I’ve been trying to sneak out promotional links a little at a time, but today I have a few that all came at once:

• First up is an interview with me about writing and books and other things at Civilian Reader.
• Then there’s the video from Tuesday night’s NYRSF reading with Michael Swanwick. 
• Finally, LitReactor published my second writing post, this time about the writing of Rising Tide.
• And finally, just a reminder that Rising Tide is out on October 6. If you think you might want to read it, please consider pre-ordering it.

Over the past few weeks I’ve had a lot of columns and reviews and other things go up on various sites (well, two) and so I thought I should link to them here so that people could actually, you know, see them. Separated by site and in chronological order:

LitReactor

Over at LitReactor I did a recap of the Sandman Slim series to date just in time for the latest release (which I will be reviewing for Tor.com next week). 

Also at LitReactor, I wrote two posts in honor of Pacific Rim — one was a Top 10 Giant Monsters post and the other a Top 10 Giant Robots.

Then there’s my review of Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

And finally, my Primer on Alfred Bester (Science Fiction great).

Tor.com

Over at Tor.com they’ve restarted my reread of The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. The first post, for Nine Princes in Amber is up now.

I also reviewed the Jim Butcher Dresden Files story from the upcoming anthology, Dangerous Women.

And just today, my review of Charlie Huston’s Skinner went up.

Please check them out if you have the inclination.

Has it really been a month since I last posted? I suppose it has. It’s not that I don’t enjoy updating the blog, it’s just that it usually takes a back seat to fiction writing and article writing and the reading I have to do for articles and reviews and, well, I’m going to try to be better about it in the future.

But first I have a few updates that I thought I should mention:

LitReactor

Some of you may know that I’m the fantasy columnist over at LitReactor, but as of last month I began tackling science fiction as well. For the most part I’ll be writing four columns for them every month, 2 each of F & SF, covering a variety of topics and books. My most recent columns were a Post-Apocalyptic Top 10, and a Primer on Dune. Coming up in July I have two posts inspired by Pacific Rim (Giant Monsters and Robots), a post about the Sandman Slim series, and a post about Alfred Bester’s novels. I’m always looking for new topics to cover, so if there’s something you think would be interesting, let me know.

Sales

I don’t believe I’ve mentioned it here, but I recently sold two stories to Steve Berman. The first is for an anthology coming from Prime Books — Zombies: Shambling Through the Ages (see cover above).  My story is set in India during the time of Alexander the Great’s invasion. The anthology looks like it should be out in August and you can pre-order it here if you like. There are some great writers in this one, including my friends, Mercurio D. Rivera and Paul Berger.

The other story will be appearing in the Queering Stoker anthology, Suffered From the Night.This one picks up a little while after the events of Dracula, tackling both Dracula’s and Van Helsing’s legacies. I’m not sure when it will be released, but I’m happy to be in another of Lethe Press’s anthologies (after A Study in Lavender, the Sherlock Holmes anthology).

I have a few other things in the works, hopefully with some surprises, but I will talk about them when I have more to say. Hope everyone out there is doing well.

Over at LitReactor.com, they posted my 5 Reasons The Hobbit is Superior to The Lord of the Rings. It might be a little provocative, but I definitely stand by the last point. And having finally seen the Peter Jackson movie (Part 1, at least), I might have more to say later.

Over at Tor.com, the Dresden Files Reread has reached book 7 in the series, Dead Beat. This one is the favorite of a lot of people I know. New posts go up on Mondays.

Finally, my Top Ten of Fantasy for 2012 is up at LitReactor. As usual, the frustrating part of making lists like this is that I’m limited by what I read, but I’m happy with the choices on that list. I’ve already picked up a few recommendations from other lists as well.

Hope you’ll check them out…

I briefly considered doing another online Advent Calendar this year, possibly with fiction, but I eventually changed my mind. WIth everything I have going on, I know it would only make me crazy and who wants that, right? But for those who missed it last year, my 2011 Advent Calendar is still online and is probably still relevant.

However, I would like to point out that I put together a kind of Advent Calendar of Fantasy Fiction for LitReactor.com and it links to a free online story for every day leading up to Christmas. So check that out if you would like to read some really interesting holiday fiction.

I didn’t actually manage to pick up an Advent Calendar this year, and that’s okay. I’m doing things a little differently this year. However, could I afford it, I would have gone with this deliciously indulgent advent calendar full of whisky. I suppose it’s still early December. Someone could still get it for me, right? Of course that first night catching up would be a fun one…