BookBanter

In Episode 24 I had the chance to interview S. G. Browne in person. Browne is the author of an entertaining, tongue-in-cheek zombie book called Breathers: A Zombie’s Lament, which explores the idea and repercussions of what if someone woke up one day and discovered they were a zombie; how would it affect their life and in what ways. Browne also talks about how he came up with Breathers, what his next book is all about, and how it took him almost a hundred submissions to agents before Breathers was picked up.

Featured in the episode are my reviews for Breathers by S. G. Browne , Nyphron Rising by Michael J. Sullivan, The Electric Church by Jeff Somers, and A Mage of None Magic by A. Christopher Drown; to purchase any of these books, click on the covers below :

This episode of BookBanter is brought to you by Angie’s List. At Angie’s List you’ll find thousands of unbiased ratings on services for home improvements, car repairs, and even doctors. Gain access to thousands of reviews on local service providers for Home improvement Auto Repair, Accounting, Animal Care, Health Care and even Weddings.  Let Angie’s List take away the guesswork. Find the service provider your neighbors gave the highest rating.  Join Angie’s List and use promo code “book” for 25% off your membership!  Just go to Angieslist.com.

After enjoying this episode, why not check out the new BookBanter Blog, where you can find out about everything related to BookBanter, books, writing, and whatever else I feel like writing about .

I’ll see you next time, on February 1st, where I’ll hopefully be interviewing author Cherie Priest, and we’ll be talking all about her great Steampunk book Boneshaker.

Until then, keep reading!

Alex C. Telander.

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This Episode of BookBanter features the last of my recorded interviews live from the World Fantasy Convention. Guy Gavriel Kay first made himself known co-editing with Christopher Tolkien on The Silmarillion, and then wrote and published his first fantasy series, The Fionavar Tapestry. Since then he has gone on to write a number of brilliant fantasy novels that are partly historical fiction based but with a fantasy twist, including Tigana, The Lions of Al-Rassan, and The Last Light of the Sun. His new novel, Under Heaven, due out April 27th, 2010 is set in China.

Featured in the episode are my reviews for By Blood We Live, a vampire anthology edited by John Joseph Adams, The Court of the Air by Stephen Hung, Stephen King’s The Stand, Volume 1: Captain Trips by Roberto Aguire-Sacasa, and The Customer is Not Always Right by A. J., Adams; to purchase any of these books, click on the covers below :

This episode of BookBanter is brought to you by East Bay and Footlocker, leading world suppliers of athletic footwear, apparel and sports equipment, featuring top athletic brands such as Adidas, Reebok, Converse, and Nike.  Go to East Bay.com and use the code AFBOOK15 to receive 15% off your order, or the code AFBOOK20 to receive 20% off your order of $75 or more.  Or go to Footlocker.com and use the code AFBOOKFL to receive 15% off your order.

I would like to thank Cheryl Morgan one final time for getting me all set up at the World Fantasy Convention.

After enjoying this episode, why not check out the new BookBanter Blog, where you can find out about everything related to BookBanter, books, writing, and whatever else I feel like writing about .

I’ll see you next time, on January 15th, 2010, where I’ll be interviewing author S. G. Browne, and we’ll be talking all about his great and fun tongue-in-cheek zombie book: Breather’s: A Zombie’s Lament .

Until then, keep reading!

Alex C. Telander.

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In Episode 22 of BookBanter you will hear my third interview live from the World Fantasy Convention with author Jeff VanderMeer. VanderMeer writes his own books, edits anthologies, and even does writer workshops. His books include City of Saints and Madmen and Shriek: An Afterword, while some of the anthologies he has edited include Fast Ships Black Sails and The New Weird. He has two new books out: Finch, a work of fiction, and Booklife, a fantastic book on writing and how to become a successful writer no matter what level you are.

Featured in the episode are my reviews for Booklife, Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving, The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins; to purchase any of these books, click on the covers below :

This episode of BookBanter is brought to you by Angie’s List. At Angie’s List you’ll find thousands of unbiased ratings on services for home improvements, car repairs, and even doctors. Gain access to thousands of reviews on local service providers for Home improvement Auto Repair, Accounting, Animal Care, Health Care and even Weddings.  Let Angie’s List take away the guesswork. Find the service provider your neighbors gave the highest rating.  Join Angie’s List and use promo code “book” for 25% off your membership!  Just go to Angieslist.com.

I would once again like to thank Cheryl Morgan for getting me all set up at the World Fantasy Convention.

After enjoying this episode, why not check out the new BookBanter Blog, where you can find out about everything related to BookBanter, books, writing, and whatever else I feel like writing about .

I’ll see you next time, on January 1st, 2010, where I’ll be interviewing author Guy Gavriel Kay, who’s new book Under Heaven, is due out April 27th.

Until then, keep reading!

Alex C. Telander.

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Episode 20 of BookBanter features the first of the four interviews I did at the World Fantasy Convention in San Jose. In this episode, I had a chance to sit down and talk with bestselling Australian author Garth Nix. While Nix doesn’t have a new book due out until next March, with the final book in the Keys to the Kingdom series, Lord Sunday, he was a Guest of Honor at the convention and I was able to get him in the interview room for half an hour, sit him down, and get him talking about what he’s been working on, how he got started as a writer, the big news with the Old Kingdom books, what he likes to do in his spare time, what he thinks about long-distance traveling, and where he would live in the Old Kingdom.

Featured in the episode — after the interview — are my reviews for The Waking: Dreams of the Dead by Thomas Randall, Flesh by Richard Layman, and The Box: Uncanny Stories by Richard Matheson. If you would like to purchase any of the books mentioned or preorder the new Garth Nix book, simply click on the covers below:

This episode of BookBanter is brought to you by Angie’s List. At Angie’s List you’ll find thousands of unbiased ratings on services for home improvements, car repairs, and even doctors. Gain access to thousands of reviews on local service providers for Home improvement Auto Repair, Accounting, Animal Care, Health Care and even Weddings.  Let Angie’s List take away the guesswork. Find the service provider your neighbors gave the highest rating.  Join Angie’s List and use promo code “book” for 25% off your membership!  Just go to Angieslist.com.

I would once again like to thank Cheryl Morgan for getting me all set up at the World Fantasy Convention.

After enjoying this episode, why not check out the new BookBanter Blog, where you can find out what I was up to at the World Fantasy Convention and which panels I attended.

I’ll see you next time, on December 1st, where I’ll be interviewing author Ken Scholes, who currently has to two books out of his Psalms of Isaak series: Lamentation and Canticle.

Until then, keep reading!

Alex C. Telander.

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In episode 19 of BookBanter, I’m interviewing Alan Jacobson, bestselling author of The 7th Victim, his first novel featuring the great FBI profiler, Karen Vail, and his new novel and sequel, Crush. In the interview we talk about how Jacobson got involved in writing, how he exactly ended up researching for years with the FBI at Quantico, where Karen Vail originally came from, and what’s in store for his impressive protagonist.

If you would like to purchase The 7th Victim or Crush, click on the covers below:

This episode of BookBanter is brought to you by East Bay and Footlocker, leading world suppliers of athletic footwear, apparel and sports equipment, featuring top athletic brands such as Adidas, Reebok, Converse, and Nike.  Go to East Bay.com and use the code AFBOOK15 to receive 15% off your order, or the code AFBOOK20 to receive 20% off your order of $75 or more.  Or go to Footlocker.com and use the code AFBOOKFL to receive 15% off your order.

After enjoying this episode, why not check out the new BookBanter Blog, where you can find out what I was up to at the World Fantasy Convention.

I’ll see you next time, on November 15th, where I’ll be interviewing bestselling author Garth Nix, who — no surprise — turned out to be a really great guy, and find out what he’s up to with his next book, and what big news there is about his Old Kingdom books.

Until then, keep reading!

Alex C. Telander.

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October is also Star Wars appreciation month . . . no, that’s not true. But there is, however, a new Star Wars book — a horror novel in fact — that was released on October 13: Star Wars Death Troopers by Joe Schreiber and I had a chance to interview Joe and talk all about how he ended getting to write a Star Wars book, what this whole process was like, what it was like writing some very familiar characters, as well as a some tough questions like: “What’s your favorite Star Wars movie?” and “If you could be a Star Wars character, who would you be?” Schreiber also has another book out simultaneously, an original horror novel called No Doors, No Windows, which is also reviewed in this episode. And since it was a pretty short interview, I was able to feature some other reviews in the episode: Distant Early Warnings: Canada’s Best Science Fiction edited by Robert J. Sawyer, Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and my two humorous reviews for Brandon Sanderson’s Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians and Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener’s Bones.

And here’s a photo of me and Joe at a recent signing:

If you would like to purchase any of these books, click on the covers below:

This episode of BookBanter is brought to you by Angie’s List. At Angie’s List you’ll find thousands of unbiased ratings on services for home improvements, car repairs, and even doctors. Gain access to thousands of reviews on local service providers for Home improvement Auto Repair, Accounting, Animal Care, Health Care and even Weddings.  Let Angie’s List take away the guesswork. Find the service provider your neighbors gave the highest rating.  Join Angie’s List and use promo code “book” for 25% off your membership!  Just go to Angieslist.com.

After enjoying this episode, why not check out the new BookBanter Blog, which I try my very best to update daily.

Otherwise, I’ll see you next time, on November 1st, where I’ll hopefully be interviewing author Seth Grahame-Smith, author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and we’ll also be talking about what else he’s working on.

Until then, keep reading!

Alex C. Telander.

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October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and I’m very proud to welcome bestselling medical thriller author Kathryn Fox to BookBanter in Episode 17 where we talk about her latest book Bloodborn, which is about a girl whose sister is killed, while she is raped and left for dead.  It is the gruesome and heart-rending story of a girl wanting to forget about what happened to her, but needing to face her demons to put her perpetrators behind bars.  But with the help of forensic pathologist Anya Crichton, she may get her wish to come true.

Fox also talks about the “Give a Victim a Voice” campaign she is part of with other bestselling authors Kathy Reichs, Linda Fairstein, and Robin Burcell.  In addition to being popular authors, each of these women has worked with cases of sexual assault and domestic violence.  Fox is very candid in sharing some of her shocking and at times unbelievable stories which become part of what she calls “reality fiction,” as she inserts these real life occurrences into her novels.  She also discusses what the average reader can do to educate themselves and others about domestic violence awareness.

It was a pleasure to talk with Kathryn Fox and share her thoughts and ideas on such an important subject that has tended to be pushed to the wayside in our society which abhors facing facts that are ugly and unseemly.

My hope is that through this episode of BookBanter, I will first help educate listeners on domestic violence awareness — I certainly learned a lot in talking with Kathryn — and encourage the BookBanter readers and listeners to gets others to listen to this interview and help spread the word and knowledge about Domestic Violence Awareness.

As Kathryn says in the interview, we want sexual assault and domestic violence awareness to become as focused, important, and as center stage as the other cause being respected this month: Breast Cancer Awareness.

If you would like to purchase any of Kathryn Fox’s books, please click on the book covers below:

The interview with Kathryn Fox is followed by my review with the author of The Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger’s latest book, Her Fearful Symmetry, which can be purchased here:

This episode of BookBanter is brought to you by East Bay and Footlocker, leading world suppliers of athletic footwear, apparel and sports equipment, featuring top athletic brands such as Adidas, Reebok, Converse, and Nike. Go to East Bay.com and use the code AFBOOK15 to receive 15% off your order, or the code AFBOOK20 to receive 20% off your order of $75 or more. Or go to Footlocker.com and use the code AFBOOKFL to receive 15% off your order.

After enjoying this episode, please check out the new BookBanter Blog, which I try my very best to update daily.  And head on over to the BookBanter site for six new book reviews.

Otherwise, I’ll see you next time, on October 15th, where I’ll be interviewing author Joe Schreiber and we’ll be talking all about his new book, Death Troopers.

Until then, keep reading!

Alex C. Telander.

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It’s September 15th and time for another new episode of BookBanter.  On this episode I’ll be talking with bestselling author and award-winning graphic novel writer Mike Carey.  Carey has worked on a number of graphic novel projects, including the long-running Lucifer series, as well as a number of X-Men comics.  He is currently working on his latest comic book series, The Unwritten.  He is also the author of a popular book series featuring the exorcist Felix Castor.  The first two books — The Devil You Know and Vicious Circle — are now available in paperback, with the third — Dead Men’s Boots — recently released in hardcover.

So sit back and relax — unless you’re going to be listening to the latest episode in the car and you’re driving! — and find out from Mike Carey what he uses to write with, how he got into comics, what he thinks of “punting,” and everything else going on his life.

To purchase any of the Felix Castor series, simply click on the book covers below:

This episode of BookBanter is brought to you by Angie’s List. At Angie’s List you’ll find thousands of unbiased ratings on services for home improvements, car repairs, and even doctors. Gain access to thousands of reviews on local service providers for Home improvement Auto Repair, Accounting, Animal Care, Health Care and even Weddings.  Let Angie’s List take away the guesswork. Find the service provider your neighbors gave the highest rating.  Join Angie’s List and use promo code “book” for 25% off your membership!  Just go to Angieslist.com.

Check out the official BookBanter site and read through the hundreds of book reviews available.  I’m adding more with each new episode!

Otherwise, thanks for listening to BookBanter.  If you haven’t already, send an email to alex@bookbanter.net to join the BookBanter mailing list, letting you know when the latest episode is available and what’s in store for the future with BookBanter.  Or just send me an email, comment, or suggestion about an author you’d like to see interviewed on the show.

See you next time on October 1st.

For now: keep turning those pages!

Alex C. Telander.

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