To the blog of speculative fiction author Karen Miller, who also writes as K E Mills.

First of all, thanks for dropping by. If you can remember to, please sign in or at least sign your post if you don't have a regular LJ account. I do allow anon comments but I like to know who to say hello and thanks to!

I do try to stay current and up to date here, but my workload remains off the charts el stupido and sometimes I get a bit behind. So please bear with me -- I mostly manage to catch up! And in the meantime, please don't be shy in chatting to each other.

My friending policy is simple: friend away! No need to ask if it's okay.

But here's an important note: vigorous, respectful debate is welcome. Name-calling, vilification, aggression, hostility or any kind of trollish behaviour isn't. There's  a reason they give us a delete key, you know.

And having said that ...

 And if you're not tired of hearing me blather, you can go read the guest post I did recently for the lovely Michael of Mad Hatter review.

 If you'd like to win a hardcover copy of The Reluctant Mage, you can find competition details here. My thanks to Fantasy Cafe and Orbit  for the generosity!

I have some prizes up my sleeve too, but can't think about organising details until Blight of Mages is done. It's kicking my arse right now, so that'll be a few weeks.

 This time with my good friend and fellow storyteller, Glenda Larke. You can read her words of wisdom here.

 Tobias Buckell has penned a brave and thought-provoking piece on the pleasures and pitfalls of talking about the writing life. You can read it here. Thanks to Lilith Saintcrow for the heads up.

A quick drive by post as I hunker down in deadline hell ...

The Reluctant Mage by Karen Miller
Harper Voyager
Review by Crisetta MacLeod

This is the very best of the ‘Mage’ books thus far! With a female protagonist in little sister Deenie, adventures, horrors and romance are all part of a fast-paced story. In the previous volume, Deenie’s brother set out to seek help for the dying land of Lur. Now , with Deenie’s  father comatose, Deenie and her friend are compelled to set out themselves to try and find out what happened to big brother.
Deenie must call on hitherto latent magical talents to leave Lur by sea, through magical seas and whirlwinds–exciting reading! She meets up with the man of her dreams (literally), a redheaded young king-to-be, seeking to eradicate creeping evil from his land. They all find what they are looking for in the truly horrendous evil mage Morg, and it would be too much of a spoiler to tell why Deenie has so much trouble in attacking him.  Stinking desquamating (google it) infected folk, slurped up by Morg–there’s ghastly for you! All the more ghastly as one of the slurpees is called Murdo–the name of my father, my son, my brother, and many cousins and uncles. But there’s the lovely soppy romance too… All compulsive reading.

and

Star Wars - the Clone Wars: Wild Space by Karen Miller
Arrow
Review by Stuart Mayne

Star Wars - The Clone Wars: Wild Space opens when the Wars have exploded across the galaxy, and Republic forces and Separatists struggle to gain the upper hand. An injured Obi-Wan Kenobi insists that Anakin Skywalker and Padawan Ahsoka must attack General Grievous. When Obi-Wan is compelled to walk into a trap set by Palpatine, escape may not be an option. And so Karen Miller steps up her bid to emulate Palpatine and conquer the known (fantasy) galaxy. Not content with writing her own brand of blood soaked epic fantasy or writing for the Stargate franchise, Miller has taken the Star Wars universe by storm and presented us with a rip-snorting tale of high adventure. From the first political machinations of the aftermath of the battle of Geonosis (end of the Episode II movie) to the desperate battle for survival on Zigoola you will be gripped by a strong narrative that drives the action-laden plot onwards to its conclusion. How can you not enjoy this kind of novel? It is escapism of the highest order. Wild Space is a story telling masterpiece and Karen Miller has added to the mystique with vim and vigour.

How lovely! And what a nice antidote to life kicking me in the shins, which it is doing at the moment.

Thanks Aurealis Express, I really appreciate the kind words.

As if I don't have enough trauma on my plate, heading into the fourth round of antibiotics trying to kill this bloody sinus infection, and deadlines looming ... bloody Wilson just prolapsed his penis.

I kid you not.

I managed to sort the problem, and he seems none the worse for the experience, but seriously??? Seriously????

Can my life get a bit sane now please?

Un-frigging-believable! Two weeks back to back antibiotics for a sinus infection, Finished Thursday, felt great yesterday, woke up this morning with sore throat, headache -- the infection has returned. So now I'm on my 3rd course of drugs with a deadline bearing down on me. And five minutes ago my back went on me.

Hello, my name is Karen, and I'm having a tantrum!

Sigh. Cross your fingers for me.

Just did an interview with Liz de Jager for Geek Syndicate. Great questions, and I had a lot of fun answering them. Great website, too!

You can read it here.