Thought I had just one, but I in face have two favorite lines of writing for the day:

• "The man dressed in black arrived in Riggins ahead of schedule, but that was how he did things."
  
  (Yes, this is an intentional Gunslinger reference that has absolutely no bearing on the work by Stephen King)

• "The man in black sat in the chair, resting his hand lightly on his favorite gun, enjoying the feel of the cold metal beneath his warm fingers. Now he would wait."

Just got back after a nice, long, event-packed weekend. Friday night -- once work was done -- involved hanging out with lodessa and holorian, which began with a delicious lemonade-fruity alcoholic drink at Scarlett's in Folsom and watching the beautiful sun set below the hills. Then there were some tasty chili cheese fries and Eddie Izzard entertainment. And we completed the night with an initial mini-fireworks spectacular in an empty parking lot. Some were cool, some were great, and some were lame -- glow worms not for the win.

Saturday involved an initial relaxing day of watching the women's Wimbledon finals and then a good writing session with 8 1/2 pages and 1723 words completed. Then it was off to the wife's boss' 4th of July party that we'd been invited too which involved fantastically delicious margaritas, some enjoyable swimming convincing us all that we need to win the lottery and have a pool of the same design, followed by perfect barbecued food including burgers, chicken, and steak! The night was concluded with a fireworks bonanza of epic proportions. Essentially large circle of chairs and people formed a circle in the cul de sac and then the men came out with two ladders and a board which they erected to form a platform in the shape of a Pi symbol. The hoards of fireworks from each family and group had been conglomerated and they just started lining them up on the board and setting them off, and for the next thirty minutes was an incredible display of color, noise, and olfactory-pleasing sulfurous smoke. It was the best way to enjoy fireworks and the 4th of July.

Sunday was spend driving to Santa Rosa for a family birthday and much fun was spent hanging out with rarely seen family members. As always, this visit cemented even further my need and urge to move back to beautiful Sonoma County.

In this new episode of BookBanter you can find out about author Michael J. Sullivan.  Sullivan has written and completed his six-book fantasy series, The Riyria Revelations, and is now publishing them in six-month intervals.  The first book, The Crown Conspiracy, came out last October, and the second, Avempartha, came out in April.  The third book in the series, Nyphron Rising, is due out in October 2009.  So sit back and relax and enjoy my reviews of The Crown Conspiracy and Avempartha, and find out what it is that makes Michael J.  Sullivan want to write every day, how he came up with the series, why he wrote them all before he published them, and what he likes to do in his spare time.

If you want to keep up to date and get involved in discussion about BookBanter, you can join the BookBanter Facebook group.

If you haven’t joined the BookBanter mailing list, you should, because you’ll be getting all the news and updates about BookBanter delivered right into your inbox!  Just send an email to bookbanterpodcast@gmail.com and you’ll be all set.

BookBanter is also on Twitter which you can find here: http://twitter.com/BookBanter.

For any questions or comments, or have something you’d like to know about BookBanter, email me at alexctelander@gmail.com.

Thanks for joining me and listening and see you next time, on July 1st, where I’ll be talking with award-winning, bestselling author Robert J. Sawyer, one of the first science fiction authors to have a website.  We’ll be talking about his new book, WWW: Wake, the first in trilogy, how he published his first book, advice he has for future writers, and the new TV series coming out in the fall, Fast Forward, based on his book of the same now.

For now: keep reading!

Alex C. Telander.

Welcome to episode 9 of BookBanter and enjoy my lengthy interview with bestselling author James Rollins.  I had a chance to sit down and chat with James about his three books coming out this year: the first in his new children’s series, Jake Ransom and the Skull King’s Shadow (now available); The Doomsday Key (due out June 23rd); and Altar of Eden (due out October 27th).  We also talked about how he is also a bestselling science fiction author and how this whole thing happened, as well as many other interesting facts about his life.

If you haven’t joined the BookBanter mailing list, you should, because you’ll be getting all the news and updates about BookBanter delivered right into your inbox!  Just send an email to bookbanterpodcast@gmail.com and you’ll be all set.

BookBanter is also on Twitter which you can find here: http://twitter.com/BookBanter.

For any questions or comments, or have something you’d like to know about BookBanter, email me at alexctelander@gmail.com.

Thank you for listening and hopefully see you June 15th for Episode 10 with Michael J. Sullivan, author of the Riyria Revelations series, of which the first two books are now available: The Crown Conspiracy and Avempartha.

See you next time!

Alex C. Telander.

May 1st is here and than means a new episode of BookBanter.  In Episode 7 we have my exclusive interview with the wonderful author Mary Roach, of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, Spooks: Science Tackles the Afterlife, and her latest book — now available in paperback — Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex.

The episode begins with my review of Bonk, where Mary Roach seeks to entertainingly educate the reader on the mysterious world of the human body and how and why it reacts the way it does during coitus and stimulation.  This is followed by my interview with the author and ends with my review of Blueberry Girl by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess.

Why don’t you get yourself on the BookBanter mailing list and get notified when a new episode is up and get all the news and info you need about BookBanter.  Just send an email to bookbanterpodcast@gmail.com and you’ll be all set.

And for those addicted to Twitter, you can get your BookBanter Tweets here: http://twitter.com/BookBanter.

For any questions or comments, or have an author you’d like to hear interviewed on BookBanter, email me at alexctelander@gmail.com.

Thank you to Jared Emerson-Johnson for all your help!

Thanks for listening to BookBanter and see you May 15th for Episode 8 with Daniel Suarez, author of Daemon.

Enjoy the first half of the month!

Alex C. Telander.

It’s April 15th and it’s time for a new episode of BookBanter.  And in episode 6 we have a very special interview with Amber Benson, author of the Albion series, the first of her new three-book series, Death’s Daughter, and she might’ve been the great actress to play Tara on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

This episode features my review for Death’s Daughter, which is about Calliope Reaper-Jones who discovers that she is, unsurprisingly, Death’s Daughter, and must assume the mantle of her father.  However, she doesn’t just automatically get the job, but must pass some tests first.  The review is followed by my interview with the great author/actress/singer.  Then reviews for The Hunt for Planet X: New Worlds and the Fate of Pluto by Govert Schilling, Panorama: A Foldout Book by Fani Marceau and Joelle Jolivet, and finally Heroes of the Valley by Jonathan Stroud.

If you are interested in purchasing Amber Benson’s books, or others mentioned in this episode, simply click on the book covers below:

Why don’t you get yourself on the BookBanter mailing list and get notified when a new episode is up and get all the news and info you need about BookBanter.  Just send an email to bookbanterpodcast@gmail.com and you’ll be all set.

And for those addicted to Twitter, you can get your BookBanter updates on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/BookBanter.

For any questions or comments, or have an author you’d like to see interviewed on BookBanter, email me at alexctelander@gmail.com.

Thanks for listening to BookBanter and see you May 1st for Episode 7 with Mary Roach, author of Stiff, Spook, and now out in paperback: Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex.

Have a good one!

Alex C. Telander.

Welcome to Episode 5 of BookBanter and this month’s episode features my interview with bestselling historical fiction author Bernard Cornwell.  Some of his books include the successful Sharpe series, the Grail Quest series, and the Saxon Chronicles series.  His latest book, Agincourt, centers on the monumental battle of the Hundred Years War where the British miraculously beat the French against unbeatable odds.  Our hero is Nicholas Hook, a skilled archer, who at times just manages to scrape through with his life.

The episode begins with my review of Agincourt, followed by the interview with Bernard Cornwell.  This is followed by my reviews for: Contagious by Scott Sigler, The Black Mirror and Other Stories: An Anthology of Science Fiction From Germany and Austria edited by Franz Rottensteiner, I Saw You . . . Comics Inspired by Real-Life Missed Connections edited by Julia Wertz, The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer and translated by Burton Raffel, The Thing About Life is That One Day You’ll be Dead by David Shields, and The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes.

Why don’t you get yourself on the BookBanter mailing list and get notified when a new episode is up and get all the news and info you need about BookBanter.  Just send an email to bookbanterpodcast@gmail.com and you’ll be all set.

For any questions or comments, or have an author you’d like to see interviewed on BookBanter, email me at alexctelander@gmail.com.

Thanks for listening to BookBanter and see you April 15th for Episode 6 with Amber Benson.

Best,

Alex C. Telander.

Spring is here! And to keep you occupied for this new season there are fifteen new book reviews for you to enjoy, which you can see by clicking on the book covers below. I also gone out of my way to simplify the site, or at least the main page here. So a lot lets things to click on, however nothing has really been taken away. Most of the old links that were on this page, such as my biography and various writings, are now collected under the "Portfolio" page. In the left column you will notice a GoodReads widget, which will now keep up to date on everything I'm currently reading and how much I like it. I promise there will be a new "Stream of Consciousness" in the next update. The BookBanter podcast continues to go very well, with new episodes now on the 1st and 15th of every month. The new episode with my interview with Bernard Cornwell just went up. If you would like to get on the BookBanter mailing list to keep up to date on new episodes, just send an email to bookbanterpodcast@gmail.com. Think that's about it, until next time!

Alex C. Telander.
04/01/09

This morning I carried out my first interview for BookBanter over the phone using Skype and it went great. For a start, Skype only charges .021 cents a minute for most calls and a real cheap connection fee too. Then, with the help of a program called Call Graph, I'm able to call up an author and then record the entire conversation in good sound quality. This is exactly what I did this morning when I interviewed Daniel Suarez, author of Daemon. It went great and he was a really interesting guy with a lot to say. And the recording came out just about perfect.

The episode featuring Daniel Suarez will be up on May 1st.

Just finished watching all of Storm of the Century. In my opinion, it's to be the best Stephen King "movie" of them all; of course, this is one of his very few "only for TV" screenplays he wrote, but it's just great. The story is classic King, compelling. It manages to combine his horror, along with his knowledge and experience of people and community, especially in this case with an island community. It's just thoroughly entertaining.

I find a little hard to accept there's not a single person of color living on the island or in the area, and that the first person of color to appear on the show is at the end when the main character is in San Francisco.

Nevertheless, still enjoyable, even after all this time. And Colm Meaney as Linoge does a fantastic job!

It's funny how I'll put aside a great quote when reading a book, all ready to use when I write the review, and then totally forget about it and after finishing it, would have to rewrite it to include said quote. Obviously, this is what I did in the case of Drood. So instead I'll do a quick post on it. Here's the quote:

"And what price would we writers pay for that one extra day spent with those we ignored while we were locked away scratching and squiggling in our arrogant years of solipsisstic solidation. Would we trade all those pages for a single hour? Or all our books for one real minute?"

I really felt, when I read this, that it was Dan Simmons coming through the words on the page as possibly an outcry, or at least in voicing some opinion on the matter of being a writer. It's definitely something to think about.

Just had this awesome animated video passed on to me explaining the whole reason our economy is collapsing or has collapsed and why we're in a deep recession. It's visual and entertaining and SO informative. Check it out and then tell ALL your friends about it, so they can check it out.

And here it is:

The Crisis of Credit Visualized

After watching High Fidelity tonight -- as I always do -- felt the urge to do a top five books and came up with (in no particular order):

The Terror by Dan Simmons
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
The Cider House Rules by John Irving
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
The Stand by Stephen King

I know there are plenty I'm forgetting, want to mention, or just haven't read yet! But this is what I've come up with for now.

Finished up Daemon by Daniel Suarez last night and it was a truly great book. While his characters aren't necessarily anything to remember fondly in their depth and breadth -- and since in this world any of them might die! -- the storyline was fascinating and compelling. Essentially the head guy for a programming company that makes MMORPGs dies at the start of the book, and at his death the "daemon" is unleashed. The daemon, an Internet viral program is unleashed to essentially bring down the world through its technology and networks. It's Michael Crichton at his best meets a Matrix-type setting, only not doomed for failure with the sequel and no Keanu Reeves. Plus it features actual scenes from MMOs with hilarity. And while the last action scene is somewhat lengthy, it ends with you wanting the next book right away! Highly recommended. Will have a full review later this month or early next month on my website and BookBanter podcast.

The future of NASA and the space race is a subject that has been in much discussion for the last decade or so, with Bush's pathetic endorsing efforts of putting people back on the moon, and a peopled mission to Mars, and what the future may hold. With virtual weekly discoveries on Mars, most recently that of the plume of methane gas, exciting people once again about exploring and learning about the big black above, my mind and stance has changed over the last couple of years. Next year, 2010, NASA will decommission the space shuttle with plans in six years to release a new vehicle for traveling from Earth into space.

Now I'd love to have the opportunity to go on up into space, look back at our big blue globe, and then look out to the future and discover. With my love for science fiction, the future holds great fascination for me, and I believe that longevity will increase in our lifetimes, so we'll be living longer, and therefore perhaps get to see some of the awesome and astonishing ideas explored in science fiction. But over the last few years, I have come to the accepted realization that with the state of the United States, it's citizens, the people of the world, and the planet; sinking billions of dollars into finding out what the rocks are like on a icy planet many millions of miles away just aren't that important when compared to suffering and disease and poverty not just throughout our planet, but in the very cities we live in. I think NASA should either shut down -- perhaps for only a period -- or seek full private funding, and all government funding for researching and exploring space be turned to more important matters like those we hear about and see on the news everyday. The space race can still exist under full privately funded companies.

As much as it pains me to turn my back on the big and mysterious darkness of space, I really feel we need to readdress our priorities, and focus on fixing our planet and its people first, before we find out whether billions of years ago there may have been other life in our universe.

When I don't have a specific plan for what I want for dinner, and especially when it's just for me, I love coming up with something new, wacky, and riské. Tonight was one of those nights. I knew I wanted to do something with chicken, as this was the only meat in the freezer that I could possibly do something with. The obvious lead in with the chicken for something quick and easy was either nachos or a chicken quesadilla. I began defrosting, then cooking the chicken in a pan. I seared it well until it had that orangy-golden crispy cover to it, making sure it was dry but not too dry. I then got out rosemary and garlic powder, intending to add those to the cooking chicken. But the cooking smell reminded me of something else. I checked a drawer and we had some. Now I knew what I was going to create. With the chicken done I added it's steaming deliciousness to the plate of tortilla chips. Yes, I was going with nachos. But not just any kind of nachos; I like to think of it as southwestern style. I took out the small condiment package of barbecue sauce from Wendy's and the other one from Burger King. I'd intentionally saved these from a while ago intending to use them for fries, or chicken strips, or something tasty in the future . . . little did I know. I smeared the helping of BBQ sauce on the chicken and chips and with two packages of it, the plate was well covered in the brown condiment. I then grated a healthy amount of mozzarella cheese on top -- along with some pepper -- stuck it in the microwave for ninety seconds, and the result was a surprising and delicious dish that lived up to all my hoped and dreams from when I'd begun creating this gastronomic delight. Just think of it as Southwestern Nachos.

Just click on the link and all will be revealed:

http://www.libo.ru/i447.html