I finished reading The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang recently. For those who are unaware, it’s a grimdark fantasy tale that pulls a lot of its material from China’s past several hundred years or so of history, in particular the Sino-Japanese conflicts and the Opium Wars. It is dark, with the depicted events all the …
I read the first novel of the Night Angel Trilogy on the basis of a friend’s recommendation way back in high school, only recently coming back to finish off the last two of Brent Weeks’ fantasy trilogy (though I do believe a new entry in the same world has since been published). On the whole, …
It’s been a busy time over here, with the many fantasy and sci-fi stories I’ve read or watched or played stacking up like cordwood near an unlit campfire. So, grab a chair and take a seat, because this fire is about to be lit, and these stories burn bright and quick. As we watch the …
I’ve finally done it. I’ve read every published Brandon Sanderson Cosmere novel to date. The journey – and given the length, general number, and content of his novels, I’d say the word journey is an appropriate one – began over 10 years back in undergrad. I have other posts on the matter (https://mweald.com/2024/01/28/on-long-chills-case-dough-brandon-sanderson/), so I …
If I’d been asked to pick my favorite author during high school, it probably would have been Stephen King. I read my fair share of his horror classics during this time: The Stand, The Shining, It, The Long Walk, Cell, Under the Dome, etc. I grew up amongst the corn fields of southern Indiana and …
Hey all. I got the Kirkus review for The Work of Restless Nights, and believe it or not there was nary a negative comment to be found! This one had me nervous, I’ll admit. The whole setup for self-published authors, any author really, is primed for inducing anxiety. You pay Kirkus a not so insubstantial …
A nine month streak fades, and, with any luck, a longer one begins. My apologies on missing the July post. It’s been hectic, to say the least. What with publishing my novel and preparing for a trip to New Zealand and Australia for the Women’s World Cup, things have been a bit busy. As to …
Hello there. Big news, though I think my title might have given it away. No matter, I’ll say it again, my book is finally published! Paperback and ebook. Truth be told, it has been available through Amazon for about a week now. But for all those who have an entirely understandable dislike of the corporate …
I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I hadn’t read the seminal sci-fi novel Dune until recently. I’ve been told Dune is to sci-fi what Lord of the Rings is to fantasy. Given Dune‘s impact, it’s not an unfair comparison. Having written a sci-fi novel myself due to be published here in just a few weeks, …
I was told by a friend who’s already passed the somehow both meaningful and yet meaningless benchmark that is 30 years since entering this world naked and screaming that both my muscle strength and bone density would halve at midnight. I don’t believe that happened, but then again perhaps one’s mental faculties also drop in …
M. Weald 