Alec's Review - The Heros by Joe Abercrombie and Indie Lit Awards Winners

Alec's review of The Heroes is up at Only the Best, a book I'm really looking forward to. Although, I guess I should probably read Best Served Cold first.

Also, the winners have been picked for the Independent Literary Awards and there's more here.

Indie Lit Awards Shortlist

Sorry for the lack of posting. I've been sick, my 5 month old's been sick (and not sleeping for the past 3 weeks) and now I'm just recovering from sickness number two in just under a month. The joys of having a kid. :)

Right now I'm reading for the Independent Literary Awards, of which I'm a judge in the Speculative Fiction category. I've mentioned this a bit before, but it's an award voted on solely by bloggers. We're down to the short list and therefore, I have lots of reading before we can pick a winner (which should be around the end of the month to early next month).

The Short list is:

Monsters of Men [US] [UK] - Patrick Ness
How to Live Safely in a Science Fiction Universe [US] [UK] - Charles Yu
Dante's Journey [US] [UK] - JC Marino (my review)
The Passage [US] [UK] - Justin Cronin
Kraken [US] [UK] - China Mieville

I've got two down, in the middle of a third and pretty much right on track to finish this list by the end of the month. Let's hope so. :)

Indie Lit Awards

The Independent Literary Awards are probably best explained by the site itself:

Independent Literary Awards are given to books that have been recommended and voted on by independent literary bloggers. Nominations are open to independent literary bloggers only, and are then voted upon by a panel of bloggers who are proficient in the genre they represent. Each panel is led by a judge who oversees the integrity of the process.

I will be participating as a judge with a panel of bloggers next year to help select the Independent Literary Awards for Speculative Fiction. You may have seen the badge on the right side of the screen. It's also a link, so you can check out the website and even submit nominations if you want.

The bloggers who will also be participating are (in no particular order... except favorites :D):

Gem from Gemzina

Jared from Pornokitch, and

Jamie from Mithril Wisdom

Sarah from Book Worm Blues was the one who got us all started on this, but she's had to bow out sadly.

This should be a fun venture and I'll try to keep you updated as we get things going. Nominations are going on right now, so check out the Indie Lit. site to make sure your favorites that were published this year get on the list.