Mihir Wanchoo from Fantasy Book Critic has just posted his top titles of 2011. He lists his favorite novels and his favorite debuts, and The Winds of Khalakovo made the Top 10 Debut List! Here’s what Mihir had to say about Winds:

10) The Winds of Khalakovo by Bradley P. Beaulieu – This debut was again by Nightshade books and another intriguing one in the long list of exciting books. The world setting and magic system are what differentiate this epic fantasy debut amongst the trappings of the genre. The author’s prose and characterization is not at the optimum level but there is definite potential here and it will be worthwhile to see where the author takes the story in the sequels.

Here’s Fantasy Book Critic’s full review of The Winds of Khalakovo.

Again, I’m very pleased to be counted among such great titles and authors. Check out the list. It’s a good read if you’re hankering to figure out what to read next.

Today, I have some cool news and a humble request. First, The Winds of Khalakovo has been nominated for the David Gemmell Morningstar Award! The nominations aren’t complete, but I’m already in great company.

Second, award season is upon us. This is the point where readers can nominate works of fiction for the Hugos and Nebulas. This year, The Winds of Khalakovo is eligible, and I humbly ask for your consideration.

For the Hugos, any person who was or is a member of the 2011, 2012, or 2013 Worldcons as of January 31, 2012, is eligible to nominate for the 2012 Hugo Awards. (Even if you’re a member of more than one of those three Worldcons, you may only cast one nominating ballot.) If you are not a member of any of those conventions, you may join Chicon 7 or LoneStarCon 3, the 2013 Worldcon, before January 31, 2012 to become eligible. See the 2012 Hugo Site for more information on nominating works.

For the Nebulas, Active and Associate SFWA members may nominate works, until February 15th, for the awards to be presented at the May 19th Nebula Awards Weekend Banquet. See the SFWA Nebula Site for more information on nominating works.

Thanks so much.

So, way back early last year, I mentioned that Winds had been sold to Proszynski Media in Poland. It came out this past September, but I never did receive my author copies. It turned out to be a snafu, and the publisher made sure I got my copies straight away. I finally had a chance to take some pictures so I could share just how cool this edition is.

The cover is similar to the US version, but there are some very cool notable differences. The most obvious is that there’s more embellishment of the cover art. It has a cool decking and rope theme that I think is really neat and enhances the ship-based flavor of the book.

(Click to embiggen any of these pics.)

Also, check this out. There’s a really cool, gloss overlay on the book that gives the feel of wind flowing over the scene. You can’t even notice if it you look at the book head-on, but you can tell it’s there if it catches any light. It’s a subtle but very cool effect, one that I’ve not seen done in the US.

The inside flap is well done, too. It isn’t just a single piece of cardstock for the cover. It’s folded over so that the interior has more of a hardback feel to it. Also, check out the super-cool cut-out of that great Adam Paquette windship.

They also didn’t skimp on the chapter headings. They used the same windshop cut-out for those as well. The interior has a very non-cramped feel, which I love. That choice added to the final page count, but I think it was the right choice, as it has a very nice look to it as you hold the book. It’s aesthetically pleasing and has a professional feel to it.

Lastly, here’s the rear cover and spine, which has more of the planking feel and the rope & knot embellishments.

All in all, this is a very impressive package. Proszynski really went all out, and I’m proud that they gave so much attention to Wichry Archipelagu. It’s certainly a vote of confidence when a publisher does that for you.

In short, Poland rocks!

The Winds of Khalakovo picked up a couple more nice mentions. First, it made Sneaky Burrito’s Best Books Read in 2011.

Adventure Fantastic also made nice mention of Winds in its Four Publisher’s You Should Be Reading list. This is also notable since Night Shade Books takes second place for its excellent lineup of debut authors this year, with more great books to come in 2012.

Woo hoo!

The wonderful folks over at The Ranting Dragon have announced their Top 10 Debuts of 2011, and The Winds of Khalakovo made the cut!

Again, I’m honored to be included in such a list. I’m starting to see a lot of the same usual suspects on these, like Douglas Hulick, Mark Lawrence, and Mazarkis Williams. And there are plenty more great debuts that I’m sharing the list with. It’s a wonderful feeling, let me tell you.

Head on over to the Dragon to view the full list.

So, knock me over with a feather… Pat over at Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist has released his year-end awards, the Hotties, and The Winds of Khalakovo has earned one, The Rookie of the Year: Best Debut. And I’ve won another, The Most Promising New Voice award.

I’m really honored and blown away by this. I was gratified that Pat liked Winds enough to include Winds in his Top 10 for the year, and this is doubly gratifying. (As a small aside, I did have a moment of horror when I saw the cover for Winds sitting just below the Most Disappointing Novel award.)

The list of awards itself is an interesting read. Head on over to Pat’s site to see the full list.

I was excited to see that The Winds of Khalakovo made The Mad Hatter’s Best of 2011 list! Now this is the long list, and I might be jinxing myself by talking about it, but I’m really honored to be considered among those other novels. You know, novels such as:

Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick
Seed by Rob Ziegler
The Emperor’s Knife by Mazarkis Williams
God’s War by Kameron Hurley
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Mechanique by Genevieve Valentine
The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells
A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin
Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
Soft Apocalypse by Will McIntosh
The Desert of Souls by Howard Andrew Jones
The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
Vortex by Robert Charles Wilson
The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie

And plenty of others…

Check out the full list over at the Mad Hatter’s Bookshelf & Review.

LEC Reviews just posted a nice retrospective and collects his “Best of” list for 2011. Winds gets a Notable Mention, which is wonderful considering the very worthy stories that are on the list. Exciting!

The Winds of Khalakovo recently hit Pat’s Fantasy Hotlists’s Top 10 Specfic Books for 2011. Pat wasn’t quite finished up with the review at the time, but it has now been posted to his site. The verdict? Highly recommended.

Here’s a brief excerpt from the review:

Truth be told, Bradley P. Beaulieu’s debut wasn’t on my reading schedule. And then, either Scott Lynch or Saladin Ahmed (can’t remember whom) got in touch with me, saying that Beaulieu had roomed with them at the World Fantasy Con or Worldcon and that perhaps I’d like to take a look at The Winds of Khalakovo. After that, Beaulieu’s emails somehow always ended up in my spam folder and it took forever for us to set something up. It didn’t look as though I would have time to read the book before the end of the year, but I agreed to post an extract.

The author sent me a complimentary copy of book nonetheless, one I truly wanted to read after going through the excerpt that went up on the Hotlist. I was intrigued by the flying ships and the whole Russian feel that appeared to permeate the story.

And boy am I glad I gave The Winds of Khalakovo a shot! Indeed, if not for a few shortcomings, Beaulieu’s debut had the potential to be one of the very best fantasy debuts of all time.

Here’s the kicker, though:

Since creating the Hotlist, I’ve come across some incredibly talented fantasy debut authors. One only has to think of Brandon Sanderson, Scott Lynch, Naomi Novik, Joe Abercrombie, Patrick Rothfuss, Hal Duncan, Brian Ruckley, and many more. Well, Bradley P. Beaulieu has the potential to be as good, or even better, than any of them.

Um. Wow. Head on over to Pat’s site for the full review.

UPDATE: if you buy Winds through Pat’s Amazon link before January 15th, you help raise funds for Breast Cancer Research.

Today, there is a rather large smile on my face. The Winds of Khalakovo just made Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist’s Speculative Fiction Top 10 for 2011. Winds joins books by two of my heroes: C.S. Friedman and George R.R. Martin. And I’m certainly pleased (more than pleased. Way, way pleased…) to be among such august company as Pat Rothfuss, Joe Abercrombie, Steven Erikson, and the others.

Here’s the list with links to Pat’s reviews. I know he was just finishing up Winds, so I’m assuming the review will be coming shortly.

1. Steven Erikson’s The Crippled God (Canada, USA, Europe)
2. C. S. Friedman’s Legacy of Kings (Canada, USA, Europe)
3. George R. R. Martin’s A Dance With Dragons (Canada, USA, Europe)
4. R. Scott Bakker’s The White-Luck Warrior (Canada, USA, Europe)
5. James S. A. Corey’s Leviathan Wakes (Canada, USA, Europe)
6. Robert McCammon’s The Five (Canada, USA, Europe, and Subpress)
7. Joe Abercrombie’s The Heroes (Canada, USA, Europe)
8. Patrick Rothfuss’ The Wise Man’s Fear (Canada, USA, Europe)
9. Melanie Rawn’s The Diviner (Canada, USA, Europe)
10. Bradley P. Beaulieu’s The Winds of Khalakovo (Canada, USA, Europe)

Yes, today, the smile on my face could stretch the world.