Jumpdrives & Cantrips

Well, around here the leaves are falling, it’s getting blustery, and things are starting to smell crisp again. I love fall because all the colours start changing around and it’s great weather to curl up with a book or a movie–so is winter, but it’s nice to go out and not partly freeze at the same time.

In any case, here are a few tidbits that I’ve happened upon lately:

• Neil Gaiman is on tour doing readings of The Graveyard Book; sadly he can’t be everywhere his fans are. The wonderful bit of news here is that he’s posting readings of the chapters one by one in order and you can catch them over at Mouse Circus. Not too shabby!
• Kelly Link‘s 2005 collection, Magic For Beginners, and her first collection, Stranger Things Happen, are now both available for download as free reads via Jelly Ink Press. Revel in the words here for the former, and here for the latter!
• Patricia Briggs fans may want to check out a preview of the Mercy Thompson graphic novel by Dabel Brothers. Also, the series has been optioned for film (no word on actual production) and Ace Books will release her novella “Alpha and Omega” in electronic format so you don’t need to buy a whole collection just to read it (very good news in my opinion). See for yourself over at Hurog.com.
• If you’re into epic SF and human-alien relations, take a look at Michael R. Hicks‘ self-published book In Her Name. He offers an excerpt of the first four chapters to tickle your fancy, which other reviewers have certainly enjoyed (Fantasy Book Critic being one of them–review here).

I’ve managed to finally get my hands on a few books I’ve been waiting for in the last little while, so it’s likely you’ll see a review of at least one in the coming week…