General Discussion

Hi all. This thread is a call for informed perspectives on the costs of the publishing business. For quite some time now, I've noted my absolute lack of objective knowledge in this field -- it's very hard to come by trustworthy information. However, past discussions have indicated that among my fellow DMers are several insiders of the publishing business, and it's you that I'd like to ask for help here. Before I begin, I have to admit that, naturally, my interest in this topic stems from my distrust of some of the players in the field. That being said, I'll really appreciate it if you keep on topic, and refrain from any mention of the agency model, DoJ antitrust actio…

just wanted to say goodbye to my hero of ages.neil made me dream of other worlds ,what could be and will be.thank you so much for every thing mr armstrong.you are a true hero to all.godspeed. crying like a little baby writing this..

Bobby Dollar #1: The Dirty Streets of Heaven by Tad Williams

Shevek is a brilliant physicist from the barren anarchist world of Anarres. His work could revolutionise interstellar society, permitting instantaneous communication - maybe even instantaneous travel - between the worlds of humanity. But, in contrast to the idealism of Anarres, he finds his work undervalued and even repressed by jealous colleagues. Frustrated, he travels to Anarres's capitalist sister world of Urras, hoping to find more tolerance there but instead becoming embroiled in politics, rebellion and war. The Dispossessed is widely considered to be one of Ursula Le Guin's finest novels and is arguably her most ambitious work. The book asks nothing less than h…

Book 1: The Iron Wyrm Affair

"The Dragon's Path", written by Daniel Abraham, was recommended by George RR Martin. I wanted to gauge the people who have read it. Thanks for humoring me.

This argument was posted on a forum that I frequent occasionally. I am not responsible for the content of this post in any way. The Harry Potter series is about mental illness. Hogwarts is a mental institution. Bear with me. I'll explain. I watched the fifth Harry Potter movie this weekend. The series is wildly successful, one of the most successful of all time, and I am interested in understanding why these mega-hits appear from time to time. As I watched this installment, it became clear to me that the entire Harry Potter series is an extended metaphor -- a coded transcription, really -- about a boy with severe mental illness, suffering from de…

Red Mars

Dragonmount is pleased to welcome Saladin Ahmed for a week long author Q&A session. Mr. Ahmed's short fiction has been nominated for the Nebula and Campbell awards, and his debut fantasy novel, Throne of the Crescent Moon, has received rave reviews from outlets ranging from Kirkus to NPR to io9. Mr. Ahmed has also been a guest on Brandon Sanderson's "Writing Excuses" podcast. And now, he's here to answer your questions! Please post your questions below, and remember to be respectful and follow Dragonmount's Code of Conduct. Help me give Mr. Ahmed a warm welcome! Mr. Ahmed, thank you for joining us for this event! I'll start off with the first question.…

I am a huge fan of all things SciFi/Fantasy, but I have never been to a convention. I am going to Dragon*Con this year and I don't want to do anything stupid. I wouldn't want to look like a dork in front of my fellow geeks. :) Advice on anything appreciated.

Oh, my - you have a letter! A rather strange looking envelope with a crest you don’t recognize and Latin writing that you cannot read. And from Hogwarts? What or who is Hogwarts? You eagerly rip open the envelope and pull out a letter and begin to read . . .. Dear DM Member, You have been invited to the Blue Ajah’s Harry Potter Week. Classes and events will start on July 25 and continue through July 31 in the White Tower Social Group on the main White Tower board. Please watch for additional information via Blue Ajah Owl Post on the White Tower board as more information will soon be forthcoming for each event! Once this information is posted co…

Sharps by KJ Parker

2044. The climate is wrecked, oil resources have been depleted and the world economy has still not fully recovered from the excesses of the turn of the century. Wade Watts, like millions of other teenagers, escapes the real world by playing in the OASIS, a computer programme that has combined the old Internet and numerous MMORPGs into a virtual reality existence. Five years ago the founder of the OASIS died, leaving his multi-billion-dollar fortune to whoever can solve an elaborate puzzle he left behind in the game. Millions have tried and failed...until Wade stumbles across a key clue. Suddenly a race is on: Wade and several fellow gamers competing with one another and a…

http://io9.com/5916175/rip-ray-bradbury-author-of-fahrenheit-451-and-the-martian-chronicles One of the most celebrated authors of the 20th century has passed.

Sadly, Tynaal succumbed to the RL monster shortly after I hired my new bloggers. I'd like to thank her for all the wonderful work she did for me in the past year. Since I already had two piles of applicants from my call for applications a few weeks ago, I decided to pick from that pool instead of doing a new search. I am pleased to announce that Eternal Phoenix has agreed to take over the position of Rotating Features Blogger for me. Congrats, EP!

I recieved a Kindle for Christmas which was a nice surprise. I actually prefer to hold a book in my hands and turn the pages and all that but since i've tried this thing out it's not bad. It stores a lot of stuff including music and personal documents, which is a function I will certainly use. My frustration is with the prices that are asked for most of the ebooks. Many of them are more expensive than their paperback counterparts which is crazy. No paper, shipping, storage, printing etc. and yet they are charging $10 for ebooks that you can get for $7 or $8 in paperback at the store. I would be fine even paying the same as a paperback but it still seems craz…

Dragonmount is pleased to host fantasy author Saladin Ahmed for a week-long author Q&A session! Saladin Ahmed's debut novel, Throne of the Crescent Moon, released in February of this year, is gaining attention in the fantasy genre, particularly because of Mr. Ahmed's unique choice of setting. Last year, Saladin Ahmed was a guest podcaster on Brandon Sanderson's "Writing Excuses," Season 5 Episode 36. He has also been nominated for both the Nebula and Campbell awards. Saladin Ahmed will visit Dragonmount July 22nd - 28th to answer questions from fans. Everyone is welcome to join in. The discussion will take place on the General Discussion board. I hope you w…

Hello to all, I am a huge fantasy reader(of course nothing compares to Wheel of Time), but I had to question for everyone out there and would like to see if anyone can answer. Has anyone heard of J.V Jones series Sword of Shadows? And if you have has anyone heard from J.V jones at all. Her last book came out a couple of years ago, her last twitter was around then, and no updates on her website at all. Just curious and Thanks.

Hello everyone, So i've been trying to remember the name of a series i read when i was in middle school. It was probably the first fantasy series i read, which in turn lead me to pick up the biggest fantasy book my library had. (that would have been the eye of the world paper back version at the time) Any who i don't actually remember much about the books which is why i want to reread it. Now i know its a long shot sense i know so little but here is what i do remember 1. It was set in the sameish time period of wot, as in horses and castles and what not 2. i think it might have had the word dragon somehow involved but that might be overlap from switching to wot …

I've actually asked this in one or two other posts, but I didn't really get any help. I have a situation. I absolutely LOVED Way of Kings by Sanderson, but I really disliked Elantris. Disliked quite a lot. Warbreaker wasn't much better in my eyes, but at least it was entertaining to an extent. I loathed both magic systems(Glyphs written in air from Elantris, and the whole Breathe/Color system from Warbreaker.) But Way of Kings blew me away. So I was wondering if there's anyone out there like me who liked Way of Kings and disliked the other two a lone books. Because its you that I would have answer this question. Is Mistborn anygood? Ive seen many people say it was ind…

They are competing for a small business grant for $250,000! Please, please go here: https://www.missionsmallbusiness.com/, register to vote and then vote for "Ta'veren Tees". They need 250 votes to go to the next stage of the competition. It only takes a moment and they could do amazing things with this kind of funding. Tell a friend!

just an FYI. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2012-07-05/malware-internet-monday/56026836/1 http://www.dcwg.org/

Half a century in the future, the human race has survived several brushes with extinction. True AI has been created but - so far - has been benign and helpful. A terrible nuclear incident has taken place, but humanity has endured. As each bullet is dodged, so mankind's chances of survival to a brighter future appear to be growing...until an ancient alien artefact is recovered from Earth orbit which harbours a terrible truth about the nature of the universe. After almost twenty years as an important and relatively prolific voice in the hard SF field, David Brin dropped out of the genre in 2001 after the publication of Kil'n People. He's remained active, penning non-fic…

So is there someone else out there who is completly obsessed with the total war Franchise xD??

Congrats to Mashiara Sedai, my new Theory Blogger, and to Ireond, my new Humor Blogger! I look forward to working with you two.

Ray Bradbury. I once bought an anthology of his short-stories, one hundred of them or so, for about ten bucks. The result was that I was inspired to write more short stories in a month than all other times in my amateur writing career. Ray Bradbury. Quiet, unassuming, with neither the householdname status that was Tolkien on the fantasy side of the coin, nor the permanent standing of the best science fiction ever that was awarded to Asimov, yet a far more prolific writer than either or both. Contemporary to every writer in the English language from Brandon Sanderson back to Rudyard Kipling himself. Ray Bradbury. A man capable of writing anything and everything, and neve…

I'm talking mainly sci fi/fantasy but any genre is welcome for discussion. Ive been rereading Dark Tower and am reminded how good a job King does. The Tull shootout in book 1 and the shootouts with Balazar's men in books 2 and 6 are just awesome. Robert Jordan was very good too,imo. I especially thought the Battle of Cairhein and the fight at Algarin's manner were just two (of many) examples of well-written action scenes in WOT. Fish

I am calling for applications for two people to join my staff as bloggers. Applications for these positions will be open until Friday, June 15th. Description of the Job Positions: 1. The first open position is for a new Theory Blogger to take over for Despothera, who sadly no longer has time for this position. This person will be responsible for a short weekly column about WoT theories. You can read Despothera's old articles here if you need to see examples. You do not need to make the blogs as long or detailed as he did, but you can if you wish. 2. The second open position is for a WoT Humor Blogger. This blog is brand new and will be a regular feature o…

who is the most badass, cool character in fantasy to me that is no other who is more badass then Anomandaris Purake in Malazan the Book of the Fallen, he is a really good charcater, (i have not come as far as the book 7 or 8 ) but Anomander is very important in the series but i would love to se a sword duel between fullpowered Rand al Thor against Anomander Rake, the prince of darkness vs the dragon reborn, both are really powerfull and badass, and splittet persons, with a disturbing past, yes Rand is also one of the most badass good characters in fantasy, Ishmael is also sort-of, others also Anomander is also the one who is in my avatar.

Matthew Swift #1: A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin