Book Recommendations

Since I became an author, people want to know what I'm reading. Sadly, it's not nearly as much fantasy as it used to be. These days, I'm reading non-fiction, history, behavioral economics, and other research material. So... yeah, not what people are looking for me to suggest. That being said, over the last few years I have dug into some pretty awesome "off the beaten path" books, and they're worth sharing. All links are affiliate ones to the US Amazon store. Sorry! Too lazy to dig up ones for every marketplace...

Keep going to the bottom to find my favorite title from the last decade. I hope this is enough quality stuff to keep you busy until December (you know, when you'll clear the calendar for Weight of the Crown):

Michael J Sullivan's Theft of Swords - Not available in KU, and priced higher than some of my recs, but this is a nice long book. MJS has been around awhile, and this is a deep, well-written world. I'd been hearing about MJS for years, but to be honest I'd never opened one of his books until he handed it to me. Based on his own suggestion, this is the best entry point to the world of Riyria. It features two lovable rogues, and is really well done. I churned through about 200 pages on the night I got it, and another 200 pages while traveling the next morning. Personal note, MJS and his wife are among the most generous people in the business - they're worth supporting.

Kel Kade's Free the Darkness - Available in KU. Book 4 comes out in a few days and it's going to be a huge hit - believe me! This book is in the "indestructible hero" genre, which isn't normally my thing, but I thought Kel did an excellent job with Rezkin. He's a complete badass, and it's setup in a fun way where you learn about the world along with him. If you like total badasses chopping their way through an intriguing mystery and a healthy dose of seedy underbelly, then this is for you!

Bryce O'Connor's Child of the Daystar - Available in KU. Up to Book 4 in the series, and they are long ones. Speaking of badasses chopping their way through a world, Bryce went with a lizard-man badass, and upped the seedy underbelly quotient. Again, not necessarily my preferred sub-genre, but Bryce pulled it off by giving us a believable premise. If you like Kel Kade's book, then you will very likely enjoy this one.

Jonathan Renshaw's Dawn of Wonder - Available in KU. Only one book out, and no date set yet for Book 2, but he is working on it. I believe this is - literally - the most popular self-published fantasy book of all time. I cannot wait until Book 2 comes out and is the best-selling eBook in the world (at least for a few days). No joke, that's what I'm predicting, and it will send a trill of joy through my black, self-publishing heart. In Dawn of Wonder, you've got a bit of wilderness adventure coupled with orphan goes to special school. I'll be honest and say I preferred the wilderness bit, but it's all well done, aside from one unnecessary romantic interest. Jonathan is also the most thorough researcher of any fantasy author I'm aware of, so this book is steeped in realistic battle and training. If you want to see REAL research, look up his blog.

Will Wight's Unsouled - Available in KU. 5 books out in the series. Mechanically, Will is an excellent writer and I really admire his skill in drawing you into his story. Like I've said before, this isn't something I thought I would enjoy as much as I did. There's a term for this, which I do not know, but it's kind of Dragonball Z-ish where you've got this hero who progresses further and further in power and meets more and more powerful bad guys. Unlike anime, which honestly I don't really enjoy, there's a real story in Unsouled and real connection to the character Lindon. It's exceptionally well done.

Phil Tucker's Path of Flames - Available in KU. 5 books in this completed series. Phil's writing is closer to my own than most current fantasy authors, and we have a ton of cross-over fans. His world is a bit more imaginative than mine though, and there are multiple, interesting characters to follow in this one. Phil's recently gone on to do some really highly touted LitRPG, but if you're new to him and a fan of my books, I recommend starting here.

Alec Hutson's Crimson Queen - Available in KU. There's only one book out in the series right now, but the second is completed - Alec is just waiting on a new cover and then it will go live. He's the only debut epic fantasy author in 2016 to have a bigger release than me! No hard feelings though, because this is an excellent title and deserves the recognition it's gotten. I found his world building more intriguing than nearly any other book I've read in recent years. I can't wait until Book 2 comes out (just kidding, I won't wait. Time to shake loose a pre-publication copy). Crimson Queen fans will find the what well worth it when Book 2 arrives - any day now!

David Estes' Fatemarked - Available in KU. 5 books in this completed series, and they are all miles long. This success of this series has been a slow burn, and as of this writing, Fatemarked is in the Top 100 of all eBooks on Amazon! It didn't start out that high, and I think it's a testament to the quality of the story that it's climbed this long after release. There are multiple perspectives in Fatemarked, but I found all of them equally interesting. David does an excellent job of balancing the stories, and keeping you turning pages.

Michael McClung's The Thief Who Pulled on Trouble's Braid - Available in KU. 4 books in the series, which I think is completed but now that I am writing this, I'm not 100% sure. This book won the SPFBO competition back in 2015, and it deserved the win. It follows one character on what is essentially the worst week of her life. Michael does an amazing job keeping the stakes high without wearing the reader out. You really feel for Amra and hurt as bad as she does when things go wrong. I wanted her to succeed more than any of the other characters mentioned in the previous recommendations!

Nicholas Eames' Kings of the Wyld - Not available in KU. Two books out. The second one, Bloody Rose, dropped last week. Simply put, this is my favorite fantasy book from the last decade. Boom! What else do you need? It's a delightful mashup of 80's hair band tropes with fantasy monster slaying. It's funny, suspenseful, heartfelt, and so much more. Honestly, I cannot recommend this one highly enough, and I will fight anyone who says they didn't enjoy it.

Whew! That's a lot of great reading, and I hope you find something you enjoy. Let me know if you'd like further recommendations, or want to know about what kind of boring stuff I'm researching ;)

Happy reading!

AC

Big Debuts

Mark Lawrence's list of the biggest debuts from the last decade. Check out 2016!

https://mark---lawrence.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-biggest-fantasy-debuts-in-past.html

Also, it's really interesting to me to see lists like this. Some of them, of course, you knew would be on there. Others, I've never heard of. Some years have loads of huge success stories, and uh, my year has me...

Anyway, Mark L is a numbers guy, so this post, and everything else he puts up is great for numbers loving fantasy geeks.

AC

Everyone Has An Opinion

This is primarily directed at my US based readers, but I think it will apply to anyone. My father-in-law shared something this weekend that really resonated with me. Hopefully I can say this without stepping on someone's toes, which is nearly impossible in the internet era...

He said "everyone has an opinion". There are incredibly strong opinions about family separation on the US/Mexico border, strong opinions about the broader immigration debate, strong opinions about gun control, strong opinions about Syria, strong opinions about Russian influence in US elections, strong opinions about how we view the press, of course the strongest opinions on Donald Trump, and on and on. I think you get the idea?

My father-in-law's point was that most of these are extremely complex issues, with shades of gray and loaded with ambiguity. He had a good thought experiment where if he was the King of America, how would he resolve - say - the immigration debate. What is the exact right number of immigrants to allow in? Like I suspect most of us if we're honest with ourselves, he didn't know what that exact number should be. I mean, how do you know?

It's been well-covered in behavioral psychology and it's spinoff, behavioral economics. The less information we have, the more likely we are to form a strong opinion on something. This day and age, we're exposed to constant headlines and sound bites, but we rarely dig deep enough to really know the nuances of these complex situations. And of course, on the internet, many of us receive our news and data via meme... Not ideal for crafting a well-argued opinion on complex issues that may literally have no correct answer. Add in that it's even easier to shout uninformed opinions to the masses, and we've formed warring tribes that in a lot of cases, aren't entirely sure what they're warring over, except it's the other guys are OTHER.

So, I suspect I got through that without offending anyone. You know why no one was offended? Because you're all assuming I'm talking about those uninformed, ignorant, noisy OTHERS, and not you. Well... I'm talking to you too, and to me.

If we take a breath and think about it, I suspect most people agree. They understand that the internet has made it easier to go shouting about half-formed opinions, and they probably admit somewhere that they've been fooled a time or two by a crocked up meme or headline. But even knowing that, it's pretty hard to combat. These are volatile issues that touch people personally, it's hard NOT to have an opinion, and it's hard NOT to use social media to try and inform people of something you consider important. Just knowing the problem isn't enough to stop it. So, what do we do?

First, I think the most important thing to get over this divisiveness is to admit that we might be wrong. Yeah, by we I mean YOU and ME. We might be wrong on our strongly held opinions. We need to couch our discussion in terms of, "based on the information I have right now, this is what I believe. If someone comes to me with enough compelling facts (remember those?) or strong enough arguments, I'm capable of changing my mind." When two people discuss something on those terms, then real progress can be made. If you cannot change your mind, or you will not allow facts (they're still out there!) to change your view, then you're a huge part of the problem.

Second, you become what you absorb. If you watch CNN or Fox News exclusively, your opinion will reflect what those platforms are telling you. You will becoming a lemming in the tribe. The age of "unbiased" media is gone. It's best to assume every platform these days has some inherent bias, but importantly, that doesn't mean you should shut it off. CNN is leaning left and Fox News is leaning right. Ok, maybe "leaning" is mild, but you get my point. They skew one side because they want to appeal to viewers who skew to one side. They will espouse that one point of view because that is what sells to their viewer base. Importantly, it's not just the OTHER side that's doing it, it's all sides, including the one you are on. To combat that, take in a variety of news sources. Listen to what the other side has to say with an open mind (the only thing I bolded in this post, think about that). You may disagree, and that is Ok, but at least you'll actually know what their argument is from the source, and not a meme. 

Third, watch less news, check it on your phone less often, and take a breather. This is a personal struggle for me, but I think it's an important battle to fight. Just because there is a 24hrs news cycle does not mean you need to consume that news 24hrs a day. Unless it's an issue that personally effects you (ie, you are an immigrant to the US for example), there is simply no point in constantly absorbing that firehose of information, almost all of which is repetition of previously reported stories. Reading 10 articles about something which makes you mad is not going to make you happier as a person...

Fourth, it's Ok to admit you don't know. Modern issues are complex, and very few of us (looking at you Washington, DC!) understand all of the intricacies of any particular problem. That's fine, as long as you acknowledge it. Remember what I said in the first bullet, "based on what I know"? You can have an opinion when you feel suitably informed, but it's frequently even better to Not Have an Opinion! I used to say this to employees on the job, it's empowering when you say, "I don't know". Think about how powerful that is - "I don't know the answer, but I have an open mind and I'm willing to listen".

So, in summary, the internet is full of trolls who have strong, uninformed opinions about everything. We can all agree on that, right? What to do about it:

1) Understand you might be wrong

2) Absorb multiple inputs from diverse sources, and have an open mind to what they are saying

3) Absorb that input less often. Try going outside, if it's been awhile since you've done that

4) Be unafraid to admit you don't know something. It's empowering

If anyone has any additional bullets I should put on here, or you think I'm wrong and that you are never wrong, CONTACT ME and let me know!

AC

I'm on Patreon!

After months of pressure from fellow authors and some fans, I finally joined Patreon. If you're not familiar, it's a way you can support content creators and receive rewards based on your level of support. For me, I'm offering exclusive access to early looks and insight on my writing process, pre-publication copies of my stories, signed print copies, and even chances to request a short story or name a character in my main story lines! Good stuff, I hope.

If that sounds interesting, or you just want to see my intro video and know what I look like, head over to Patreon and check it out.

https://www.patreon.com/accobble

Happy reading,

AC