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Monday, January 16, 2012

New Goodies For My Enjoyment

Today I came home from taking the kids out to see the latest Alvin and the Chipmunks movie to find some lovely stuff in my letterbox. There was my ordered DVD of Going Postal, the telemovie of Terry Pratchett's novel. I don't think it quite as good as the Hogfather movie, but I got sucked into a second viewing on TV and thought, what-the-heck and bought it through the ABC Shop. I'm looking forward to my third viewing. As per usual, Terry appears at the end, this time as a postman.

There's also a lovely package from Bloomsbury, in which I found a review copy of Mark Walden's latest H.I.V.E novel, Aftershock. It's been a while since I read the last one and I might have to do a skim-through to refresh my memory, but it's always worth a read. There was also a blurb from the publicity lady at Bloomsbury offering an interview or guest post from the author. That's something I'll think about while I read the book. I do have some questions to ask. If you haven't read the series, the theme is goings-on in the world of super-villains. H.I.V.E is a school for the training of future super-villains, as well as a henchman program aimed at the future sidekicks. The first novel was very funny, and the school a sort of Hogwarts for villains, as if seen from the viewpoint of Draco Malfoy. There is still humour, but the series becomes a lot darker as it goes, and the protagonists are - well, nice!

Finally, among today's arrivals is Joanne Anderton's first novel, Debris, published by Angry Robot Books. I am very much looking forward to reading this. I had never met Joanne till last Swancon, but we'd worked together on the Andromeda Co-Op and I have read several of her stories, including one I was lucky enough to get in slush. We read blind, so all I knew was that I was reading this wonderful story that deserved to be published. I was in the staffroom at work when I read it, as I recall, and said, "Oh, my God, there's a story in which the Royal Flying Doctor Service fly out on dragons!" And the dragons were simply enlarged, winged Australian lizards. The story was duly published and as the art director,  I arranged for the cover art with an American artist, Anna Repp, who was a wonderful dragon-painter. Anna looked up the Flying Doctor Service and photos of the Australian desert and did a terrific cover for that issue. I will be reviewing this book as soon as I can, so stand by.

2 comments:

Jaskirat@SeeitORreadit said...

ohhhhhhhhhhhh sounds good!!!

Jaskirat~SeeitORreadit

Tempest and The Eternal One's Giveaway!

Sue Bursztynski said...

Yes, very good! :-) I'm lucky to have all this stuff and yes, it was a wonderful story and cover if that's what you mean. Thanks for stopping by, Jaskirat!