happy release day

Today is the official release date for Glamour in Glass by Mary Robinette Kowal

At the start of 1815, newly married and eager to explore her gifts as a glamourist, Jane Vincent (Shades of Milk and Honey) is pleased with life. A recent glamural, commissioned by the Prince Regent, has provided the Vincents with the funds and status to travel abroad. Their destination is Binché, near Brussels, and the workshop of artisan M. Chastain, where they secretly attempt the groundbreaking work of containing a glamour within glass. But soon Jane’s husband’s erratic behavior and misleading communication leave her feeling unsure of her future.

VERDICT This sequel to Kowal’s Nebula Award–nominated debut continues to build a historically recognizable world made anew by the addition of “glamour.” The focus remains on Jane’s internal struggle to find a satisfying balance between society’s restrictions and the person she’d like to be, endearing her further to series fans. Espionage and tangled feelings over family create a nice sense of mystery and provide great action and drama. Prepare to settle in and snuggle up in your comfiest chair; once you start reading, you won’t want to stop. –Library Journal

happy release day!

Today is the official release date of Elizabeth Bear’s Range of Ghosts, the first book in the Eternal Sky.

“This lean, sinewy, visceral narrative, set forth in extraordinarily vivid prose full of telling detail, conveys a remarkable sense of time and place, where the characters belong to the landscape and whose personalities derive naturally from it. Though the book is not self-contained, Bear provides this opener with enough of a resolution to satisfy while whetting the appetite for more. Gripping, perfectly balanced and highly recommended.” –Kirkus, Starred Review

“Bear, winner of the 2005 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, a 2006 Locus Award for Hammered, and two Hugo Awards for short fiction, creates a vivid, multicultural world reminiscent of Eurasia during the 12th and 13th centuries, after the death of Genghis Khan dissolved an empire that included the Mongols, Tatars, and Chinese. Her characters possess depth of feeling as well as political acumen, bringing a personal element to a broad-scale epic fantasy.” –Library Journal

“Bear creates a vivid world where wizards must sacrifice their ability to procreate in order to control magic and the sky changes to reflect the gods of the land’s rulers. The strong setting and engaging characters will have readers eager for the second installment.” –Publishers Weekly

winner, tea for two

Congratulations to C.L. Polk as the winner of my tea for two and two books for you book giveaway. Your masala chai sounds amazing.

And thanks to everyone else for the wonderful comments about tea. I have some new flavors to seek out now.

tea for two and two books for you

Curling up with a good book and a strong, fragrant cup of tea sounds like a great way to spend some time… It’s probably not a coincidence that tea shows up in several of my clients’ books. In fact the following passage was one of many evocative scenes in Saladin Ahmed’s Throne of the Crescent Moon that kept me reading:

Tea.

Adoulla leaned his face farther over the small bowl and inhaled deeply, needing its aromatic cure for the fatigue of life. The spicy-sweet cardamom steam enveloped him, moistening his face and his beard, and for the first time that groggy morning he felt truly alive.

And, courtesy of M.K. Hutchin’s blog, here’s a recipe: Cardamon Tea from Throne of the Crescent Moon

Tea makes a decided showing in Elizabeth Bear’s Range of Ghosts (coming out next week!) as well. Considering her well-known admiration for the beverage, this is not surprising.

Samarkar took the celadon porcelain tea bowl Payma placed in her hands and bowed her head over it. She could see at a glance the two or three wilted, translucent flower petals that rolled in the depths of the clear greeny-amber fluid. Sweetened with rose jam, in just the idiosyncratic manner Samarkar preferred when it was not served as a meal.

So, in celebration of tea, I am giving away a hardcover copy of Saladin’s Throne of the Crescent Moon and an ARC of Elizabeth Bear’s Range of Ghosts to one lucky tea devotee.

To enter: comment here about your most memorable cup of tea or visit to a tea house or favorite flavor of tea (please share details!)…

Contest runs from now until Friday, March 23rd, 5pm Eastern. One comment entry per person.

winner, lucky Irish book giveaway

Congratulations to Cait Dean, whose name is spelled correctly, as the winner of my lucky Irish book giveaway.

And thanks to everyone else for the wonderful comments about all things Irish.

Stay tuned for another contest coming soon…