December is here and with it the holiday gift-giving season!
When it comes to objects, I’m a minimalist. Those authors who have been in my home know this. Though nice, I have few things. I have my signed books—some on bookcases, others on my desk. I have two pieces of artwork on my walls, both framed Michael Whelan signed prints. I don’t have a couch. I don’t have a recliner. I have a Mac on my desk, an iPad on my night stand, and a new television powered by Netflix that I watch from my computer chair when I need to decompress while doing web work.
That doesn’t mean I don’t have a wish list though. There are some really cool items out there and this is the season I begin thinking, “Wouldn’t it be neat if I had X or X or X or X?”
For the month of December I’ll post some of my own personal picks, some of which I’m sure will also excite some of you, maybe to the point you add them to your own gift wish lists!
Day 9: Terry Brooks & Naomi Novik Omnibuses
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I love books. Therefore I love books that contain books. Plural!
These tomes—the first being The Sword of Shannara Trilogy by Terry Brooks, the other In His Majesty’s Service by Naomi Novik—are massive, both containing three complete novels, both essential reads for the geek!
The Sword of Shannara Trilogy by Terry Brooks is perhaps three of his finest novels. For all of the flack that the first 1/3 of The Sword of Shannara gets for being too close to Fellowship of the Ring, it is a wonderful epic fantasy adventure tale, filled with the very best that high fantasy readers love. It’s when people read The Elfstones of Shannara and The Wishsong of Shannara though that they see Terry’s true genius. While I think Running with the Demon and Angel Fire East from his Word/Void series are his finest work, Elfstones and Wishsong are his best epic fantasies, both amazingly written, both containing poignant moments of magic and pain.
In His Majesty’s Service by Naomi Novik is wholly different from Terry Brooks, although their voracious readerships are just as passionate. Naomi has woven a wonderful tale about a Napoleon-era British officer named Laurence and his dragon companion Temeraire. Imagine if Jane Austen and Patrick O’Brian had a child between two book covers? The adventure. The excitement. The fact that while Napoleon attempts to conquer the world there are dragons out there acting like airforces. Now that is pretty sweet. But what I love about the series is the dynamic between Laurence and Temeraire. It’s real and the reader gets emotionally involved with both.
If you have not read these or if you know a geek who hasn’t, both omnibuses would make a great gift. And since they are three books in one hardcover, they are worth the money spent!
More tomorrow!
