• Home
• Author A-Z
• Top 100 Fantasy Books
• Young Adult's Fantasy Books
• Children's Fantasy Books
• About Us
• Contact Us
• News

Sue Lange’s Uncategorized available for only $.99 until midnight tonight

In celebration of Sue Lange’s upcoming appearance at the Author and a Movie event in Lansdowne, PA (Philly area), her ebook collection of previously published slipstream stories, Uncategorized, is on sale for $.99 at Smashwords. Sale ends midnight tonight.

Formats available include: pdf, mobi, epub, javascript, html, etc. Purchase the book here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/7776 (Use coupon code XG49C  for the discount).

For the Author and a Movie event: Honoring the grand tradition of "Opening Attractions," independent movie house Cinema 16:9 (35 N. Lansdowne Ave., Lansdowne, PA) moviegoers will be treated to a one-time-only performance of a musical reading by local author Sue Lange. The material will be taken from her brilliant collection of critically praised sci-fi and slipstream short stories titled "Uncategorized." (BookViewCafe.com; 2009)

Multi-talented and accomplished musician Gary M. Celima will be providing guitar and vocal music before and after the reading, and even at some points during the reading.

The event will include a screening of the two-time Cannes award-winning, POLICE, ADJECTIVE: "One of the most critically-acclaimed films of the year and a double prize winner at Cannes, POLICE, ADJECTIVE is the new whip-smart, dryly funny comedy from Corneliu Porumboiu (12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST)."

Tickets for this event are $10 if reserved ahead of time (484-461-7676); $20 at the door.

Posted: February 28th, 2010
Author: Lee
Categories: Latest News

Competition: Win Frank Beddor’s The Looking Glass Wars trilogy

*** COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED ***

Congratulations to Rachel Fawcett of Staffordshire who won the three Looking Glass Wars books 

Competition is open to UK residents only and will run from February 25, 2010 until March 11, 2010

Email us the answer to the following question and the lucky winner, chosen at random, will receive the storming, imaginative tour-de-force that is The Looking Glass Wars trilogy. This prize has been kindly provided by the publishers of the trilogy Egmont UK Ltd.

Question: What book by Lewis Carroll features a girl who falls down a rabbit hole?

a) What the Tortoise said to Achilles
b) Alice in Wonderland
c) The Hunting of the Snark

Email thelookingglasswarscompetition@fantasybookreview.co.uk with your answer as the subject; please include your full name and UK mailing address within the email body. Thank you.

The Looking Glass Wars
Alyss, born in Wonderland, is destined to be a warrior queen. After a bloody coup topples the Heart regime, Alyss is exiled to another world entirely, where she is adopted into a new family, renamed Alice and befriended by Lewis Carroll. At age 20 she returns to Wonderland to battle Redd and lead Wonderland into its next golden age of imagination.

Seeing Redd
Return to the dazzling world of The Looking Glass Wars as Wonderland is fantastically brought to life again by acclaimed Hollywood producer, Frank Beddor. Alyss of Wonderland’s rule has only just begun, but the Queendom and her White Imagination are already under threat. Someone has resurrected the brutal Glass Eyes, and they are attacking Wonderland on all sides. Has renegade Redd Heart freed herself and her assassin Cat from the prism of the Heart Crystal? Can Alyss trust Boarderland’s King Arch, as he extends a benevolent helping hand? A battle is raging but who is the enemy?

Arch Enemy
Discover the fate of Wonderland- and imagination itself- in this riveting conclusion to the New York Times bestselling trilogy. The Heart Crystal’s power has been depleted, and Imagination along with it. The people of Wonderland have all lost their creative drive, and most alarmingly, even Queen Alyss is without her powers. There is some comfort in the fact that the vicious Redd Heart seems to be similarly disabled. Amazingly, she is attempting to team up with her enemy, Alyss, in order to reclaim Wonderland from King Arch. Alyss might have no choice but to accept Redd’s overtures, especially when she begins to receive alarming advice from the caterpillar oracles. Page-turning and complex, this culmination of the Wonderland saga is intensely satisfying.

About the author
Frank Beddor is the CEO of Automatic Pictures, a film, television, and interactive game production company. He produced the hit film There’s Something About Mary. Frank Beddor hails from Minneapolis, and attended the University of Utah, where he trained for the U.S. Ski Team. One of the world’s foremost freestyle skiers, Beddor competed in the sport for five years, and was twice crowned World Champion. Trading the alpine slopes for the Hollywood Hills, Frank has worked alongside Emilio Estevez, Carrie Fisher, Chris Penn, Jennifer Tilly and Kevin Dillion. Frank Beddor lives in the U.S but is available for interviews.

Posted: February 25th, 2010
Author: Lee
Categories: Competitions

Michael Morpurgo: War Horse on Broadway, 10 simple rules and the search for new writers

War Horse, the West End theatre production of Michael Morpurgo’s acclaimed children’s book, will make its Broadway debut at New York’s Lincoln Centre on March 17, 2011.

The play, which was adapted by Nick Stafford, has consistently played to packed houses and can proudly list the Queen, Prince Philip and Prince William amongst its audience.

War Horse tells the story of one horse’s experience in the deadly chaos of the First World War. In 1914, Joey, a young farm horse, is sold to the army and thrust into the midst of the war on the Western Front. With his officer, he charges towards the enemy, witnessing the horror of the frontline. But even in the desolation of the trenches, Joey’s courage touches the soldiers around him.

First seen at the National in 2007, the play uses life-size puppets with the titular war horse animated by the Handspring Puppet Company. Steven Spielberg recently purchased film rights to the play, which has just been shortlisted for a Laurence Olivier audience award for most popular play.

Any writers out there hoping to emulate the former Children’s Laureate could do worse than follow his ten simple for writers that appeared in The Guardian recently:

1. The prerequisite for me is to keep my well of ideas full. This means living as full and varied a life as possible, to have my antennae out all the time;
2. Ted Hughes gave me this advice and it works wonders: record moments, fleeting impressions, overheard dialogue, your own sadness’s and bewilderments and joys;
3. A notion for a story is for me a confluence of real events, historical perhaps, or from my own memory to create an exciting fusion;
4. It is the gestation time which counts;
5. Once the skeleton of the story is ready I begin talking about it, mostly to Clare, my wife, sounding her out;
6. By the time I sit down and face the blank page I am raring to go. I tell it as if I’m talking to my best friend or one of my grandchildren;
7. Once a chapter is scribbled down rough – I write very small so I don’t have to turn the page and face the next empty one – Clare puts it on the word processor, prints it out, sometimes with her own comments added;
8. When I’m deep inside a story, living it as I write, I honestly don’t know what will happen. I try not to dictate it, not to play God;
9. Once the book is finished in its first draft, I read it out loud to myself. How it sounds is hugely important;
10. With all editing, no matter how sensitive – and I’ve been very lucky here – I react sulkily at first, but then I settle down and get on with it, and a year later I have my book in my hand.

Also in the news is the launch of a New Young Writers’ Competition spearheaded by Morpurgo. The WICKED Young Writers’ Award is the first of its kind to seek entries from young writers between 5 and 25 years old across all backgrounds and areas of the UK.

Michael Morpurgo will be joined on the judging panel by Gregory Maguire, author of the acclaimed novel that inspired the musical that re-imagines the stories and characters created by L. Frank Baum in ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’.

"I hope the award will bring the passion and energy of WICKED’s amazing theatrical show and its ability to reach across age-ranges and backgrounds, to young people and their writing. With the encouragement of their teachers and families and the excitement of this kind of challenge, we will see original and creative writing coming through from children of all backgrounds and abilities. Let’s hope that many, many young people will be encouraged to begin their own storytelling journeys," said Morpurgo.

Entries for the WICKED Young Writers’ Award will be sought from children across the UK and Northern Ireland who will then be separated into four categories in between the ages of 5-16: 5-7, 8-10, 11-13 and 14-16. An individual Gregory Maguire Award for 17-25 year-olds will encourage writing that, in the same style as Gregory Maguire’s WICKED novels, takes a well-known story and examines it from a different perspective.

Posted: February 25th, 2010
Author: Lee
Categories: Michael Morpurgo

Hans in Luck by The Brothers Grimm

The Brothers Grimm, Jacob (January 4, 1785 – September 20, 1863) and Wilhelm (February 24, 1786 – December 16, 1859), were German academics who were best known for publishing collections of folk tales and fairy tales.

Over the coming days we will be reading through and rating each individual short story. The second story featured is Hans in Luck.

Hans in Luck (Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm)
Some men are born to good luck: all they do or try to do comes right–all that falls to them is so much gain–all their geese are swans–all their cards are trumps–toss them which way you will, they will always, like poor puss, alight upon their legs, and only move on so much the faster. The world may very likely not always think of them as they think of themselves, but what care they for the world? what can it know about the matter?

One of these lucky beings was neighbour Hans. Seven long years he had worked hard for his master. At last he said, ‘Master, my time is up; I must go home and see my poor mother once more: so pray pay me my wages and let me go.’ And the master said, ‘You have been a faithful and good servant, Hans, so your pay shall be handsome.’ Then he gave him a lump of silver as big as his head.

Hans took out his pocket-handkerchief, put the piece of silver into it, threw it over his shoulder, and jogged off on his road homewards. As he went lazily on, dragging one foot after another, a man came in sight, trotting gaily along on a capital horse. ‘Ah!’ said Hans aloud, ‘what a fine thing it is to ride on horseback! There he sits as easy and happy as if he was at home, in the chair by his fireside; he trips against no stones, saves shoe-leather, and gets on he hardly knows how.’ Hans did not speak so softly but the horseman heard it all, and said, ‘Well, friend, why do you go on foot then?’ ‘Ah!’ said he, ‘I have this load to carry: to be sure it is silver, but it is so heavy that I can’t hold up my head, and you must know it hurts my shoulder sadly.’ ‘What do you say of making an exchange?’ said the horseman. ‘I will give you my horse, and you shall give me the silver; which will save you a great deal of trouble in carrying such a heavy load about with you.’ ‘With all my heart,’ said Hans: ‘but as you are so kind to me, I must tell you one thing–you will have a weary task to draw that silver about with you.’ However, the horseman got off, took the silver, helped Hans up, gave him the bridle into one hand and the whip into the other, and said, ‘When you want to go very fast, smack your lips loudly together, and cry "Jip!"’

Hans was delighted as he sat on the horse, drew himself up, squared his elbows, turned out his toes, cracked his whip, and rode merrily off, one minute whistling a merry tune, and another singing,

‘No care and no sorrow, A fig for the morrow! We’ll laugh and be merry, Sing neigh down derry!’

After a time he thought he should like to go a little faster, so he smacked his lips and cried ‘Jip!’ Away went the horse full gallop; and before Hans knew what he was about, he was thrown off, and lay on his back by the road-side. His horse would have ran off, if a shepherd who was coming by, driving a cow, had not stopped it. Hans soon came to himself, and got upon his legs again, sadly vexed, and said to the shepherd, ‘This riding is no joke, when a man has the luck to get upon a beast like this that stumbles and flings him off as if it would break his neck. However, I’m off now once for all: I like your cow now a great deal better than this smart beast that played me this trick, and has spoiled my best coat, you see, in this puddle; which, by the by, smells not very like a nosegay. One can walk along at one’s leisure behind that cow–keep good company, and have milk, butter, and cheese, every day, into the bargain. What would I give to have such a prize!’ ‘Well,’ said the shepherd, ‘if you are so fond of her, I will change my cow for your horse; I like to do good to my neighbours, even though I lose by it myself.’ ‘Done!’ said Hans, merrily. ‘What a noble heart that good man has!’ thought he. Then the shepherd jumped upon the horse, wished Hans and the cow good morning, and away he rode.

Hans brushed his coat, wiped his face and hands, rested a while, and then drove off his cow quietly, and thought his bargain a very lucky one. ‘If I have only a piece of bread (and I certainly shall always be able to get that), I can, whenever I like, eat my butter and cheese with it; and when I am thirsty I can milk my cow and drink the milk: and what can I wish for more?’ When he came to an inn, he halted, ate up all his bread, and gave away his last penny for a glass of beer. When he had rested himself he set off again, driving his cow towards his mother’s village. But the heat grew greater as soon as noon came on, till at last, as he found himself on a wide heath that would take him more than an hour to cross, he began to be so hot and parched that his tongue clave to the roof of his mouth. ‘I can find a cure for this,’ thought he; ‘now I will milk my cow and quench my thirst’: so he tied her to the stump of a tree, and held his leathern cap to milk into; but not a drop was to be had. Who would have thought that this cow, which was to bring him milk and butter and cheese, was all that time utterly dry? Hans had not thought of looking to that.

While he was trying his luck in milking, and managing the matter very clumsily, the uneasy beast began to think him very troublesome; and at last gave him such a kick on the head as knocked him down; and there he lay a long while senseless. Luckily a butcher soon came by, driving a pig in a wheelbarrow. ‘What is the matter with you, my man?’ said the butcher, as he helped him up. Hans told him what had happened, how he was dry, and wanted to milk his cow, but found the cow was dry too. Then the butcher gave him a flask of ale, saying, ‘There, drink and refresh yourself; your cow will give you no milk: don’t you see she is an old beast, good for nothing but the slaughter-house?’ ‘Alas, alas!’ said Hans, ‘who would have thought it? What a shame to take my horse, and give me only a dry cow! If I kill her, what will she be good for? I hate cow-beef; it is not tender enough for me. If it were a pig now–like that fat gentleman you are driving along at his ease–one could do something with it; it would at any rate make sausages.’ ‘Well,’ said the butcher, ‘I don’t like to say no, when one is asked to do a kind, neighbourly thing. To please you I will change, and give you my fine fat pig for the cow.’ ‘Heaven reward you for your kindness and self-denial!’ said Hans, as he gave the butcher the cow; and taking the pig off the wheel-barrow, drove it away, holding it by the string that was tied to its leg.

So on he jogged, and all seemed now to go right with him: he had met with some misfortunes, to be sure; but he was now well repaid for all. How could it be otherwise with such a travelling companion as he had at last got?

The next man he met was a countryman carrying a fine white goose. The countryman stopped to ask what was o’clock; this led to further chat; and Hans told him all his luck, how he had so many good bargains, and how all the world went gay and smiling with him. The countryman than began to tell his tale, and said he was going to take the goose to a christening. ‘Feel,’ said he, ‘how heavy it is, and yet it is only eight weeks old. Whoever roasts and eats it will find plenty of fat upon it, it has lived so well!’ ‘You’re right,’ said Hans, as he weighed it in his hand; ‘but if you talk of fat, my pig is no trifle.’ Meantime the countryman began to look grave, and shook his head. ‘Hark ye!’ said he, ‘my worthy friend, you seem a good sort of fellow, so I can’t help doing you a kind turn. Your pig may get you into a scrape. In the village I just came from, the squire has had a pig stolen out of his sty. I was dreadfully afraid when I saw you that you had got the squire’s pig. If you have, and they catch you, it will be a bad job for you. The least they will do will be to throw you into the horse-pond. Can you swim?’

Poor Hans was sadly frightened. ‘Good man,’ cried he, ‘pray get me out of this scrape. I know nothing of where the pig was either bred or born; but he may have been the squire’s for aught I can tell: you know this country better than I do, take my pig and give me the goose.’ ‘I ought to have something into the bargain,’ said the countryman; ‘give a fat goose for a pig, indeed! ‘Tis not everyone would do so much for you as that. However, I will not be hard upon you, as you are in trouble.’ Then he took the string in his hand, and drove off the pig by a side path; while Hans went on the way homewards free from care. ‘After all,’ thought he, ‘that chap is pretty well taken in. I don’t care whose pig it is, but wherever it came from it has been a very good friend to me. I have much the best of the bargain. First there will be a capital roast; then the fat will find me in goose-grease for six months; and then there are all the beautiful white feathers. I will put them into my pillow, and then I am sure I shall sleep soundly without rocking. How happy my mother will be! Talk of a pig, indeed! Give me a fine fat goose.’

As he came to the next village, he saw a scissor-grinder with his wheel, working and singing,

‘O’er hill and o’er dale So happy I roam, Work light and live well, All the world is my home; Then who so blythe, so merry as I?’

Hans stood looking on for a while, and at last said, ‘You must be well off, master grinder! you seem so happy at your work.’ ‘Yes,’ said the other, ‘mine is a golden trade; a good grinder never puts his hand into his pocket without finding money in it–but where did you get that beautiful goose?’ ‘I did not buy it, I gave a pig for it.’ ‘And where did you get the pig?’ ‘I gave a cow for it.’ ‘And the cow?’ ‘I gave a horse for it.’ ‘And the horse?’ ‘I gave a lump of silver as big as my head for it.’ ‘And the silver?’ ‘Oh! I worked hard for that seven long years.’ ‘You have thriven well in the world hitherto,’ said the grinder, ‘now if you could find money in your pocket whenever you put your hand in it, your fortune would be made.’ ‘Very true: but how is that to be managed?’ ‘How? Why, you must turn grinder like myself,’ said the other; ‘you only want a grindstone; the rest will come of itself. Here is one that is but little the worse for wear: I would not ask more than the value of your goose for it–will you buy?’ ‘How can you ask?’ said Hans; ‘I should be the happiest man in the world, if I could have money whenever I put my hand in my pocket: what could I want more? there’s the goose.’ ‘Now,’ said the grinder, as he gave him a common rough stone that lay by his side, ‘this is a most capital stone; do but work it well enough, and you can make an old nail cut with it.’

Hans took the stone, and went his way with a light heart: his eyes sparkled for joy, and he said to himself, ‘Surely I must have been born in a lucky hour; everything I could want or wish for comes of itself. People are so kind; they seem really to think I do them a favour in letting them make me rich, and giving me good bargains.’

Meantime he began to be tired, and hungry too, for he had given away his last penny in his joy at getting the cow.

At last he could go no farther, for the stone tired him sadly: and he dragged himself to the side of a river, that he might take a drink of water, and rest a while. So he laid the stone carefully by his side on the bank: but, as he stooped down to drink, he forgot it, pushed it a little, and down it rolled, plump into the stream.

For a while he watched it sinking in the deep clear water; then sprang up and danced for joy, and again fell upon his knees and thanked Heaven, with tears in his eyes, for its kindness in taking away his only plague, the ugly heavy stone.

‘How happy am I!’ cried he; ‘nobody was ever so lucky as I.’ Then up he got with a light heart, free from all his troubles, and walked on till he reached his mother’s house, and told her how very easy the road to good luck was.

Posted: February 24th, 2010
Author: Lee
Categories: eBooks

Interview with Chris Dolley of the Book View Café (February 2010)

Book View Café is a cooperative site created by a group of writers – including internationally renowned authors Katharine Kerr, Ursula Le Guin and Vonda N. McIntyre – who want to take advantage of the internet’s possibilities for reaching a wider audience and to distribute their work directly to their readers. The Book View Café is a place where you can find free, original fiction plus the authors’ best and out-of-print work for a fee. Fantasy Book Review spoke to Book View Cafe member, science fiction author and memoirist Chris Dolley in February 2010.

Authors are using Book View Café to take advantage of the internet’s possibilities for reaching a wider audience and to distribute their work directly to their readers. eBooks are arguably the best example of this but what other ways are there in which can you achieve your objectives?

We’re still discovering new ways. We serialise our work online for free at www.bookviewcafe.com, posting one chapter per week. Every day there’s at least one new chapter from someone. Plus we post complete short stories, novellas and screenplays.

Then there’s our blog at http://blog.bookviewcafe.com/ where we talk about writing, books, life and anything that takes our fancy. We also have a monthly newsletter stuffed full of news, interviews and fun pictures.

What else? Oh yes, there’s twitter where we hold the occasional contest offering books for prizes. And this week we’ve been experimenting with a chat lounge hour where anyone can drop in and have a chat.

Lastly, and most importantly, we listen to our readers. We’re all authors and at the beginning we knew very little about eReaders and eBook formats so we canvassed widely, read widely and listened. Readers didn’t want DRM so none of our books have it. They wanted a choice of eBook formats so that’s what we produce. We listened to them over price too. The average price of our novels is $4.99. And we often run promotional weekends when we’ll drop the price of a books to $2.99.

The Google Book Settlement has recently been causing great concern and debate. Is The Book View Café a way in which an author can retain control over the digital rights to their work?

Book View Cafe has been in the forefront of the debate thanks to Ursula K. Le Guin’s much publicised campaign against the Google Book Settlement.

As for Book View Cafe helping authors retain control over digital rights, that’s more of an agent’s job, but BVC can certainly help indirectly by making members more aware of electronic rights and who owns them. Some of our older books were written before electronic rights were mentioned in book contracts and a few publishers have attempted to retrospectively add them.

The start of 2010 saw The Book View Café team up with Smashwords with the aim of growing its eBook catalogue. Are you beginning to see results from this partnership?

Well last time I checked we were the most viewed publisher on Smashwords. And we are selling a fair number of books there but Smashwords is more than an online bookstore it’s also a distributor to places like Barnes & Noble, Amazon and Sony.  So it’s a handy way for us, as publishers, to gain access to those markets.

Are you surprised at how quickly the eBook has been embraced when many believed that nothing could ever replace the feel of a hardback or paperback in one’s hand?

Ebooks have been around for years. The difference now is that they’re being taken seriously. EReaders are no longer niche gadgets but mainstream products. Why the sudden change? It’s a combination of technology coming up with improved screens – E Ink, larger, brighter back-lit displays etc – so you can read a book for an hour or more without developing eyestrain or a headache. And large corporations (Amazon and Apple) moving into the eReader business in a big way. Amazon have been discounting eBooks for their Kindle to push Kindle hardware sales for some time. Now Apple’s launching their much-hyped iPad.

Will this mark the death of the paper book? Definitely not. But it will provide an alternative. And, over the next decade, I think they will begin to diverge. At the moment eBooks are digital versions of paper books. But they have the ability to be so much more. By adding hyperlinks to text you can give the reader the ability to navigate outside the book or to particular pages within the book. One example I can see for Fantasy books is to have the ability to access and zoom in on a large scale map whenever you want to or click on a character’s name and have a pop up reminder of who they are. I tend to read in bed so it can take quite a long time to read one of those fat fantasies with a cast list of hundreds and I often come across a character name I can’t remember. But if I could click on the person’s name – instant memory refresh. And very simple to do. Many books already include a cast list.

Video is another extra that will be added to eBooks soon. Instead of having a map at the beginning of a book there could be a video sequence or an interactive 3D map so the reader could fly over the landscape of the map, walk the town streets, circumnavigate the tower and peer into the caves. The technology to do this already exists. All it takes is a little imagination.

Over recent years the path to publication has become rather easier than it once was with self-publishing a now very popular pastime/hobby. Do you think that this has been a good or bad thing for the literature world?

I think the jury’s still out. If self-publishing had been as cheap and easy to do in 1994 as it is today then I would have self-published my first novel, Shift. And it would have been a terrible mistake. Why? Because I wasn’t ready. It takes years to learn a craft and the writer is the worst person to judge when they’re ready. No one sets out to write a bad book. Everyone aims to write the best book they can and – at the time it’s written, it is the best book the author could have written. But 2, 3, 10 years later it could have been so much better. The version of Shift that Baen released in 2007 was far superior to the 1994 version.

So how do you know when your book is ready? The traditional way has been to let the publishers decide. It’s never been perfect but if an author has talent and perseverance they usually succeed. Over the past twenty years or so the publisher model has started to crack. Book retailers have become more like supermarkets, concentrating on the books that sell well and offering them at lower and lower prices. Publishers have reacted to this by taking fewer risks, dropping authors quicker than they used to and concentrating their marketing effort on their top authors.

Which is when having a cheap and easy alternative to the publisher gatekeeper model becomes advantageous. There are books and authors that publishers overlook or deem uncommercial. The problem the reader has is finding these gems from the large amount of unpolished gravel.

At Book View Cafe we have a membership rule – to join the co-operative you have to have at least one novel published by a major print publisher.

What would be the effect on the Book View Café if JK Rowling and Dan Brown came on board at the same time?

We’d have a party. And then we might have to get a new server or two. But otherwise no problem. Do you want to start a rumour?

Will this be a great opportunity for authors to get out-of-print works available once again?

This is one of the biggest bonuses. Books go out of print so quickly these days as it’s not in the publisher’s financial interest to keep a long tail in print. The big chains want books that fly off the shelves and soon return the ones that don’t.

So, releasing the books again via Book View Cafe makes eminent sense. 

What has been Book View Café’s most downloaded title?

That would be The Shadow Conspiracy, an original steampunk anthology of short stories written by various BVC authors set in a shared alternate earth, a place powered by steam and magic. A world of dreamers, experimenters and engineers, soulless humans and ensouled machines born of most unlikely parents: four poets who gathered one cold summer on the shores of Lake Geneva in 1816. Byron, Shelley, Mary Shelley and Dr. Polidori.

The stories explore the unfolding consequences of that gathering — and how it changed everything we thought we knew about science and ourselves.

It can be downloaded here (http://www.bookviewcafe.com/BVC-eBookstore/) for $9.99.

Do you have a newsletter that can be subscribed to so that people can keep updated on news and events?

We do. All you have to do is go to www.bookviewcafe and register your username, password and email address. The newsletter is sent out every month.

Posted: February 23rd, 2010
Author: Lee
Categories: Interviews

The Golden Bird by The Brothers Grimm

The Brothers Grimm, Jacob (January 4, 1785 – September 20, 1863) and Wilhelm (February 24, 1786 – December 16, 1859), were German academics who were best known for publishing collections of folk tales and fairy tales.

Over the coming days we will be reading through and rating each individual short story. The first story we will feature is The Golden Bird.

The Golden Bird (Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm)
A certain king had a beautiful garden, and in the garden stood a tree which bore golden apples. These apples were always counted, and about the time when they began to grow ripe it was found that every night one of them was gone. The king became very angry at this, and ordered the gardener to keep watch all night under the tree. The gardener set his eldest son to watch; but about twelve o’clock he fell asleep, and in the morning another of the apples was missing. Then the second son was ordered to watch; and at midnight he too fell asleep, and in the morning another apple was gone. Then the third son offered to keep watch; but the gardener at first would not let him, for fear some harm should come to him: however, at last he consented, and the young man laid himself under the tree to watch. As the clock struck twelve he heard a rustling noise in the air, and a bird came flying that was of pure gold; and as it was snapping at one of the apples with its beak, the gardener’s son jumped up and shot an arrow at it. But the arrow did the bird no harm; only it dropped a golden feather from its tail, and then flew away. The golden feather was brought to the king in the morning, and all the council was called together. Everyone agreed that it was worth more than all the wealth of the kingdom: but the king said, ‘One feather is of no use to me, I must have the whole bird.’

Then the gardener’s eldest son set out and thought to find the golden bird very easily; and when he had gone but a little way, he came to a wood, and by the side of the wood he saw a fox sitting; so he took his bow and made ready to shoot at it. Then the fox said, ‘Do not shoot me, for I will give you good counsel; I know what your business is, and that you want to find the golden bird. You will reach a village in the evening; and when you get there, you will see two inns opposite to each other, one of which is very pleasant and beautiful to look at: go not in there, but rest for the night in the other, though it may appear to you to be very poor and mean.’ But the son thought to himself, ‘What can such a beast as this know about the matter?’ So he shot his arrow at the fox; but he missed it, and it set up its tail above its back and ran into the wood. Then he went his way, and in the evening came to the village where the two inns were; and in one of these were people singing, and dancing, and feasting; but the other looked very dirty, and poor. ‘I should be very silly,’ said he, ‘if I went to that shabby house, and left this charming place’; so he went into the smart house, and ate and drank at his ease, and forgot the bird, and his country too.

Time passed on; and as the eldest son did not come back, and no tidings were heard of him, the second son set out, and the same thing happened to him. He met the fox, who gave him the good advice: but when he came to the two inns, his eldest brother was standing at the window where the merrymaking was, and called to him to come in; and he could not withstand the temptation, but went in, and forgot the golden bird and his country in the same manner.

Time passed on again, and the youngest son too wished to set out into the wide world to seek for the golden bird; but his father would not listen to it for a long while, for he was very fond of his son, and was afraid that some ill luck might happen to him also, and prevent his coming back. However, at last it was agreed he should go, for he would not rest at home; and as he came to the wood, he met the fox, and heard the same good counsel. But he was thankful to the fox, and did not attempt his life as his brothers had done; so the fox said, ‘Sit upon my tail, and you will travel faster.’ So he sat down, and the fox began to run, and away they went over stock and stone so quick that their hair whistled in the wind.

When they came to the village, the son followed the fox’s counsel, and without looking about him went to the shabby inn and rested there all night at his ease. In the morning came the fox again and met him as he was beginning his journey, and said, ‘Go straight forward, till you come to a castle, before which lie a whole troop of soldiers fast asleep and snoring: take no notice of them, but go into the castle and pass on and on till you come to a room, where the golden bird sits in a wooden cage; close by it stands a beautiful golden cage; but do not try to take the bird out of the shabby cage and put it into the handsome one, otherwise you will repent it.’ Then the fox stretched out his tail again, and the young man sat himself down, and away they went over stock and stone till their hair whistled in the wind.

Before the castle gate all was as the fox had said: so the son went in and found the chamber where the golden bird hung in a wooden cage, and below stood the golden cage, and the three golden apples that had been lost were lying close by it. Then thought he to himself, ‘It will be a very droll thing to bring away such a fine bird in this shabby cage’; so he opened the door and took hold of it and put it into the golden cage. But the bird set up such a loud scream that all the soldiers awoke, and they took him prisoner and carried him before the king. The next morning the court sat to judge him; and when all was heard, it sentenced him to die, unless he should bring the king the golden horse which could run as swiftly as the wind; and if he did this, he was to have the golden bird given him for his own.

So he set out once more on his journey, sighing, and in great despair, when on a sudden his friend the fox met him, and said, ‘You see now what has happened on account of your not listening to my counsel. I will still, however, tell you how to find the golden horse, if you will do as I bid you. You must go straight on till you come to the castle where the horse stands in his stall: by his side will lie the groom fast asleep and snoring: take away the horse quietly, but be sure to put the old leathern saddle upon him, and not the golden one that is close by it.’ Then the son sat down on the fox’s tail, and away they went over stock and stone till their hair whistled in the wind.

All went right, and the groom lay snoring with his hand upon the golden saddle. But when the son looked at the horse, he thought it a great pity to put the leathern saddle upon it. ‘I will give him the good one,’ said he; ‘I am sure he deserves it.’ As he took up the golden saddle the groom awoke and cried out so loud, that all the guards ran in and took him prisoner, and in the morning he was again brought before the court to be judged, and was sentenced to die. But it was agreed, that, if he could bring thither the beautiful princess, he should live, and have the bird and the horse given him for his own.

Then he went his way very sorrowful; but the old fox came and said, ‘Why did not you listen to me? If you had, you would have carried away both the bird and the horse; yet will I once more give you counsel. Go straight on, and in the evening you will arrive at a castle. At twelve o’clock at night the princess goes to the bathing-house: go up to her and give her a kiss, and she will let you lead her away; but take care you do not suffer her to go and take leave of her father and mother.’ Then the fox stretched out his tail, and so away they went over stock and stone till their hair whistled again.

As they came to the castle, all was as the fox had said, and at twelve o’clock the young man met the princess going to the bath and gave her the kiss, and she agreed to run away with him, but begged with many tears that he would let her take leave of her father. At first he refused, but she wept still more and more, and fell at his feet, till at last he consented; but the moment she came to her father’s house the guards awoke and he was taken prisoner again.

Then he was brought before the king, and the king said, ‘You shall never have my daughter unless in eight days you dig away the hill that stops the view from my window.’ Now this hill was so big that the whole world could not take it away: and when he had worked for seven days, and had done very little, the fox came and said. ‘Lie down and go to sleep; I will work for you.’ And in the morning he awoke and the hill was gone; so he went merrily to the king, and told him that now that it was removed he must give him the princess.

Then the king was obliged to keep his word, and away went the young man and the princess; and the fox came and said to him, ‘We will have all three, the princess, the horse, and the bird.’ ‘Ah!’ said the young man, ‘that would be a great thing, but how can you contrive it?’

‘If you will only listen,’ said the fox, ‘it can be done. When you come to the king, and he asks for the beautiful princess, you must say, "Here she is!" Then he will be very joyful; and you will mount the golden horse that they are to give you, and put out your hand to take leave of them; but shake hands with the princess last. Then lift her quickly on to the horse behind you; clap your spurs to his side, and gallop away as fast as you can.’

All went right: then the fox said, ‘When you come to the castle where the bird is, I will stay with the princess at the door, and you will ride in and speak to the king; and when he sees that it is the right horse, he will bring out the bird; but you must sit still, and say that you want to look at it, to see whether it is the true golden bird; and when you get it into your hand, ride away.’

This, too, happened as the fox said; they carried off the bird, the princess mounted again, and they rode on to a great wood. Then the fox came, and said, ‘Pray kill me, and cut off my head and my feet.’ But the young man refused to do it: so the fox said, ‘I will at any rate give you good counsel: beware of two things; ransom no one from the gallows, and sit down by the side of no river.’ Then away he went. ‘Well,’ thought the young man, ‘it is no hard matter to keep that advice.’

He rode on with the princess, till at last he came to the village where he had left his two brothers. And there he heard a great noise and uproar; and when he asked what was the matter, the people said, ‘Two men are going to be hanged.’ As he came nearer, he saw that the two men were his brothers, who had turned robbers; so he said, ‘Cannot they in any way be saved?’ But the people said ‘No,’ unless he would bestow all his money upon the rascals and buy their liberty. Then he did not stay to think about the matter, but paid what was asked, and his brothers were given up, and went on with him towards their home.

And as they came to the wood where the fox first met them, it was so cool and pleasant that the two brothers said, ‘Let us sit down by the side of the river, and rest a while, to eat and drink.’ So he said, ‘Yes,’ and forgot the fox’s counsel, and sat down on the side of the river; and while he suspected nothing, they came behind, and threw him down the bank, and took the princess, the horse, and the bird, and went home to the king their master, and said. ‘All this have we won by our labour.’ Then there was great rejoicing made; but the horse would not eat, the bird would not sing, and the princess wept.

The youngest son fell to the bottom of the river’s bed: luckily it was nearly dry, but his bones were almost broken, and the bank was so steep that he could find no way to get out. Then the old fox came once more, and scolded him for not following his advice; otherwise no evil would have befallen him: ‘Yet,’ said he, ‘I cannot leave you here, so lay hold of my tail and hold fast.’ Then he pulled him out of the river, and said to him, as he got upon the bank, ‘Your brothers have set watch to kill you, if they find you in the kingdom.’ So he dressed himself as a poor man, and came secretly to the king’s court, and was scarcely within the doors when the horse began to eat, and the bird to sing, and princess left off weeping. Then he went to the king, and told him all his brothers’ roguery; and they were seized and punished, and he had the princess given to him again; and after the king’s death he was heir to his kingdom.

A long while after, he went to walk one day in the wood, and the old fox met him, and besought him with tears in his eyes to kill him, and cut off his head and feet. And at last he did so, and in a moment the fox was changed into a man, and turned out to be the brother of the princess, who had been lost a great many many years.

Posted: February 23rd, 2010
Author: Lee
Categories: eBooks

Book View Cafe welcomes Steven Popkes

Yesterday, Book View Café welcomed Steven Popkes as its newest member. Popkes is best known for his short stories. The Color Winter was a finalist for the Nebula Award. His most recent story, The Secret Lives of Fairy Tales, is in the January/February issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction. He has also published two novels: Caliban Landing (Congdon and Weed,1988) and Slow Lightning (Tor, 1991). Both deal with the complexities of alien contact.

For his debut, Popkes is offering his ghost story, Tom Kelley’s Ghost.

Visit Popke’s bookshelf at BookViewCafe.com

Steven Popkes was born in Southern California and went to college at the University of Missouri at Columbia. He has a B.S. in Zoology and an M.S. in Neurophysiology. Popkes became serious about writing in 1972 and attended Clarion SF Workshop in 1978. He has since had more than thirty short stories and two novels published.

Book View Café is a cooperative site created by a group of writers who want to take advantage of the internet’s possibilities for reaching a wider audience and to distribute their work directly to their readers.

Posted: February 23rd, 2010
Author: Lee
Categories: Latest News

SFSignal giving away copies of steampunk eBook The Shadow Conspiracy

SFSignal.com is giving away two copies of the e-book, The Shadow Conspiracy, a steampunk anthology from Book View Press. The Shadow Conspiracy is a collection of stories set on alternative earth, a place powered by steam and magic. This world of dreamers, experimenters and engineers, soulless humans and ensouled machines was born of most unlikely parents: four poets who gathered one cold summer on the shores of Lake Geneva in 1816.

All-new and never-before-seen, these stories explore the unfolding consequences of that gathering – and how it changed everything we thought we knew about science and ourselves. Contributors include Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff, Sarah Zettel, Steven Harper, Pati Nagle, Jennifer Stevenson,  Nancy Jane Moore, Brenda Clough, Judith Tarr, and Irene Radford. Editors are Phyllis Irene Radford and Laura Anne Gilman.

Available Formats include PDF, EPUB, Mobi, .prc, .lrf, and .lit.

For a chance to win a free copy, visit the SFSignal contest page: http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2010/02/ebook-giveaway-shadow-conspiracy/

Contest ends Wednesday, February 24, 11pm US Central Time.

Posted: February 20th, 2010
Author: Lee
Categories: Latest News

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

The story of Max’s adventures when he sails away to the land where the Wild Things are

Maurice Sendak’s children’s picture book has become an acknowledged classic. A winner of the Caldecott Medal for the Most Distinguished Picture Book of the Year in 1964, Where the Wild Things Are is a timeless masterpiece that can be enjoyed equally by children and grown-ups.

Where the Wild Things changed children’s books forever. The illustrations are dreamlike, the writing style simple, yet imaginative and delightfully atypical. It is a timeless classic; a book to be read and re-read every night of the week, a book to be enjoyed and cherished.

This wonderful fantasy is ideal for four to eight-year-olds that will not, despite some reviews, scare children. It is simple and it is beautiful, featuring verse as lyrical as the following extract:

and he sailed off through night and day
and in and out of weeks
and almost over a year
to where the wild things are

Where the Wild Things Are will allow children’s imaginations to soar and will continue to delight them for at least another 40 years.

When asked about the inspiration behind his Wild Things, the author and illustrator replied in his typically forthright and honest manner:

“My brother, sister and I were sitting shiva, the Jewish ceremony. And all we did was laugh hysterically. I remember our relatives used to come from the old country, those few who got in before the gate closed, all on my mother’s side. And how we detested them. And these people didn’t speak English. And they were unkempt. Their teeth were horrifying. Nose… unravelling out of their hair, unravelling out of their noses. And they’d pick you up and hug you and kiss you, "Aggghh. Oh, we could eat you up." And we know they would eat anything, anything. And so, they’re the wild things. And when I remember them, the discussion with my brother and sister, how we laughed about these people who we of course grew up to love very much, I decided to render them as the wild things, my aunts and my uncles and my cousins. And that’s who they are.”
Maurice Sendak, in an interview with PBS

Maurice Sendak was born in Brooklyn, New York. At the age of twelve, inspired by Disney’s Fantasia, he made the decision to become an illustrator and, after spending many years working as an artist for children’s books, he began to write his own stories.

Posted: February 20th, 2010
Author: Lee
Categories: Children's Fantasy Books

The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi

A magical puppet longs to be human

In an Italian village, Geppetto, an old woodcarver, receives a piece of wood which looks perfect for his next project, a puppet. But when he sets to work something magical happens – the piece of wood begins to talk. When Geppetto is finished, the puppet turns out to be cheeky, naughty, and can walk, run and eat with as hearty an appetite as any young boy.

Geppetto calls him Pinocchio (which means ‘pine nut’) and brings him up as his son. But Pinocchio is disobedient – he tells lies, and every time he lies, his nose grows longer. Geppetto makes many sacrifices for his adopted son, but Pinocchio finds it hard to be good. He is easily led astray, tumbling from one disastrous adventure to another in which he is robbed, imprisoned, chased by bandits and only narrowly escapes death. His friends, the Cricket and the Blue Fairy, try to make see that his dream – to be a real boy – can never come true until Pinocchio finally changes his ways.

The Adventures of Pinocchio is Italy’s most famous fairy tale, first published in 1883. Its author, Carlo Collodi, wrote a great deal for children but Pinocchio is the only one of Collodi’s tales to be translated into the English language.

Like many children’s novels, its theme is that of a naughty child who must learn to be good, not just for his own sake but for the sake of others around him too. First published in serial form, early versions of Pinocchio were very different from the story we have come to know today – in one draft, the unruly puppet comes to a particularly gruesome end. With alterations suggested by Collodi’s editor, the book finally became a true children’s classic, hugely successful in Italy, but Collodi did not find fame internationally until the first English translation was published in 1892, two years after his death.

Carlo Collodi was born Carlo Lorenzini in Florence, Italy, in 1826. He took the Collodi from his mother’s birthplace. His father was a cook and his mother a domestic servant.

After a spell in the army, he took up journalism as a career and founded a political magazine which was quickly suppressed by the Italian government. He went on to work at other political newspapers as well as working for a censorship organisations operating in theatre.

His first novel, Il Vapore (1856), was a great success, and he wrote numerous satirical  sketches and romantic and political novels at this time, only taking up writing for children after he accumulated large gambling debts.

He first translated a collection of fables by the famous French writer of fairy tales, Charles Perrault, which proved so successful that he began to write his own children’s stories. In 1881, the first magazine for children was founded and Collodi contributed regularly with ever increasing success, including in its founding year, The Adventures of Pinocchio. Of all Collodi’s wide-ranging and prolific output, it is Pinocchio for which he is best remembered.

Collodi never married and lived a solitary life. He died in Florence in 1890.

Posted: February 19th, 2010
Author: Lee
Categories: Fantasy Book Review