"Calatorii in timp" Bookfest Launch

"Calatorii in timp", the time travel anthology edited by Antuza Genescu, which includes my short story "Punct de rendez vous la +3000", will be officially launched at Bookfest, in Bucharest, on June 2nd, at 14:30. Special guests: Marian Truta and Christian Tamas.

Nemira's official announcement can be found here.

The book can be ordered here.

Thumbs up for The Impaler Legacy cover art

Joel Friedlander from The Book Designer liked The Impaler Legacy covers:

"I like both these covers, Ioana, and the very strong branding colors, textures, and exotic knives. Sticking to a few elements is a great strategy that yields good results on this series."

It's time to make the next two covers and, hopefully, they'll be just as good.

Blue Moon Cafe Series Review (7)

I'm glad to see Blue Moon Cafe Series: Where Shifters Meet for Drinks is being read and so pleased when it's getting 5 star reviews:

"I soon adapted to the shapeshifter thing. Visan made if fun. Of course, the book has the qualities of any good read: strong characters, plot, drama, and professional writing. At the end, she reveals why the book appealed to me: it was her first shapeshifter book "which allowed me to develop a world based on my own set of rules." Her world rules include a sense of humor--that's the winning ingredient." -  Shaun McLaughlin

Read the full review here.

Blue Moon Cafe Series: Where Shifters Meet for Drinks is available through Amazon, Amazon.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.jp, iTunes, Kobo and Smashwords, for only $0.99 for a short period of time. 

Human Instincts Review (14)

Now and then another review of H uman Instincts pops up, this time on My Seryniti blog:

"I completely recommend this to anyone that enjoys apocalyptic but with a more military edge. At 100 pages it is well worth the read, especially if you enjoy those genres." - Nova

Read the full review here.

Human Instincts is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iTunes, Sony, Smashwords. 

The Impaler's Revenge Reviews (3)

Two new reviews of The Impaler's Revenge showed up this week.

One is on My Weekly Book blog.

The other one is on Fantasy World blog.

Thank you, Rox and Diana, for your reviews! It's always interesting to see the world I created through the readers' eyes.

The Impaler's Revenge is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Kobo and Smashwords.

The Impaler's Revenge Excerpt

Issue no. 8 (May 2013) of Revista de suspans includes an excerpt of The Impaler's Revenge.

This particular excerpt is actually part 9 of the novella. It's well into the story so you won't find it in any online preview. It explains how the current state of affairs regarding Romania and the vampires came to be. I hope it will catch your interest and make you want to read more.

The Impaler's Revenge is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Kobo and Smashwords.

"Zombii. Cartea mortilor vii" Review (3)

May 1st also brought a review of "Zombii. Cartea mortilor vii" on Subtext.ro. Radu Romaniuc said:

"Ioana Vișan, una dintre cele mai ambițioase scriitoare implicate în self-publishing, cu mai multe volume în librăria electronică a Amazonului, scrie literatură pop într-o proză alertă, sigură. Noapte bună, Mihai, urmărește un grup de prieteni dintr-o așezare de provincie, care încearcă să recupereze o bătrână rătăcită noaptea pe coclauri. Se pare că e greu să recuperezi băbuțe în vremuri de zombi:" (followed by a quote)

In the end, Radu said that he tried to keep his tongue in check because Millennium Books' anthology project is an initiative that deserves to be supported and not put down. I liked that.

"Zombii. Cartea mortilor vii" Review (2)

A new review of "Zombii. Cartea mortilor vii" appeared in the May issue of Nautilus Magazine. This is what Mr. Radu has to say about my story "Noapte buna, Mihai!":

"Ioana Vișan – Noapte bună, Mihai! Nu cunoșteam textul, apărut inițial pe AtelierKult. Unul dintre cele câteva texte extraordinare din antologie. Povestea este bine localizată, cea a Laurei Călin era în mediul urban, asta e în cel rural, dar amândouă au o încărcătură emoțională impresionantă." - Liviu Radu in Nautilus

Dunno why but I get ridiculously happy each time Mr. Radu enjoys one of my stories. So this month has started well.

2013 April Reading List

Heechee Annals by Frederick Pohl – I liked this series but this book not so much. I don’t usually like whiny characters and in this one the hero was borderline annoying. 3/5 stars

CPSF1 – Not at all impressed by the story and the explanatory article. 3/5 stars

CPSF2 – I very much liked both the Mars story and article. 4/5 stars

CPSF3 – I liked CPSF2 better. Heavily loaded with details prose puts my patience to the test, and I’ll always take sci fi over fantasy. 4/5 stars

Zombii. Cartea mortilor vii (Zombies. The Book of the Living Dead),editor Mircea Pricajan – I don’t normally read horror, but since one of my stories is included in the anthology, I just had to see what the others had written. My favorite stories were those written by Laura Sorin, Liviu Radu, and Florian Nan. 4/5 stars

The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Eighth Annual Collection (vol.1) by Gardner Dozois – I liked more than half of the stories so a good read. 4/5 stars

Calatorii in timp. Antologie de povestiri SF (Time Travels. An Anthologyof Sci Fi Short Stories) edited by Antuza Genescu – I’ve got a fun little story in there too so I was curious to see how it rate compared to the others. I think I did well. :) However, it struck me as odd the high number of men complaining about their wives or one woman in particular. 4/5 stars

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern – I’m not a fan of circus stories, but this was a charming story if we ignore the overly telling, heaps of details and mushiness. 4/5 stars

Jack Glass by Adam Roberts – I loved the cover art. However, I didn’t care much for the first story and the first half of the second one. I was this close to gave up on it and put it down when the story suddenly became interesting. The narrative is somehow twisted and it gets ridiculously sappy by the end, but we’ll ignore that. 4/5 stars

About Eurocon in Observator cultural

Catalin Badea-Gheracostea's newest article for Observator cultural focuses on Eurocon. This is what he has to say about yours truly:

"Ioana Vișan este unul dintre cele mai viguroase debuturi ai ultimilor ani, despre culegerea ei de povestiri Efectul de nautil, lansată la tîrgul „Final Frontier“ de luna trecută, voi scrie în curînd. Cu alte proze scurte, Ioana Vișan este o prezență constantă în toate antologiile de gen recente. Construcția epică romanescă va fi pasul pe care, sînt convins, îl va face în curînd."

I'm looking forward to his review of "Efectul de nautil" and cross my fingers he's right about the last part.