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Merry Christmas from the Bookgeeks!

The Editor — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 07:00:41 +0000

Merry Christmas to our readers from everyone here at Bookgeeks Towers (which only exists in our imagination at the moment, but one day, will bestride the literary landscape like a colossal… well, you get the idea). We hope you have enjoyed our reviews and competitions in 2009, and we look forward to bringing you much, much more in 2010!

A nice way to round of the year was this interview with our own Simon Appleby over on Temple Library Reviews, and if you need a break from the turkey and mince pies, here are a few of the very best 2009 Bookgeeks reviews and reviewers that you may have missed:

Some controversy between the Geeks over Neal Stephenson’s Anathem – read Simon A’s review
Jennie Blake reviewed John Wray’s Lowboy, and we also interviewed him
Simon A reviewed David Eagleman’s Sum, a book that later on became a word-of-mouth sensation
Mathew was very excited by John Connolly’s latest Charlie Parker novel, the deceptively titled The Lovers
Simon P’s review of Richard Dawkins’ latest book got a lot of attention from Dawkins fans
Erin Britton was first to the punch with a review of the long-awaited second novel from Glen David Gold, Sunnyside
With money seeming to mostly descend in 2009, our own Ben Parker had a timely review of Niall Ferguson’s The Ascent of Money
Simon A wrote a letter to the central character for his review of Sean Williams’ The Grand Conjunction
We are very proud of how we have expanded our Young Adult coverage this year, with great contributions from Jennie, Jenny, Erin and Mathew
We have also welcomed new reviewers Andy, James, Jon, Marina, Mario, Michaela, Nicola, Paul and Sam to the Bookgeeks fold, and hope to bring you more from all of them in 2010!

And last but not least we would like to welcome Evangeline Ruby Riley (4.53am, 11 December) to the extended Bookgeeks family!

CWA Ellis Peters Award for Historical Crime Fiction

Simon Parker — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 08:00:32 +0000

So to Fitzrovia for the announcement of the tenth annual CWA Ellis Peters Award for Historical Crime Fiction, which this year goes to Philip Kerr’s If The Dead Rise Not. It’s only just out so I have not yet read it, but if it’s up to the mark of his previous Bernie Gunther books, then Kerr is a deserving winner.

In a shortlist, indeed in a category, currently dominated by the Second World War, Kerr’s achievement stands out. In recreating Berlin of the 1930s his world weary detective inhabits a claustrophobic, paranoid world with which we are pretty familiar. To then take Bernie Gunther to post war South America is a stroke of authorial inspiration and I look forward to the rest of his detecting career with great enthusiasm.

The rest of the shortlist was:

Rennie Airth: The Dead of Winter
Shona MacLean: The Redemption of Alexander Seaton
Mark Mills: The Intelligence Officer
Andrew Williams: The Interrogator
Laura Wilson: An Empty Death

Say hello to Bookhugger!

The Editor — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:00:18 +0000

Today marks the launch of our new sister site for Bookgeeks.

Bookhugger is a great place for you to find articles, competitions, podcasts, interviews, author panels and much more, from a range of the UK’s most interesting quality publishers. So far, we are pleased to announce we are working with:

Canongate
Faber and Faber
Gallic Books
John Murray
Sceptre

All of these fine publishers are providing us with their juiciest content and Bookhugger will be updated on a very regular basis; and we hope to be able to announce more publishers joining us soon. Our intention is to have the site quickly become a favourite destination for the latest book and publishing news from some of the UK’s most innovative publishers.

We also have a new weekly e-mail, Bookbreeze, which will summarise the best content from Bookhugger and Bookgeeks in an easy-to-digest form.

So, please take a look at Bookhugger, sign up to the feeds, and tell us what you think!

Freebies for new users over at Canongate’s cultural hub

The Editor — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:45:27 +0000

Congratulations to Canongate on the official launch today of their Meet At The Gate website – not just a publisher website, but rather a forum devoted to books, film and everything good in the arts.

Andrea See, who is Online Marketing Executive at Canongate (and thus our kind of person) says:

A publisher’s name often doesn’t mean much to the consumer; readers relate to authors or genres rather than publisher brands. By creating a site that is filled with interesting, diverse and outward-looking content, rather than an online catalogue, we aim to attract regular and loyal visitors, who will discover Canongate books along the way.

The first 500 people to sign up from the launch date (that’s today) will each receive a free book, and everyone who signs up get a free download of The Gift by Lewis Hyde. Yes, you hear right, we said free books – so get cracking and get over to Meet at the Gate.

Bookgeek link love (3)

The Editor — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 08:00:06 +0000

In which we expound on the joys and bookish wonders that lurk on the incredible Interweb:

Via the Book of Face, we came across Brian Dettmer: Book Autopsies – amazing sculptures crafted from books
Nick Harkaway has released a new story on his blog – read The Stolen Daughter now
Some SF writers talk to the BBC about how science fiction has to evolve and keep pace with modern science to stay relevant – includes Iain M Banks and Ken McLeod
For the design geeks amongst you, we just discovered the wonderful FaceOut Books blog, dedicated to the art of book cover design, with insights from the artists involved

Until next time, link-lovers!

Vote for the Galaxy British Book Awards online

The Editor — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 09:00:26 +0000

You can vote for a several of Bookgeeks’ favourite books of last year in the Galaxy British Book Awards, including The Gargoyle and The Mighty Book of Boosh – and if you vote you will be entered in to a draw to win £200 worth of book tokens.

Vote for the Galaxy British Book Awards

Prize-winning geek

The Editor — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 14:13:28 +0000

We are pleased to report that our very own Mathew F. Riley has been writing more than just book reviews…

With three short stories forthcoming in genre magazines All Hallows, Necrography and Dark Horizons, the exciting thing is that he’s just won the British Fantasy Society’s Short Story Competition, 2008, with the spooky little number, Seems Only Right.

The winning story will be published in New Horizons later in the year. More information over at the BFS.

Congratulations to Mathew!

Bookgeek link love (2)

The Editor — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 09:00:49 +0000

A few things that have caught our eye and led us seductively in to a secluded corner of the Internet for an intense one-on-one:

Bob Fischer, author of Wiffle Lever to Full!, is reliving 1984 day-by-day, through the diary entries of his eleven year-old self. With the added commentary, this is a labour of love, and very enjoyable. It’s all on the Wiffle Lever blog.
Nick Harkaway, author of The Gone-Away-World, has conducted an interview with fellow first-time novelist Charles Lambert which is worth a read, which is on his blog (and read the rest if you have time).
Dorling Kindersley are seeking photographs of significant, unique and inspiring objects you might own or have access too – send in a photo and a short explanation of why the object is so special and you might see it in print. Competition closes on 28th January – check out www.allthisbook.com.
On a more serious note, fellow geek George Walkley, Marketing Director at Little, Brown Book Group, has blogged the text of remarks he made about e-books and print-on-demand at a recent debate, clearly explaining the importance of storing book information in a platform-neutral way so it can be delivered to different formats, including some we probably don’t know about yet. What can I say, we’re geeks, we like stuff like this!

BSFA Best Novels shortlist 2009

The Editor — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 09:00:08 +0000

The British Science Fiction Association have announced the shortlist for the 2009 Best Novel Award – and you can find reviews of two of the four nominated titles right here on Bookgeeks – Nick Harkaway’s The Gone-Away World and Stephen Baxter’s Flood. Look out for our interview with nominee Nick Harkaway in a few days too!

Your friendly neighbourhood Bookgeeks will redouble our efforts to get you reviews of the other two titles, Ken McLeod’s The Night Sessions and Neal Stephenson’s Anathem, as soon as we can

The SF and Fantasy Review Website Meme

The Editor — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 09:00:15 +0000

Time for Bookgeeks to join in with this – a list of speculative fiction and fantasy review blogs started by John at Grasping for the Wind which has grown hugely in the last week as people have added themselves and other blogs to it.

Loads more after the jump…

Foreign Language (other than English)

Cititor SF [Romanian, but with English Translation]
Elbakin.net [French]
Foundation of Krantas [Chinese (traditional)]
The SF Commonwealth Office in Taiwan [Chinese (traditional) with some English essays]
Yenchin’s Lair [Chinese (traditional)]
Fernando Trevisan [Brazilian, Portuguese]
Human 2.0 [Brazilian, Portuguese]
Life and Times of a Talkative Bookworm [Brazilian, Porteguese]
Ponto De Convergencia [Brazilian, Portuguese]
pÃ³s-estranho [Brazilian, Portuguese]
Fantasy Seiten [German, Deustche]
Fantasy Buch [German, Deustche]
Literaturschock [German, Deustche]
Welt der fantasy [German, Deustche]
Bibliotheka Phantastika [German, Deustche]
SF Basar [German, Deustche]
Phantastick News [German, Deustche]
X-zine [German, Deustche]
Buchwum [German, Deustche]
Phantastick Couch [German, Deustche]
Wetterspitze [German, Deustche]
Fantasy News [German, Deustche]
Fantasy Faszination [German, Deustche]
Fantasy Guide [German, Deustche]
Zwergen Reich [German, Deustche]
Fiction Fantasy [German, Deustche]