One Jump Ahead by Mark Van Name is a wonderful little sci/fi adventure. Funny how I don’t read much sci/fi compared to fantasy and mysteries, but this year, the books I’ve most enjoyed have been in the sci/fi camp. Anyone who likes John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War series will love this series by Mark Van Name. I’d say I even liked One Jump Ahead just a bit better because I connected with the main character, Jon Moore, better. The creativity in this book gets extra points–there’s some use of animal characters that I really appreciated. There weren’t many female characters, but those that were in the book were fully developed and not stereotypical.

This is a great adventure with interesting and well-developed characters. The main character has some unusual characteristics, rather than your standard strong he-man. I liked that he didn’t spend time drowning his sorrows in booze, and there were several spots where the character stopped–and noticed the waves on the beach or the strange beauty of unusual woodwork.

For non-sci/fi readers, this book is a lot like Frederick Forsyth’s Avenger. Fans of Forsyth that haven’t ventured into sci/fi would do well to start here. Some excellent reconnaissance setups and “infiltration.”

Full review over at Bookspot.

On the reading front, I just reviewed two very good books over at BookSpotCentral (click links below to read the reviews):

New Tricks by John Levitt – This one is definitely going on my books of the year list. The first in the series is Dog Days. I loved them both. If you love urban fantasy, this series is for you.

Shadowmagic by John Lenahan – This one is also very good; an unintended quest survival tale with a family-oriented twist. Good humor in this fast YA read.

Jim Hine’s “Goblin War” is available starting today at your nearest bookstore!

Jim was kind enough to answer a few questions for readers. The full interview is posted below:

Jim, welcome to Fantasybookspot and thanks for answering our questions! First, here’s a little information about Jim C. Hines, the author of the Goblin trilogy:

Jim C. Hines began writing in the early 90s, while working on a degree in psychology from Michigan State University. For many years, he focused on short fiction. His work has appeared in Realms of Fantasy, Turn the Other Chick, Sword and Sorceress XXI, and over thirty other magazines and anthologies.

His first published fantasy novel was Goblin Quest, a funny, popular* tale about a nearsighted goblin runt named Jig. Goblin Hero followed in 2007, and Goblin War will be out in March of 2008.

DAW will also be publishing The Stepsister Scheme, which will hopefully be the first book in a new series.

Jim lives in mid-Michigan with his wife and children, who have always shown remarkable tolerance for his bizarre and obsessive writing habits.

Maria: Goblin War is a great little read. I loved the new setting (Poor Jig had to go outside his “safe” mountain lair) and I really enjoyed the new cast of characters. What was the most challenging aspect of writing in the new setting?

Jim: Thank you! After two books exploring the caves, it was time to get Jig out into the world. See more places, meet more people who want to kill you, that sort of thing. The new characters were fun, but it was also nice to revisit a few old friends. I do wish I had been able to spend more time with Oakbottom … one of these days, I may have to give him his own story.

One challenge was trying to keep everything interesting. Jig gets around in this book, to several towns and camps, each of which needed its own history and description to distinguish it from Generic Medieval City #15239. I’m particularly fond of Avery. Making it a formerly-elven town which had passed into human hands opened the way for a lot of entertaining details.

Maria: While my favorite characters will always be Jig and his pet fire-spider, Smudge, I really took a liking to Shadowstar, the “god” that pesters Jig. I thought your storyline there was brilliant, fun and…quite human. Have you known all along how Shadowstar’s history meshed with Jig or is this something you invented solely for Goblin War?

Jim: I would like to say that I planned it all from day one, because that would make me look far smarter than I really am. The truth is, it wasn’t until after the second book that I started thinking more about Shadowstar’s history. This led to some problems as I was writing Goblin War. Things I tossed into the first book because they were funny suddenly needed to make sense in the context of Shadowstar’s overall backstory. (The lizard bit was a huge headache.) I also had to figure out why a relatively nice, peaceful god like Tyamlous Shadowstar would have gone to war in the first place. (It’s mentioned in Goblin Quest that Shadowstar was one of the Forgotten Gods who rebelled during the War of Shadows.)

Showing how he and Jig came together from Shadowstar’s point of view was also a little tricky, though it was fun getting to see some of Jig’s history through those divine eyes. I’m very proud of the end result, and I’m eager to see what readers think.

Maria: Will Goblin Quest (and the rest of the series) come out in audio?

Jim: It will indeed! Just … not in English. But if you speak German, the first two books have been released on CD by my German publisher. I would love to see an audio version in English, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards right now. We should be getting a goblin short or two in audio format one of these days, though. I’ll post the links from my blog and web site when they go live.

Maria: If you could choose a “voice” to do the Goblin series…who would it be???

Jim: In the past, I’ve said Patrick Stewart, simply because I want to hear that cultured Shakespearean voice doing Jig’s, “Oh, dung!” James Earl Jones would be fun, for similar reasons.

But if I could choose, I’d probably go with Jim Dale, who did the audio version of the Harry Potter series. I was very impressed with his skills as a voice actor. In some cases, I thought his characterization through voice alone exceeded what we saw on the screen. I would love to hear him bring my goblins to life.

Maria: You mean—you hear your Goblins—with an English accent?

Jim: Hm … good point. I could imagine Barius and Ryslind with the accent, and I suspect Dale would do a marvelous job with Darnak the dwarf. Ooh, what about Wil Wheaton? Do you think he’d make a good Jig?

Maria: Somehow I was thinking more a combo of James Belushi, Dan Aykroyd—and Billy Crystal as Jig, of course. Shrug. Oh well, maybe they can do the movie. Belushi…or Aykroyd as Shadowstar…now, there’s a thought!

Maria: With Goblin Quest you did a lot of online interviews, book signings, contests with book art, etc. From reading your blog, I know you’ve found a lot of the marketing aspects frustrating. If you could only do one thing–what do you think is the most effective promotion tool?

Jim: If I could do only one single thing? That’s easy; I’d write the next book. The release of Goblin Hero is the only thing (aside from Christmas) that ever caused a visible spike in my sales numbers for Goblin Quest.

I have a limited amount of time, energy, and money, so the actual writing has to come first. But I do what I can to help promote the books. The blog has been great that way. Not only have some of my readers found me and my books that way, but I get to chat and interact with a lot of great people.

I also made up some temporary tattoos of Jig. I don’t know if they’ve sold books, but they’re definitely fun!

Maria: I was very exited to see one of your short stories, Blade of the Bunny—first published in Writers of the Future—available in a “pick and build your own anthology” over at www.AnthologyBuilder.com Any chance we’ll see some of the short-stories that star Jig and Smudge over there? I’m building an anthology now, and I’d love to have a few more Jim Hines stories in there (Hint: especially Goblin Lullaby).

Jim: AnthologyBuilder is such a great project. I have no idea whether or not it will take off, but I’d like to see it do well. I’m excited to see Nancy Fulda trying something new in terms of publishing and distribution. (It was particularly nice to see that “Blade of the Bunny” was one of their top-selling stories!)

I’ve sold “Goblin Lullaby” to Podcastle, and “Goblin Hunter” (the short story formerly known as “Goblin Hero,” no relation to the book) to Clonepod. I’m looking forward to hearing these stories performed, but I don’t want to steal their thunder by publishing the stories elsewhere first, if that makes sense?

But getting the goblin short stories out there for more people to read is certainly on my To Do list.

Maria: So, if I’m looking, where can I find more short stories by Jim Hines?

Fictionwise has some of them. A lot of the anthologies I’ve sold to are still in print, like Fantasy Gone Wrong, If I Were an Evil Overlord, and Places to Be, People to Kill. Magic in the Mirrorstone should be out by the time this interview goes live, and includes a goblin story about Veka that takes place after the second book. The anthology Prime Codex has a reprint of “Sister of the Hedge,” the story that’s currently on the preliminary Nebula ballot. (We’ll see if it makes the finals — cross your fingers for me!)

My web site (www.jimchines.com) has a full bibliography, for any true collectors

Thanks for the great questions, Maria! It’s been fun!

Thank you, Jim.

I got a really special present in the mail today–a signed, limited edition of a hardback. I’ve never owned a limited edition before–and mine is a numbered one at that! My book is number 13 (pretty darn cool!) Not only that, this book is only out in the UK so far. (It can be ordered on bookdepository for those of use living in, well, other than the UK. I would imagine that Amazon UK also has it available.)

Check out this description:

Conor thought he was an average 21st century teenager. OK, so his father only had one hand and was a bit on the eccentric side but, other than that, life was fairly normal. Until, that is, two Celtic warriors on horseback and wearing full armour appear at hsi front door and try to kill him.

I will be reporting back on this fabulous book!!!

Looking for a few good book recommendations? Here are some very good review sites:

Debut novels This is a fun site. Instead of just a review after she reads it, Tia, the host, intros the book, talks about the website, any tidbits she hears about the author and then starts reading. She puts out a post or two as she reads and then finishes with a longer review. A number of authors stop by to comment.

Lesa The Librarian This is a great review site–Lesa covers YA, teens and adults. She reviews a lot of cozies, thrillers and other mysteries, although she does the occasional non-fiction, mainstream and fantasy. She also has a couple of book drawings each month and gives away free books!

From a bookseller Lots of author interviews, book reviews and a great list of what is coming out each month in the sci/fi fantasy area.

Another really great read–Glass Houses by Rachel Caine is an YA novel, but oh, so readable for us fun-loving, adventure-reading adults (The cover isn’t so great, but ignore that). Although this story has vampires in it, it’s a character-based novel. There’s nice development on the theme of what it is like to be a misfit and trying to fit in, but not quite sure fitting in matters. Claire is off to college in a strange town–she is younger than her peers (16) because she’s got a lot of brain power. She loves school. She doesn’t believe in vampires–they aren’t good, cold science. This is going to be a problem for her because the town just so happens to be run by vampires.

The victim of some serious hazing, Clair ends up trying to live off-campus when she’s forced to run for her life–and that was just from the humans. Hunted by vampires, trying to help the roommates that took her in, keep her grades up and try to solve a mystery or two–she has a lot of responsibility on her shoulders. She isn’t always up for the job either, but she’s stubborn, smart and brave (foolish?)

This is a fun romp with a great little plot. Caine does a magnificant job of building tension without overdoing it, and she created a real page-turner here. My only complaint is that she ended the book on a cliffhanger. This never works for me because instead of feeling satisfied, I feel a tad cheated. It’s an effective device for wanting to make me run out and get the next book (very much so) but being me, I won’t do it right away because I get disgruntled. Don’t let that stop you from reading–just have both books one and two on hand before you get started. You won’t be disappointed! Rachel Caine is going straight into my list of favorite authors.

Been a while since a book has made an entire post by itself.  This one will make the author favorite lists as well.

The Automatic Detective by A. Lee Martinez   With a pulp-fiction cover and the ridiculous idea that anyone would want to read about a robot detective in a futurized (and much changed) earth, this book is a great read.  It’s funny, it’s comical, it’s absorbing and most of all, it’s FUN.   Martinez does such a good job with characterization, this robot manages to be endearing yet stay within the bounderies of a robot!  Fantastic!

I’m not sure I am going to do many reviews–but I thought I’d give this book a thumbs up.

Goblin Quest by Jim C. Hines is an excellent book! It’s a twist on the typical human hero quest–this story is told from the point of the Goblin, Jig, who is forced to help humans hunt their treasure. Usually the enemy, this poor Goblin knows he could be killed at any moment by his companions or by the risks his companions insist on taking.

He just doesn’t understand why the adventurers want to put themselves at risk over something that isn’t food! (A Goblin after my own heart!) What is a bit of gold or some magical thing? You can’t eat it, and you can’t curl up near it and be warm!

As with any quest, there is danger and adventure as the “heroes” search through caverns and tunnels, but the book is also quite funny in spots. It has warm-hearted moments too–although one wouldn’t expect it from a Goblin, this Goblin has a pet. By default Smudge is taken along on the quest. Smudge may very well be the most endearing character in the story; he’s certainly the strangest.

Overall this was a fabulous read–a book I read in one sitting!

Here’s a link to the author website where there are some other stories, mostly short stories listed:

Goblin Quest

Michael Jecks has written some 22 historical mysteries involving the characters Baldwin (loosely, an investigator for the king) and Simon (a bailiff). Jecks is a meticulous researcher and always includes frontmatter that describes a bit of his research. In this case it is a snipet of real history that caught his attention and led him to the main plot and subplots of the story. The Malice of Unnatural Death is based on rumors of necromancy and an attempt to kill the king–in this particular book, I think I would recommend reading the frontmatter last. It does provide quite a bit of foreshadowing and hints of what it is to come.

One of the most fascinating parts of reading a Jecks historical novel is the knowledge that he used real people–people whose feet walked on the actual cobblestones, people who ate hard bread, drank ale from mean cups…knowing that these people really existed creates a sense of wonder in the story as it unfolds.

Jecks other strength is in his depiction of the time period. The daily lives of the characters, from peasants to bishops to king’s messangers, appear so ordinary, so human. Minute details are littered through the text: eating habits, the fact that a typical woman of the time is lucky to own two pots, the fact that many a peasant–even one with a home–might do without the benefit of furniture. These details are not shown in a pitying way; they are just laid out as part of the daily routine.

Jecks employs several POVs in telling his stories; in fact, I do believe he uses more POVs than in any other book I have ever read. The skill is in bringing unrelated lives into a satisfying conclusion where all the bits and pieces fit. Much like a Patterson novel, no one section is too long, and I was often left wanting to continue with a particular character, when just like that, I was back with another. Tension builds as the book progresses because it seems that more and more of the characters find themselves in a trouble spot. Early on it becomes clear which character is guilty of murder–the plot works because as the clues are doled out to the heros–Simon and Baldwin–you are eager to see what they will learn next and how they will gather together the various characters and their seemingly unrelated lives.

The worldbuilding is every bit as intricate as that of a fantasy novel; the difference being Jecks builds it from a keen knowledge and sense of history, filling in the lives and weaving a mysterious tale in the process. If you’re looking to be transported to another world for an afternoon or two, The Malice of Unnatural Death is an interesting journey–but take your cloak and perhaps a dagger. History shows, it’s not a safe place to walk.

I’ve mentioned in my post on favorite authors that Carol O’Connell is one of my favorites. Her standalone “Judas Child” is a good place to start if you haven’t tried any of her books. Make sure you have plenty of time to read–you won’t put it down for sleep, food or a fire until you’re finished!

I just completed her latest Mallory novel–”Find Me.” Wow, what an excellent read. In short, I enjoyed all of the Mallory books in the series. The one previous to this one, “Winter House” made me wonder a little if O’Connell was ever going to answer the questions about Mallory’s childhood–clues had been strung out across the series of eight books. I don’t like to continue a series if I feel it has turned into a never-ending soap opera. Good news–in Find Me, she not only had Mallory chasing a serial killer she focused on Mallory’s fascinating past!

This book is an edge-of-your-seat read. They don’t get any better than this.

Jim Hines is out with his second novel in the Goblin series, another engaging tale of Jig the Goblin (or Jig Dragonslayer as he has become known in Goblin circles!) Jig is still that wonderfully comforting Reluctant Hero. As an added twist, in this adventure he must “compete” with another Hero, the goblin Veka, who dreams of making a name for herself.

Jig and his partner Smudge remain my favorites in the book. Jig is a determined character and the creativity he uses to get himself out of messes is often funny, almost always effective and in general, safe for kids to try at home–except for the ones involving his sword, which come to think of it, occur quite ofen. Honestly, Goblin Hero is a great book for young adults. The hidden message of the book — how much to sacrifice in order to achieve fame and greatness — is very subtle, but certainly applicable in today’s world. This grand adventure also requires bravery and self-sacrifice as Jig investigates a dire threat that affects not only his Goblin nest, but that of the Hobgoblins and Ogres.

Goblin Hero was paced a bit slower than Goblin Quest, or perhaps I found it so because of the duel POVs, one for Veka and one for Jig. Luckily for me, Hines spends most of his time with Jig, who is the more endearing and familiar. Veka certainly has opportunity to grow as a character, but in this book she plays the foil and there are times when you’d like to hop in the book and smack her yourself.

This is a great weekend read for when you want to enter a different, but familiar world with characters you’ve come to know. Do wear gloves and appropriate headgear however. This familiar world is that of the Goblins and it does include latrines!

For pictures of the cover–including a very good German cover with Veka–check out Jim’s blog