Used to be if you wanted to find an agent you might grab for the latest edition of the Novel & Short Story Writer's Market. That's what I used to do years and years ago. Fortunately, there's plenty of information online nowadays, and you don't have to buy a new book every year to get the latest info (though you may have to pay an annual subscription fee depending on which site you use).

Here then are the sites I've found most useful when looking for an agent:

• AgentQuery
• QueryTracker.net
• Association of Authors' Representatives
• Publishers Marketplace

Make sure to cross-reference any potential agent in one or more of the following resources. Agenting is a fairly nefarious business, it seems.

• Writer Beware
• Preditors & Editors

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One of the things I often do as I'm reading a novel or short story is keep track of words whose definitions I do not know or that I find interesting. Either way, these interesting words are ones I feel might be of use in my own writing. That, and it's good to expand one's vocabulary every once in a while.

This latest round of interesting words comes from Kay Kenyon's Bright of the Sky.

alkaloid: Any of various organic compounds normally with basic chemical properties and usually containing at least one nitrogen atom in a heterocyclic ring, occurring chiefly in many vascular plants and some fungi.

archon: A high official; a ruler.

cyanogenic: Capable of producing cyanide.

demiurge: A powerful creative force or personality.

epicanthic: Of or pertaining to an epicanthis; growing in or upon a canthus or corner of the eye.

espalier: A tree or shrub that is trained to grow in a flat plane against a wall, often in a symmetrical pattern.

evanescent: Vanishing or likely to vanish like vapor.

glycoside: Any of a group of organic compounds, occurring abundantly in plants, that yield a sugar and one or more nonsugar substances on hydrolysis.

gulag: A forced labor camp or prison, especially for political dissidents.

harangue: A long pompous speech, especially one delivered before a gathering.

legate: A person commissioned to represent a state, or the highest authority in the state, in a foreign state or court; a deputy; an ambassador.

meritocracy: A system in which advancement is based on individual ability or achievement.

phenolic: Any of various synthetic thermosetting resins, obtained by the reaction of phenols with simple aldehydes and used to make molded products and as coatings and adhesives.

tannin: Any of various chemically different substances capable of promoting tanning.

terpenoid: A very large class of naturally occurring and synthetic organic compounds formally derived from the hydrocarbon isoprene; they include many volatile compounds used in perfume and food flavours, turpentine, the steroids, the carotene pigments and rubber.

toadyism: The practice of meanly fawning on another; base sycophancy; servile adulation.

unctuous: Containing or composed of oil or fat.

vilification: slanderous or malicious defamation; character assassination

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I thought as I came across notable words from Wordnik's Word of the Day service, I'd post them here. Short and sweet. Here you go.

The Wordnik Word of the Day for September 2, 2010 is

razee

http://www.wordnik.com/words/razee

(noun) A ship of war cut down to a smaller size by reducing the number of decks.

(verb) To cut down or reduce to a lower class, as a ship; hence, to lessen or abridge by cutting out parts: as, to razee a book or an article.

'Razee' as a verb is now more commonly known as 'raze,' which comes from the Middle English, 'rasen,' which means 'to scrape off.'

Example:

"As a matter of fact the Confederate navy never had but one real man-of-war, the famous Merrimac; and she was a mere razee, cut down for a special purpose, and too feebly engined to keep the sea."

- Captains of the Civil War, by William Charles Henry Wood

I'm taking LibraryThing's 50 Book Reading Challenge for 2010. This is my 28th read of the 50.

Bright of the Sky by Kay Kenyon is the first book in The Entire and the Rose series. Subsequent novels include A World Too Near, City Without End, and Prince of Storms. Bright of the Sky was (and still is) a free Kindle giveaway, which is how I obtained this gem. Free is always easy; you didn't pay anything for it, so if it doesn't live up to expectations, no big loss. Fortunately, Bright of the Rose did not disappoint.

The novel is a blend of science fiction and fantasy, the latter coming into play because the technology is so far advanced that it might as well be magic. The setting is reminiscent of such series as The Chronicles of Narnia or the Thomas Covenant Chronicles, both of which feature characters who travel from our world into one that is both wonderful and strange. What Kenyon does, however, borders on brilliant: instead of journeying with the main character into this other world for the very first time, we quickly learn that our main character, Titus Quinn, has already been there. This sets things up in an entirely different way than if he's just come into the Entire (the name for this otherworldly dimension). The catch is that he doesn't remember much about his previous stay, and only once he's back and immersed in the Entire's strange culture do bits and pieces return to him. As readers, everything is new. But with Titus as our guide, we're able to skip over some of the minutia and get right into the good stuff. That's the brilliance of Kenyon's approach.

The only thing that Titus does remember for sure is that he didn't enter the Entire alone: with him were his wife and daughter. They did not return with him, though, and so Titus spends much of his time trying to convince others back in his own world that he isn't crazy, that there is another world or dimension that he somehow traveled to, and that his wife and daughter are still there. The opportunity to return final presents itself when your somewhat atypical greedy corporation steps in offering to send Titus back in exchange for his performing some reconnaissance for them. It seems space-time works differently in the Entire, and they think it can be used to speed up interstellar travel. Titus agrees, and off he goes.

The Entire is an odd place based loosely on feudal Chinese society. Ruled by the Mantis Lords, or Tarig, there are humans and many others races there, but all are kept in a sort of subjugation by the Tarig, who are the creators of the Bright, an energy source that makes the Entire possible. Our world is called the Rose, because while those of the Entire view it as a thing of beauty, they also have seen its thorns. Interaction with the Rose is forbidden, and punishable by death, as is aiding someone like Titus who's come from there. Titus does find allies, though, those who are tired of the Tarig yoke. HIs journey becomes one of deception and subterfuge as he avoids detection at all costs while trying to determine the fate of his wife and daughter.

Titus comes across initially as a bit of a bitter kook. He was ridiculed and discredited upon his return, so he chooses to live a life of solitude until given the chance to return to the Entire. He is ruled by guilt over leaving his family behind, though, and so he desperately wants to return. This desperation sets him up ultimately as a sympathetic character whom I wanted to succeed. As the story unfolds and Titus's memories return to him, the fate of his family is both sad and bittersweet. Ultimately, what begins as a sort of rescue mission for Titus becomes something else entirely as old enemies emerge and secrets are revealed. Suffice to say that Kenyon resolves some threads while leaving others spinning on the loom for the next two books in the series.

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One of the things I often do as I'm reading a novel or short story is keep track of words whose definitions I do not know or that I find interesting. Either way, these interesting words are ones I feel might be of use in my own writing. That, and it's good to expand one's vocabulary every once in a while.

This latest round of interesting words comes from Karl Schroeder's Sun of Suns.

armature: The rotating part of a dynamo, consisting essentially of copper wire wound around an iron core.

boatswain: A warrant officer or petty officer in charge of a ship's rigging, anchors, cables, and deck crew.

contrail: A visible trail of streaks of condensed water vapor or ice crystals sometimes forming in the wake of an aircraft. Also called vapor trail.

diatom: Any of various microscopic one-celled or colonial algae of the class Bacillariophyceae, having cell walls of silica consisting of two interlocking symmetrical valves.

gelid: Cold; very cold; icy.

ingenue: An innocent, unsophisticated, naïve, wholesome girl or young woman.

insouciant: Marked by blithe unconcern; nonchalant.

mendicant: Depending on alms for a living; practicing begging.

minaret: A tall slender tower attached to a mosque, having one or more projecting balconies from which a muezzin summons the people to prayer.

pearlescent: Having a pearly luster or gloss.

peridot: A yellowish-green variety of olivine used as a gem.

pipette: A narrow, usually calibrated glass tube into which small amounts of liquid are suctioned for transfer or measurement.

prodigious: Impressively great in size, force, or extent; enormous.

prosaic: Consisting or characteristic of prose.

quiescent: Being quiet, still, or at rest; inactive.

sargasso: (gulfweed) Any of several brownish seaweeds of the genus Sargassum of tropical Atlantic waters, having rounded air bladders and often forming dense, floating masses.

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Forbes published an article that lists the top 10 highest-paid authors based on the time period from June 1, 2009, through June 1, 2010. Earnings are based on the sale of books, film rights, television, gaming deals, and other income.

I reproduced the list here (or you can view Forbes' picture slide-show):

1. James Patterson ($70 million)
2. Stephenie Meyer ($40 million)
3. Stephen King ($34 million)
4. Danielle Steel ($32 million)
5. Ken Follett ($20 million)
6. Dean Koontz ($18 million)
7. Janet Evanovich ($16 million)
8. John Grisham ($15 million)
9. Nicholas Sparks ($14 million)
10. J.K. Rowling ($10 million)

Here's some tidbits I pulled from watching the slide-show:

• One out of every 17 novels bought in the U.S. are authored by Patterson.
• King is currently involved in the Haven television series on the SyFy channel which is based on his novella, The Colorado Kid. (I read The Colorado Kid and I still don't see the connection, but that was a long time ago so maybe I need to give it another read)
• Steele collected a reported $1 million from a settlement brought about by a former assistant who was convicted of embezzling $760,000 (once again proving that having lots of money isn't always a good thing; buy, hey, Steele came out $240,000 richer for her efforts)
• Koontz has produced forty-four New York Times bestsellers.
• Evanovich changed publishers when her now former publisher refused to agree to a $50 million advance that the author wanted for her next novel.
• Earlier this year Grisham's entire 23-title backlist made its digital debut as Random House e-books.
• Surprisingly, Rowling rounds out the list at the bottom. Don't feel sorry for Rowling, though; she's still a billionaire.

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Now that I own an eReader and thus a viable way to read eBooks without having to print them, I plan to read and review each of the featured Tor.com giveaways. This is the eleventh of those reviews.

I'm taking LibraryThing's 50 Book Reading Challenge for 2010. This is my 27th read of the 50.

Sun of Suns by Karl Schroeder starts out flat out hard to understand. Not the writing, or the language, or even the plot (though it does take a while to fully unfold). It's the world itself that took me way too long to comprehend. The setting is a sort of blend of science fiction and steampunk and takes place on a planet called Virga. Maybe 'planet' is the wrong word. The description on Amazon defines Virga as a "planet-sized balloon", which is about right now that I think about it. But that fact was never understood, at least not by me. I figured Virga for a gas planet because there is no surface, but, to confuse things a bit more, there are artificial suns within the 'balloon'. People travel about inside this balloon using ships armed with rockets and protected by hosts of flying motorbikes. At one point, they travel to the outer (inside) edge, but can go no further. There is a sentient, all-powerful race outside the balloon, and presumably they're the ones who keep the people inside (?). Again, confusing.

All that strangeness aside, Sun of Suns is a surprisingly entertaining novel: Hayden Griffin wants revenge on the man responsible for killing his parents and forcing the subjugation of his nation. Admiral Chaison Fanning of Slipstream is that man. But as Hayden gets close to the admiral, intent on killing him and selling his own life in the process if necessary, he comes to learn of a threat more dangerous than Slipstream that the admiral intends to meet head on. Forced to join Fanning's crew from circumstance if nothing else, Hayden finds himself growing attached to certain Slipstream crewmembers and unwilling to carry out his original mission.

Schroeder has quite the imagination when it comes to world-building. I only wish he'd stopped for a moment to explain it a little better. While the novel does meander a bit—the main plot points are not revealed until the reader is well into it—a riotous, action-packed ship battle at the end almost makes the whole experience worth it.

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