I'm pleased to introduce our latest guest blog post. Jonathan Evison is fast becoming recognized as one of America's great young authors. His first book, All About Lulu, won the Washington State Book Award, and his latest novel West of Here has already received heaps of praise in the US.

Jonathan Evison writes: I'm a camper. It's what I do. Between late February and mid-October, I'm usually camping. Sometimes that means hiking twelve miles and three-thousand vertical feet with forty pounds strapped to my back, and sometimes that means my ass falling asleep in a lawn chair, as I scribble mad notes in front of a campfire with a case of cold beer within arms reach. Usually, though, it means parking my '76 Dodge motor home on a bluff at Kalaloch in a nasty squall, and watching the waves pound the shoreline, while the moho rocks like Jericho. These camping trips are my lifeline as a writer, and as a person. Without these trips, the wilderness of my spirit might have been tamed years ago. And probably I wouldn't be much of a writer. Most certainly, I'd be hell to live with.

www.IwishIwasabook.com has been a bit quiet of late, and I would like to apologise for this. Lots going on with work and life and the rest has meant that writing and even reading have had to take a back seat.

Do not fear though! I have written a few reviews over the last month or two, but they have been for another website, the fantastic We Love This Book from The Bookseller magazine:

www.WeLoveThisBook.com/

One of the most common search phrases that lands people on IwishIwasabook.com is along the lines of "Terry Pratchett <insert latest Pratchett novel> special edition", such as last year's I Shall Wear Midnight, or Unseen Academicals from the year before.

Well, I'm pleased to put all of you Pratchett fans out of your misery... the Snuff Limited, Numbered Slipcase Edition is now available! Jolly good.

Kobo Books have today announced a brand new eReader – the Kobo Vox!

The Vox is a full colour tablet style ereader running on Android and has been dubbed by Kobo as “The World's First Social eReader”, thanks to its social network integration.

Read on for more details...

Justin Gustainis is without doubt one of the most exciting authors currently writing in the "urban fantasy" genre. His two latest books, Hard Spell and Sympathy For The Devil, have caused quite a stir in the fantasy fiction community and it's easy to see why, Justin's dark sense of humour and darker worlds are engrossing and fantastic fun.

We are happy to present a glimpse into the authors mind, where witchfinders hunt and vampires run riot...

With the launch of the Kindle Fire and Kindle Touch dominating headlines both in the UK and US, another launch seems to have gone unnoticed, but is much more important to us Brits right now -

The Kobo Touch is now available in the UK!

And so Amazon continues its monopolization of the book industry with the acquisition of British online bookseller, The Book Depository.

So, IwishIwasabook.com is 1 year old.

Wooo!

Cue the generic blog post about how amazing it is, and how the site has grown, and how everything and everyone is fantastic.

I am happy to announce the Snuff, the 39^th Discworld novel, by Sir Terry Pratchett is now available to pre-order.

The audiobook of Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve is now available.

Fever Crumb is the first prequel to the Mortal Engines series and, as far as I'm aware, currently the only of the books available in this format.

Oh, Jamie Smart, you sick bastard.

I mean that in the nicest way possible, I really do.

Monday 21st February was the start of the newest free webcomic by English cartoonist Jamie Smart.  As with much of his work, Corporate Skull is a strange blend of fun, cute illustrations, messed up characters and copious amounts swearing.

The Dresden Files is changing. At least the covers are. A re-branded, re-clothed, new look Dresden Files is coming to the UK, leaving behind the old simple style for a character image in an attempt to make them stand out more and generate sales.

A nice, simple, well made book trailer. That's about all there is to be said and all that needs to be said. Too often trailers for books are too long, boring, or just plain pointless, but I like this one, and I'm looking forward to the book

Here you go...

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) starts tomorrow, Monday 1st November. The basic idea is to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November and this will be my first attempt...

Read on for more info...

I Shall Wear Midnight, the latest Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, is set for release on the 2^nd of September. Great news, can't wait.

What is more exciting though, is the release of an extra special, numbered edition which is being released on the same day.

The hugely popular Twilight books are being made-over in time for Christmas 2010. If you were cynical, you might suggest that this is just a way to sell more copies of the book.

Well it is.

However, I happen think the white covers with the red page trim and simple designs look fantastic. Easily the best thing about the detestable franchise.

The Man Booker prize was first awarded in 1969 and for the last 40 years has been recognising the finest pieces of fiction written each year. Or at least that is what it is supposed to do...

In truth, the prize is generally given to those authors thought of as being super trendy and 'now', but this sort of writing generally doesn't last, and as a result, looking back at previous winners leaves you feeling cold. There are exceptions, some of the winners are classic fiction, such as the wonderfully quirky Life of Pi by Yann Martel, but the judges need to be careful not to fall into the trap.

Read on for the full 2010 longlist...

If you have read our review of the graphic novel Grandville by Bryan Talbot, you will know that we loved it. The art work is superb, the story is gripping. Our only complaint was the length. Before you had a chance to really delve into the world Talbot had created, the book finished.

Grandville: Mon Amour, the sequel, will be released in November 2010...

Update: Mon Amour has now been released and you can find our review here

Today is the start of yet another exciting (not to mention free!) web comic! Kochi Wanaba is from Jamie Smart and, going by his other work, it will be funny, touching and down right disturbing...

Read it!

The long awaited web-comic The Lore of the Things by the hugely talented Etherington Brothers starts today!

Based, as the title suggests, on The Lord of the Rings, The Lore of the Things is set to be a fun & funny and totally free web-comic so...

check it out!!