Over at the Kirkus  blog, Ana and Thea from the Book Smugglers kindly review On a Red Station, Drifting. Aka wow.

This is an extremely political story in every sense of the word: on a macro scale of fighting for one’s beliefs in impossible situations and within the microcosm of the domestic, the individual—this dichotomy not really a dichotomy at all, as the micro and macro often intertwine in an inextricable tangle.

This is a beautifully realized story and the characters, plot, theme and writing are expertly crafted. My one regret is that I did not read it before we sent out our Hugo Award Nominations.

-Ove Jansson aka Cybermage:

Aliette de Bodard has done it again. Harbinger of the Storm is an action packed Aztec mystery opera with magic, interventions from the gods and more twists and turns than the first book. (…) The story is self contained and can be enjoyed standalone, but you will not want to miss out on the first. I wish it was 2012 already even if the world is going under while I read the final Obsidian and Blood.

–Violin in a Void:

[Acatl] leads us into an increasingly dark and bloody tangle of mythology and political intrigue that is not merely a worthy successor to Servant of the Underworld, but a tighter, pacier and altogether more exciting read. (…)It’s a complex but intriguing story, and I for one am thoroughly satisfied with this sequel. According to De Bodard’s blog the final book in the Obsidian and Blood trilogy will be titled The Master of the House of Darts, and its due for release in November 2011. If De Bodard continues to build on what she’s done so far, it’s going to be epic.

–Publishers Weekly (starred review):

Political intrigue and rivalry among a complex pantheon of divinities drive this well-paced murder mystery set at the height of the Aztec Empire in the late 15th century.(…) De Bodard incorporates historical fact with great ease and manages the rare feat of explaining complex culture and political system without lecturing or boring the reader.

Er, wow? PW starred review is certainly most intimidating, and I’m very glad a lot of people seem to think HoS is a better book than its predecessor. I’d be going for a liedown if I wasn’t %%% busy…

–Bourgeois Nerd reviews Servant of the Underworld:

(…)we rarely get fantasy based in a non-Western setting and grounded in a different culture, and hardly ever does anything set in Mesoamerica get written. Servant of the Underworld changes that, introducing us to a world of jade and obsidian, where gods walk the world, mortals walk the divine realms, and blood powers the universe.
(…)
The next book in the series, Harbinger of the Storm, comes out in January, and I for one can’t wait to return to the shadows of Tenochtitlan.

-Made a trailer for Harbinger of the Storm, which is still in the editing stage. Hopefully it can be shared soon. What amazed me was how much faster it went, compared to the previous Servant of the Underworld trailer. I could feel I’d learnt a lot in the time in between, even though I didn’t touch anything remotely trailer-related in a year (aside from watching friends’ trailers, which I guess gave me a lot of cool ideas I could borrow). I’ll do a specific post a bit later about how I went about it and what I learnt.

-Finally, watch this space on Monday for author’s notes about “The Shipmaker” (now in out in issue 231 of Interzone)

Also, this:

Yup, made phở from scratch this week. Yum yum. Recipe forthcoming when I have a moment.
(ignore the poor lighting. The house’s electricity installation doesn’t quite satisfy late at night)