Author: The Brothers

Blog News: State of the Blog 2017

The Brothers, 3 Comments

Welcome to the second annual State of the Blog. We’ve grown a lot in the last year and it is all thanks you, the reader……and our patient spouses for putting up with us and with that support we managed 5 or 6 times the numbers we had last year. Its safe to say that many blogs have achieved much higher numbers in a much shorter period of time, but we are both astonished and humbled by them and your support.

– – Blog Audit 2017 – –

  • Views = 4206
  • Visitors = 2468
  • Likes = 978
  • Comments = 415
  • # of Posts = 224
  • Books Reviewed = 130
  • WordPress Followers: 94
  • Other Followers: 21

– – Goals For 2018 – –

  • Reach 200 WordPress followers, and 100 other followers.
    • Stretch goal of 400 followers across all platforms.
  • Robert, three weekly posts and a stretch goal of four weekly posts.

Continue reading “Blog News: State of the Blog 2017” →

Blog News: State of the Blog 2017

Blog Update – Jul.2.2017

The Brothers3 Comments

Dear Followers,

We just wanted to let keep you all updated with stuff that’s been happening…..or not happened this past month. You may have noticed the sharp decrease in the number of posts and books reviewed. If this was just pure burnout or shifting interests then there wouldn’t be much to explain because it happens to everyone eventually.

Jared has been extremely busy with work this past month. Only a handful of nights were actually spent at home, and an inordinate amount of time was spent traveling.  (Much to Julia’s dismay.)

Also at the end of May, Lisa discovered she had kidney cancer, so Robert has be rightly distracted this past month. Rest assured, it was caught, literally, just in time and is even now almost completely resolved. The best possible scenario short of not having cancer in the first place.

We can’t promise that things will change much from this past month, for better or worse. Just know that we aren’t dead, dying, or giving up completely.

The Brothers

Blog Update – Jul.2.2017

Free eBook – The Way of Kings [CLOSED]

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way-of-kings-cover

Just a heads up for everybody. Tor.com is giving away free copies of The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson right now until tomorrow. Just put in your email address and they’ll send you an email with the link. Since I haven’t read this massive book yet I’m very happy about this and can’t wait to get started.

>> LINK <<

NOTE: Make sure you download your copy by Mar.24.2017 11:59pm ET.

P.S. Thanks Julia for making sure I saw this!

Free eBook – The Way of Kings [CLOSED]

News: Paolini Print Giveaway [CLOSED]

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Not our giveaway, but it’s still free stuff.

Over at Paolini.net they are giving away a signed print. Check it out for details, but the drawing is Jan.18.2017 so there isn’t much time left.

Maybe I’m reading the info wrong but it looks like it was drawn by Christopher Paolini, author of Eragon, himself. If so, then that is wicked cool and very impressive.

The Brothers

News: Paolini Print Giveaway [CLOSED]

What to Expect in 2017?

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We’ve got some big series we’re going to try and take on which should prove quite the challenge. These are series we’re familiar with but haven’t tackled from beginning to end. Hopefully you’ll enjoy watching us slog through mountains of books and maybe even a little inspired to (re)read a big series too.

61975Jared could eventually take on the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey. This beloved series has 26 novels and 6 shorts with the latter books being written with or by her son Todd McCaffrey. He’ll wade in and see if it’s worth the hype.

Much of the draw of series is it’s intricately detailed culture and characters. Add dragons and an intriguing mix of pseudo-Fantasy and Science Fiction and it’s easy to see why fans of this series are so devout.

Additionally, Jared might delve deeper into the Realm of the Elderlings series by Robin Hobb. That is if his read of the first three books in the series goes well. The series boasts impressively hefty volumes although there are only 24 of them, but it’s still on-going with the next one coming out this spring.

dragonlancedragonsofautumntwilightRobert is returning to the much loved Dragonlance series, starting with the core novels written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. While there are hundreds of books in this shared world series only 32 makeup the core.

Dragonlance is a fond favorite for both the Brothers. Magic, dragons, and deities meddling at every turn. It’s a series so epic in scale it took dozens of writers to just scratch the surface…..and it’s nowhere close to finished.

Additionally, Robert will continue to chip away at the Forgotten Realms series by R. A. Salvatore. Another massive series with 41 novels. He’d never actually read one until a few months ago and there’s a long way to go.

“But wait,” you may be asking, “there are only 52 weeks in a year. Aren’t you going to read other books too?”

And to that we say, yes. Of course we are going to read other books. It’s why these series may take years to complete. Robert plans to read a Dragonlance book a month, which if you do the math will mean he’ll finish the core novels in August of 2019. Jared is unpredictable, often reading what he fancies and even if he did one a month that’s still 2 years for either series.

Rest assured we’ll be reading lots of books from different series and who knows there might be other gargantuan series we might pick up but for now we’re taking it one page at a time.

The Brothers

What to Expect in 2017?

Blog News: Suggest-A-Book

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Just a quick note.

If you have a book or series you think we’d like, you can now use our submission form. The link is in our site menu in the top right of every page as “Suggest-A-Book.” In the form we’ll ask for your name so we can give you a shout-out for suggesting it (or put N/A or Anonymous). Then we’ll need the book/series name and if you happen to remember the author’s name too. Check the box for genre and lastly a bit about why you are suggesting the book/series. What was it that you liked about it? Cool magic? Amazing tech? Actually likable characters? Dragons? Or something more mundane like just being readable.

rotssuggestion

And let’s just be clear, you are submitting a suggestion, only. We may or may not act on it. Lastly, if you are an author, do not suggest your own work. Contact us directly.

The Brothers

P.S. Authors & Publicists, check out our Review Policy. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Blog News: Suggest-A-Book