The Bodhisattva

- opens window and and exhales revealing a cloudy view of a short, stout, barefooted fellow cover the skull of a geezer who seemed to dissipate into smoke. *Inhales* -

Time for this week’s look at the past at the ‘bookspot.  As our forum visitors can see, we have updated to a new forum and we are still working out some kinks so please bear with us. We still have to redesign the front page which has been delayed some weeks for reasons that I have deemed not revealable due to the ramifications it may have on the spirit of all men. Trust me when I say I have been ranting and raving incredulously about it all week, but all for not. I’ve seen some of the initial  art though (by Noah Barrett) and we think it will be sweet when it gets here, and by that I mean and when it better be by August 15th.

It is also my understanding that Damon and special agent Mark will be redesigning Heliotrope to get ready for our next issue which we expect will be a major step for us and just a cool project as a whole. At this point we feel like we have been inviting the hot girl to the trailer (not even a double-wide) and we are taking steps to change that.  I mean we are talking Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Jeff VanderMeer, Paul S. Kemp, Hal Duncan, K.J. Bishop, Bryan Talbot, Rhys Hughes, Catherynne M. Valente and Chris Roberson - so we need to step up!  Also the idea for the issue after the next came to me with this report by Heidi MacDonald. Basically, continued dopeness.

Now on to the Round-up!

-Exclusives:

- To coincide with release of the conclusion of Gregory Frost’s first arc in his Shadowbridge setting with the soon to be released Lord Tophet (and started with Shadowbridge) I thought it would be a good idea to see if we can bring you a piece of short fiction Frost wrote that was first published in Asimov’s and later part of his collection, Attack of the Jazz Giants, that was a story in that very setting.  The story was called How Meersh the Bedeviler Lost His Toes and it was a Sturgeon Award finalist in 1999. You can now read this story here. Lord Tophet will be released next week from Del-Rey.

- I love that we can bring a Small Beer product to you this week. Mr. Grant and Ms. Link just don’t publish anything that isn’t worth reading and we were able to bring you a story from a forthcoming collection called The Ant King and Other Stories written by Benjamin Rosenbaum. I hope we are able to bring more from this camp as they tell the best stories around the fire. Check the story, The Valley of the Giants out here

- We are also bringing you the exclusive on the first chapter from a debut out of Gollancz. Yes, Jayboogie and Gollancz - you haven’t seen this collaboration in a while but here we are able to bring you the first chapter of Jaine Fenn’s Principles of Angels. I want to thank Ms. Fenn for not giving up on this and us!

More exclusives coming this week and afterwards from publisher big and small, from the UK , the U.S. or wherever if you aren’t with us now - what are you doing?

-REVIEWS:

- Damon reviewed Steven Brust’s latest, Jhegaala, the latest Vlad Tatos book:

“Brust is one of my favorite authors among the many fantasy writers because of his ability to let you feel like you really know the character as some sort of fantasy extended family”

-Pierce reviews Majestrum by Matthew Hughes:

“Majestrum is a delightful book and highly recommended. If you like Jack Vance you will most likely enjoy these characters. But also, enjoy them on their own.”

I think this book and its sequel Spiral Labyrinth are fantastic. remember we have the exclusive chapter on his latest novel Template here.

- Val continues with the classics reviewing Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama. Val also reads Modesitt short fiction collected in Viewpoints Critical:

- Medora takes on Kim Wilkins’ Veil of Gold:

“To dream within a dream is the worst misfortune. (What does this mean, exactly, and what does it have to do with the story? Who knows?)”

-Amber reads an Inspector Chen novel from Liz Williams entitled Shadow Pavillion.

“With all due speed Williams draws us into the intrigue, imbuing our imaginations with vivid images full of color and scent that make her stories come alive”

I’ve really enjoyed this series as well.

-Contests:

- New contest announced by Damon this week - a chance to win a signed copy of Steven Brust’s Jhegaala. get the details here. I point you back to my own blog because I find Damon’s presentation unacceptable!

- Our chance for 10 people to win a copy of Ian Cameron Esslemont’s Return of the Crimson Guard - Malazan goodness- is still active! A note: as  I reported last week, this book is now coming out September 25th - this was later confirmed to me by Mr. Esslemont a couple days ago.

I have more stuff coming up as well!

-EXTRA!:

Once again a thank you to our existing readers who have and are still with us as we go through our redesign. While the month is not yet over it seems impossible we won’t have our best month ever across the board and this is a trend with our - over the last few years minus a couple of blips we grow every month, so thanks to all the new readers (whether forum members or not - as 99% are not!) as well and I hope you will see that we are a site that’s always trying to tweak and expand to bring more to our site - thank you for the support! We are very excited about our soon-to-come redesign and our next issue of Heliotrope as we take the step to the next level!