Author: Ruth Arnell

Some cover art does a remarkably good job of describing the story. For example, take a look at the cover for A. Lee Martinez‘s Divine Misfortune. You take one look at that cover, and what do you think?  This is a story about a poor mortal getting punched by a god. Judging from the synopsis, that sounds like it is exactly what happens in the story. I also think I am going to have to read this book, because any story featuring a raccoon god of prosperity who enjoys couch surfing sounds like an interesting premise to me.

This week’s column is for Greg.  Two weeks ago we talked about love in books, and how it works, to which Greg responded that he didn’t know much about love “but if you have a discussion for most bad-:censored:  fight scene, I could post pages and pages of comments…”

So, Greg, and the rest of you out there, what is the best fight scene in a fantasy novel?  We may need to have sub-categories for this one.  Epic, urban, military… As for me, I don’t think many writers out there do military fantasy better than Elizabeth Moon. 

As you know, we’re constantly adding fantasy authors to our site and our eventual goal is to review each and every one of them. We’re up to 994 authors today — nearly 1000 fantasy authors! Don’t worry, we’ve got more to add, but we thought it’d be fun to make a contest of it (and to make you do some of the work for us — heh heh.). So, for today’s Thoughtful Thursday, Dear Reader, your task is this:

Pick the next 6 authors who should be added to our menu above.

Did you all have a wonderful Valentine’s Day? Isn’t commercially mandated displays of affection wonderful? When you get beyond the flowers and jewelry and chocolate and uncomfortable underwear, what you’re left with is a wonderful core — the breathtaking beauty of two people coming together in a relationship of pure happiness. Or at least that’s the way fairy tales make it look.

So, if Moulin Rouge! is right, and “Love is a many splendored thing. Love lifts us up where we belong. All you need is love!” why is it so hard to depict love in a book?

I’m feeling all better now, just in time for my son to go into the hospital this morning to have his tonsils out. Since that means I’ll be spending the next few days helping an almost-three-year-old recuperate, I figure I’ll have some reading time as he snoozes under the benefit of painkillers. In a situation like that, however, I don’t want something new and challenging. I want an old favorite, a familiar tome that doesn’t challenge or surprise, but welcomes me back like a old comfortable sweatshirt, or a Labrador retriever in front of a fire.

That means I am hitting my re-read shelf.

Fantasy is rife with sprawling epics, series that go on and on and on and…  In fact, Bill coined the acronym LRMMVSTLB to describe this phenomenon: the long-running massive multi-volume split-the-last-book epic series.  But sometimes, you don’t want to commit to a whole series.  Sometimes, you want a nice, stand-alone fantasy novel to enjoy for a few days, rather than a tome that is going to require a multi-year commitment.

So, dear readers, what is your recommendation for the best stand-alone fantasy novel you’ve read?

Leave a comment and we’ll enter you in a drawing to win Shadow Blade by Seressia Glass (isn’t that an awesome name?