Links of interest!

BBC Radio 4 on “Ursula Le Guin at 85”: Naomi Alderman talks to leading novelist Ursula Le Guin about her life and work and hears from literary fans including David Mitchell and Neil Gaiman. (And Karen Joy Fowler, too.)

It is a bloody awesome radio programme, I want to say. Le Guin is amazing. Also BBC Radio 4 will soon be broadcasting radio adaptations of The Left Hand of Darkness and the first three Earthsea books. This is BRILLIANT news.

Max Gladstone writes about action scenes and writing in “Fighting Words: Thoughts On Prose Style Prompted By John Wick.” (Why does Max Gladstone keep writing smart things? It makes a body jealous.)

Maureen Kincaid Speller writes a very interesting piece on “We Need To Talk About Dragons – John Mullan, George RR Martin, Game of Thrones and the triumph of fantasy fiction.”

Review copies: Carey, LeGuin, Wolfe, Sanderson, Deas, Cargill, Hunt

Eight Gollancz paperbacks.

Courtesy of Gollancz, Ursula K. LeGuin’s THE WORD FOR WORLD IS FOREST; Linda Carey, Louise Carey, and M.R. Carey, THE HOUSE OF WAR AND WITNESS; Gene Wolfe, THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN Vol. 1: SHADOW AND CLAW; Stephen Hunt, IN DARK SERVICE; Stephen Deas, THE SPLINTERED GODS; C. Robert Cargill, QUEEN OF THE DARK THINGS; and Brandon Sanderson, WORDS OF RADIANCE, parts one and two.

The Deas is the third book in a series. The Cargill is the second, and the Sanderson is… technically the second book, or the third and fourth volumes, I think. I don’t know why they sent me so many blokey fantasies – and not even the first books in series!

Review copies arrived

Six books, one cat.

Courtesy of Gollancz. Michael Moorcook, KANE OF OLD MARS and A CORNELIUS CALENDAR. Mark Alder, SON OF THE MORNING. Ursula K. LeGuin, THE UNREAL AND THE REAL VOLUME 2: OUTER SPACE, INNER LANDS. Andrzej Sapkowski, BAPTISM OF FIRE. Den Patrick, THE BOY WITH THE PORCELAIN BLADE.

It’s a little unusual to get a parcel from Gollancz. Especially when I haven’t been asking them for a specific title.

Review copies since last time

Six here

That’s Brian McClellan’s THE CRIMSON CAMPAIGN, Trudi Canavan’s THIEF’S MAGIC, Charlie Fletcher’s OVERSIGHT, Adam Christopher’s THE BURNING DARK, Stella Gemmell’s THE CITY, and Elizabeth Moon’s CROWN OF RENEWAL.

And four here.

Followed by Kristen Britain’s MIRROR SIGHT, Ursula K. LeGuin’s THE UNREAL AND THE REAL VOLUME ONE, S.M. Wheeler’s SEA CHANGE, and Kameron Hurley’s THE MIRROR EMPIRE.