Wise Old Men Train in the Mountains

7/5/2013

As we speak, I'm sitting cross-legged on a desolate mountain peak, doing nothing but meditating and writing The Crimson Vault.

Parts of the above statement may or may not be true.

I am, in fact, on a trip to the mountains, and I am working diligently on Book 2. I have the first few chapters done, and over the next few weeks I expect to finish a big chunk of this draft. I'm well on my way to having the book out in August.

Plus, the cover is approaching completion. I'm excited about that. The two awesome and talented graphic designers I hired (Chelsey and Caitlin Bateson, available at www.designosaurus.ca) are hard at work on the second cover, and yesterday they delivered their rough version.

It's like someone squeezing lemon juice in your eye, only instead of lemon juice, it's pure awesome-juice. I am the king of analogies.

Anyway, I am in the mountains for the next two weeks, so I won't be as punctual when replying to your comments and/or email. Don't worry; when I return, I will do my best to respond to each of you.

Now, my question for you: what was the last incredible fantasy novel you read on your Kindle (not counting House of Blades)? I finished I, Minion by Lewis Dix a few days ago, because he commented on this blog, but it was a great read. So is Nyx by D.M. Livingston, a fantasy novel that was free on Kindle yesterday (and may still be today, I don't know).

Anyway, I want to know what you've read that's good. So let me know in the comments!

61 Comments

Brian S

7/6/2013 05:49:53 am

The last good novel I read on my kindle other than 'House of Blades' was 'Duel at Grimwood Creek' by Lucas Thorn. The last incredible fantasy novel was probably 'A Memory of Light (WoT)' by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson.

Will Wight link

7/16/2013 06:23:46 am

I had some problems with AMoL, especially the last chapter. Seriously? That freaking pipe. But overall it was fantastic. I laughed, I cried, I had a great time.

I'm not familiar with Duel at Grimwood Creek. I'll have to check that out.

Jennifer A.

7/7/2013 12:45:02 am

The last incredible fantasy I read on my Kindle was Thread Slivers by Leeland Artra. Just like with this book, I could not put it down.

7/16/2013 06:25:02 am

My secret ulterior motive for this question was to get ideas for new books to read, and Thread Slivers looks like something I'll definitely check out. Thanks!

Jamie B

7/7/2013 09:47:40 am

Great read, my friend. Keep the ball rollin

7/16/2013 06:25:44 am

Secretly, I have a PhD in Ball Rollin'. Don't tell anyone.

Lewis link

7/7/2013 02:05:13 pm

Last thing I read was "House of Blades" :) It rocked! Been recommending it to everyone I know. And thanks for the mention!

Currently reading Ilium and Olympos! Pretty good Sci-Fi based on Greek mythology

7/16/2013 06:26:57 am

What is the "House of Blades" of which you speak?

And yeah, I felt a little weird giving you a shout-out, like I was biased or something because I met you through this site.

Then I thought "Screw it, I enjoyed the book."

Take that, Will's brain.

Scweeb

7/9/2013 01:14:27 am

Spellscribed by Kristopher Crus, i have read several others but this was the last one that was as good as House of Blades

7/16/2013 06:56:01 am

Clearly, I have missed out on something by not reading Spellscribed. So many people have recommended it to me that it has now been bumped to the top of my to-read list.

7/9/2013 02:44:26 am

Man, I just noticed that the last two lines of the blog were cut off, so it ended on the word "Kindl." That's annoying.

It's also what I get for hiding out in the mountains with no Internet: I don't get to catch mistakes like that. Oh, well. It's fixed now.

7/10/2013 01:26:21 pm

As far as Nyx goes, it wasn't free when I checked, and their are two different authors that have books by that title.

7/16/2013 06:28:30 am

Thanks for the heads-up! I just added that the author is D.M. Livingston. I had a lot of fun reading Nyx, and even if it's not on sale anymore, it's still cheap for the amount of entertainment you get.

William FitzGerald

7/9/2013 04:50:37 am

The last great fantasy novel I read was... I cant remember. I have read so much recently that Its all sort of blended together... (about a book a day)... but I am currently reading and enjoying House of Blades!

7/16/2013 06:29:53 am

I go through those phases where I just buy like twelve indie Kindle fantasy books at a time and just churn through them.

I think it's like the equivalent of binge eating, only with no calories and 65% more inspiration.

Frank

7/9/2013 11:50:09 pm

The King's Bastards- Chris Northern. A little preachy, but I love the main character.

I also enjoyed spellscribed

7/16/2013 06:32:05 am

Yeah, I enjoyed The King's Bastard. Like you said, the writing style was at times a bit off-putting, but I was more than willing to stick it out for the character(s).

And apparently I need to read Spellscribed. I know very little about those books, but people keep recommending them to me, so I am forced to believe that they're awesome.

J Moore

7/10/2013 10:56:14 am

Haven't read a lot of fantasy but I just got done reading The Blade Itself and 1/3 way through Before they are Hanged both by Joe Abercrombie. The first book took a while to take off story wise but I enjoyed the characters enough to wait it out and it's funny in a way that's hard to explain.

Non fantasy I recently read Wool and Shift by High Howey. Very good books if you enjoy sci-fi with a mystery slowly unraveling.

7/10/2013 01:23:57 pm

I enjoyed reading WOOL, and would also recommend this to anyone who is willing to take in a bit of sci-fi.

Jennifer A

7/12/2013 08:29:20 pm

I also enjoyed Wool.

7/16/2013 06:33:34 am

Joe Abercrombie is a mysterious and powerful wizard. In a good way.

I love his writing, and for the most part I really enjoy his books, though (as I'm sure you know) they get a little bleak. I sometimes need to take a break and read something with a less morbid sense of humor, like The Dresden Files or something.

Gail B

7/10/2013 11:08:19 am

Michelle Sagara/West's Broken Sword series is one of the best fantasy series i've ever read. Her writing is satisfyingly dense, like good chocolate, and her attention to details is incredible. I also liked The Name of the Wind and Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss.
That all said, i'm about to read House of Blades and i'll let you know how it goes. I expect to enjoy it a lot :-)

7/16/2013 06:38:48 am

Glad to hear it, Gail! I hope you do enjoy it, but I feel compelled to warn you that my writing style is significantly different from Sagara and Rothfuss. The Name of the Wind is one of my favorite books, though, and I'm a fan of the Broken Sword series. Wise Man's Fear, on the other hand...

Look, it's brilliantly written. Rothfuss is some kind of genius Jedi with the English language. But I'm addicted to plot, and there was such little plot development in WMF that the book felt about 500 pages too long to me.

Again, that's just me. If you're the kind of person who's in the journey because you enjoy riding around in the character's head, regardless of what they're doing, then Wise Man's Fear is another priceless gem.

Brian

7/12/2013 12:54:19 am

The most recent was House of Blades ;)

Before that I enjoyed Spellscribed:Provenance by Kristopher Cruz.

7/16/2013 06:42:04 am

It's becoming clear to me that I must read Spellscribed. My fate is now written.

Shiloh

7/12/2013 09:41:38 am

House of Blades was the last one I read, but before that was Ted Dekker's "Kiss". I can't wait for book 2! So glad that I stumbled across your book on Kindle today! Literally couldn't put it down! :)

7/16/2013 06:41:32 am

Thanks for letting me know, Shiloh! My intention was to craft a book that adheres to your palms, so I'm glad to see that goal was met.

And I love Ted Dekker! Well, I suppose I should say "loved." He used to be one of my favorite authors, but I started getting a little tired of his books a few years ago. But I still have fond memories of his stories.

7/21/2013 11:55:42 am

Ok so I totally didn't see this comment till just now! I haven't read much of Dekker's work recently, but his "Circle" series is one of my favorites! I can't believe how quickly you are putting your book together! I would love to be an actual writer someday, but I lack the creativity of a good writer...so I'll simply content myself with reading awesome books instead. :) oh just read "Keeper of the Lost Cities" by Shannon Messenger and it was really good!

7/21/2013 11:58:16 am

PS....I owe you one. By reading the comments, I have a bunch of new books that I want to read now. There goes any chance for me to get anything productive done!

Calvin

7/12/2013 11:26:28 am

The last book I read that was as good as House of Blades was probably the Seven Realms series by Cinda W. Chima...

There was some people that didn't like it because the pace was slow, but that was actually one of the things I really liked about it.

7/16/2013 06:43:30 am

Seven Realms, huh? That's another one I'm unfamiliar with. My list is becoming progressively longer.

I should never have asked for all these book names. I have a sequel to write!

7/13/2013 11:08:45 am

I just read 'Servant of Steel (Chaos Awakens)' by Heath Pfaff. It was a pretty amazing book, and would definitely recommend it. It's also nice and long for $3.99. Great way to kill some time while you wait for the Crimson Vault.

7/16/2013 06:46:17 am

I absolutely loved Heath Pfaff's Hungering Saga, and I've been meaning to get around to his other books. On the other hand, the way I should probably be killing time between now and The Crimson Vault is by writing Crimson Vault.

It's like a catch-22, only not really.

Jamie

7/15/2013 01:28:41 am

Tower Lord by Anthony Ryan was pretty epic, however his next book isn't out until next year so I'm jumping ship to House of Blades... great read, looking forward to your future works.

7/16/2013 06:47:13 am

Uh, I hope you mean Blood Song. If Tower Lord is out and I somehow missed it, I'm not going to be getting any writing done for the rest of the day. Or any sleep tonight, depending on how long it is.

7/17/2013 12:36:52 am

Damn... you see where my mind is, yep Blood Song. I have just been typing Tower Lord into google too much to see if the release date changed :)

7/24/2013 12:34:05 pm

Jamie, I'm just glad I didn't miss Tower Lord. You had me freaking out for a few minutes, until Google and I had adequately determined that Blood Song was still the only book in the series.

I was like, "Did I miss it? How did I miss it?"

Bobby link

7/15/2013 05:21:58 am

I just started House of Blades and I am enjoying it. Before that I read Within The Hollow Crown by Daniel Antoniazzi. I found it very entertaining.

7/16/2013 06:48:37 am

Hey, I'm glad to hear that! I quite enjoyed Within the Hollow Crown, and I think Daniel deserves more hype than he's getting. It's just a fun read, and I thought he handled the end really well.

Rhys

7/15/2013 06:48:49 pm

Recently I've read three. The first was Defiler of Tombs by Wiliam king(it's not particularly new but I only just got round to reading it), the war of Stardeon as the newest book in the Bowl of Souls Trilogy by Trevor H Cooley and the the entire Imager series by L.E.Modesitt Jr. I would especially recommend the first and the last as they felt more mature than than the other series.

7/16/2013 06:51:37 am

I would consider Defiler of Tombs relatively new. I haven't gotten around to reading it either, though that really says more about my random and whimsical priorities than anything else. And I read the first three Imager books years ago...then they switched protagonists. I planned on waiting a few books until he went back to the old protagonist, as Modesitt often does, but apparently he still hasn't done it.

So now I have to re-read the original trilogy, and then catch up on however many other Imager books there are now. Curse you, Modesitt! Stop writing so that I may catch up!

7/17/2013 07:12:18 pm

The whole Kormak saga is worth reading to be honest. It's very similar in style to the old fashioned books like Conrad the Barbariqn which I loved. The Heir of Night books by Helen Lowe are also very good.

I expect you will have already read them but the night angel trilogy by Brent weeks is very good.

7/24/2013 12:32:30 pm

In response to your second comment, Rhys:

I'm glad to hear you've read the Heir of Night books, because I really enjoyed them. And I am a huge Brent Weeks fan. I have all of his books, and I was lucky enough to get them signed last year (woohoo!) when he came to Orlando.

They are now both my inspiration and my lucky charms. Whenever I get stuck writing a story, I snuggle up with a Brent Weeks book, curling myself around it until I absorb inspiration through my very skin.

Certain segments of the above anecdote may be less accurate than others.

Ben

7/16/2013 10:47:06 pm

The last really good fantasy book I read was the sort of dark mage. I thought it was hilarious. Fair warning I guess technically it's a parody but I was well entertained.

7/22/2013 01:14:00 am

Hey, I'm a big fan of parody. It's called "The Sort Of Dark Mage", you said?

8/1/2013 09:09:15 am

Yep the sort of dark Mage by Nelson Chereta.

Joe W

11/18/2013 05:35:02 am

It's THE SORT OF DARK MAGE WALDO RABBIT by Nelson Chereta. It's a hilarious book about a dark mage who lives a very sheltered life and whose mother sends him out into the world on his first quest. Since his family is all dark mages, its obvious his quest isn't rescuing princesses or doing noble or heroic acts. It's the exact opposite; his quest is to seek plunder and slaves, to pillage and kill his enemies. He is terrible at doing evil things though no matter how hard he tries. He just wants to be evil to the core to make his mother proud. It's a really fun book and the sequel is coming out 12/21.

Gabriel

7/22/2013 12:38:55 am

The last good book i read was actually house of blades! haha, but i just started book 6 of kevin hearne hunted (audiobook) and blood sword by terry erwin.

7/22/2013 01:14:53 am

I haven't read Hunted, but I'm a fan of Blood Sword.

And I'm glad you enjoyed House of Blades!

Jason

7/25/2013 09:27:27 am

The last book I've read was house of blades. It was a phenomenal read. Recently I've most been reading the Dresden Files novels, but I'm sure you've already read those.

Other SF/fantasy novels that I've read recently that were quite good were Riyria revelations by Michael Sullivan and Eden's Jester by Ty Beltramo.

I hope progress on the second book is going well.

7/31/2013 06:23:05 am

The Dresden Files are among my favorite novels, and possibly my favorite ongoing series right now. I am a huge fan of Jim Butcher, and his writing was a big inspiration/encouragement to me as I was working on House of Blades.

I'm also a fan of Riyria Revelations, though I'm not sure about these prequel novels coming out. I trust Michael Sullivan, I'm just like...do I really need to see how they met?

Kyle W.

7/28/2013 06:46:40 pm

Just finished house of blades and loved it, the last great book on kindle that I read was The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks, second in the series and before that was King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence. I am currently on a reading spree and look forward to your upcoming release as well as the 3rd book from Mark Lawrence in the series. Also have a few others downloaded to my kindle just awaiting to be read, just a matter of deciding which is next!

7/31/2013 06:24:07 am

You know, I've never been a fan of Mark Lawrence's Thorns books. I tried, I really did, they're just too depressing and grimdark for me.

Brent Weeks, on the other hand, is my hero.

Francisco G

7/29/2013 02:50:06 pm

I have been reading several fantasy books since I finished house of blades. The best one among them was The Innkeeper's Son by Jeremy Brooks. However, House of Blades is by far my favorite. I particularly enjoyed that Simon is not the subject of any prophecy and wasn't born almighty. That Leah is cast in a different light from all other fantasy book princesses. She is not just struggling how to lead but has more purpose. And Alin is just a little to full of himself. Plus the concept of travelers is great. I can't wait to learn more.

Congratulation on your success!

7/31/2013 06:27:28 am

Thanks, Francisco!

Honestly, Leah is probably my favorite character to write right now. Well, her and the dolls. I love writing the dolls. Simon's a lot of fun to write sometimes, but I just write so much from his perspective that I sometimes get sick of him and have to switch it up. The dolls help with that, usually, because they give him a little bit of fun banter.

I liked The Innkeeper's Son as well! Plus I've interacted with Jeremy a little bit online, and he seems like a really great guy. The Innkeeper's Son is certainly a very different book than House of Blades, but I think it's got a lot of advantages--for one thing, it's almost as long as both of my books (counting Crimson Vault) put together. There's something to be said for an almost-eight-hundred-page book for $3.99.

Jody C.

8/8/2013 02:36:22 pm

Iron Druid series was awsome, but not at good as the last book I read, I'll let you guess the name? ( hint: Simon )

Vasilis Z.

8/16/2013 12:46:57 am

Hello Will Wight.
The last good book i found at the amazon, it was the (Sort of) dark mage by Nelson Chereta

Sir Readsalot

8/27/2013 10:54:54 am

My favorite fantasy books (other than house of blades of course) would be
1 "child of the sword" by J.L. Doty
2 "prince of thorns"
3 "king of ashes"
4 I'm too lazy to look up the authors

8/27/2013 10:57:47 am

Another good book series is Zero sight
Though the author has not proweled the interwebs for little over a year now R.I.P

11/18/2013 05:38:35 am

Yes, the author used to update his blog with pointless posts that seemed more like something he copied and pasted from other blogs about the latest news for self publishers. His last post was in April. He hasn't made a post related to the series since Oct 2012 when he said he was getting close. He's a med student (or was at this point) so people kept saying give him slack, but it's hard to do that when he hasn't even given a 'whats up' to his fan base in over a year now.

Mark jaeger

2/9/2014 07:38:32 pm

How about the stormlight archive by Brandon Sanderson 2nd comes out on the fourth I've got 3 days to read it before he arrives in portland or

In which we ramble on.
And by we, I mean me.