Eunice is home again. Two new tires and a new alternator, this time.

Eee.

Also, the Publishers Weekly review of New Amsterdam is in. If you were waiting with bated breath.

It's a rave.

Set in a New Amsterdam that's still a royal colony at the turn of the 20th century, this engaging dark fantasy collection from John W. Campbell Award-winner Bear (Carnival) introduces a tough, witty female sleuth. Abigail Irene Garrett is the perfect Victorian hard-boiled detective, with the added benefit of necromantic skills that make her a formidable forensic investigator in a world where sorcery is common. Teaming occasionally with vampire sleuth Sebastien de Ulloa, Abby Irene cuts a figure of crime-fighting confidence through five of the six stories, grappling with demonic killers summoned for personal revenge or political intrigue, and plunging into wildly unpredictable adventures such as those recounted in "Lumière," a stunning blend of steampunk and eldritch horror. Bear's tales are not only ingeniously mysterious but also richly textured with details that bring the society and history of her alternate America to vivid life. Readers who like the grit of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake novels and the historical heft of Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's vampire tales will find similar pleasures here. (May)

Also, I have a narcissism roundup:

_tallian_ really liked Carnival.

No Wrench caught something thematic about Worldwired that makes me a happy bear.

Filling My Mind With Geh kind of loathed "The Cold Blacksmith."

mekkavandexter liked Carnival too. (disclaimer: she's a pal. but she's also a Buddhist, so I don't think she would lie for me.)

spartezda had mixed feelings about Blood & Iron

SF Crowsnest has a mixed review of Carnival. (psst. It's not my fourth novel. It's my fifth novel in publication order. Something like the twelfth or thirteenth in terms of writing.) (But at least I'm still "promising")

anniegee thinks Jenny is a wish-fulfillment character. (Nobody ever identifies my actual author alter egos without being told. This amuses me unduly. Also, I remember Mitch yanking her chain, but I don't remember him thinking she was hot, but it's been four years since I read the book, what do I know?)

Silver Parrot found Blood & Iron confusing, but liked it. That would be because it is pretty much what the inside of my brain looks like, without the gloss. Well, no, I lie. There's a lot of gloss. But I conceptualized most of it before I learned to translate from Bear to Human, and no matter how many layers of explanation you put over something like that, you never quite get the deep pools of nonlinear hidden.

(I have friends who will hold up a hand and say "one sentence at a time" to me sometimes when I am trying to talk and start sputtering, because six things are trying to get out of my mouth all at once. This was a problem to me in the corporate world, because people assume you're incoherent when really, you're just finding the general linearity of language kind of a limiting factor.)

oursin thought The Chains that you Refuse was "pretty compelling."

dyanearden likes Hammered so far.

All in all, I'll take it. Thanks for reading, guys!