I was at Bristol Comic Expo over the weekend, which took place at the beautiful Brunel's Old Station. Third year I've been. It was brilliant, to put it bluntly. However, it seems to have kicked me repeatedly in the immune system, and I write this half comatose on the sofa with a raw chest and sneezey constitution. Thankfully ThatBeastJen is in the kitchen cooking me some lunch...

Read on for a full report on BCE

We are very pleased to welcome back guest-reviewer Sheryl Tongue:

If you have ever wondered why it is that Eurasians came to conquer most of the world, Guns, Germs & Steel by Jared Diamond will be a fascinating explanation.

Every inch of Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig screams pessimism. It lingers around the story, the characters, and even the back water towns in which it is set, like a cloud of noxious cigarette smoke blown from our heroin Miriam's sin-ridden lips. And yet, despite all the darkness, despite the death and the bleak world view, there is a sliver of light that manages to squeeze through.

I don't believe there has ever been a better time to be a Sherlock Holmes fan. With a superb BBC modern day adaptation, a great fun (if ridiculous) Hollywood blockbuster, and to top it all off a brand spanking new Holmes novel, The House of Silk, written by one of the worlds most prolific fictional murderers, it is a brand that is getting a large amount of positive attention today.

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.

UPDATE: The Boy & His Bee has now been launched and is available from the author's shop here. Buy it. Really, do. It is fantastic and kids, parents and bee keepers will all adore it.

This weekend, the 19th & 20th November 2011, sees the launch of a fantastic new children's book – The Boy & His Bee by Jen Smith.

Launching at the Thought Bubble festival in Leeds, The Boy & His Bee is the story of a young boy desperate for a pet bee, but he soon learns there is more to friendship than freezers and flowers...

Florence & Giles by John Harding is a tale of isolation, fear, madness and risen spirits. It is simultaneously a classic ghost story and a modern psychological thriller, with a truly unique narrator. What at first seems to be a fairly standard story of a lonely child living a secluded life in a haunted house soon turns into an intriguing, compelling, spine-tingling and original story that is impossible to put down.

Moon Over Soho, book two in the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch, is an urban fantasy crime novel that is fast-paced, funny, dark and wholly British. A winning combination that makes Moon Over Soho an instant classic.

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!

The second book in the Lorien Legacies series, The Power of Six, is a step in the right direction for the series. This step is away from the eponymous character of the first book (I Am Number Four), who is angsty, lovestruck and irritating. Instead we are introduced to several new characters including Marina, or Number 7, and the plot expands and evolves.

Welcome to the new look IwishIwasabook.com!

Hope you like it, it is quite different from the old look. Almost the opposite, actually...