Category Archives: Books
2015 Year in Review
Obligatory year in review/awards recommendation post. Virtually all I read was short fiction and nonfiction, so at least it’s brief!
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Tagged Alix Harrow, daniel older, ian muneshwar, jenn brissett, kat howard, Leslie Light, lisa bolekaja, Malon Edwards, Mothership Zeta, Naomi Kritzer, Omenana, priya sharma, Rachael Jones, Shimmer, sunil patel, Vajra Chandrasekera, wole talabi
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Short Fiction Second Quarterly Survey + Roundup
Vote for your favorite short fiction of April, May, and June here. The deadline is Monday, August 17 — which means that if you would like to catch up with issues of zines you missed, you’ve still got a bit … Continue reading
Stuff I’m Up To
My February short fiction post is up at Skiffy and Fanty. Some powerfully emotionally evocative ones this month. I also decided to start trying to cover at least one novella a month, because if there aren’t enough sources to filter … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Cecily Kane, Dream Houses, Genevieve Valentine, Inheritance, N.K. Jemisin, novella, short fiction, The Awakened Kingdom
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The Drama Around
I’ve been doing some thinking and discussion lately about short fiction and what sorts of forces elevate some stories to be discussed, included in best of anthologies, and nominated for awards. Looking at examples from last year and the early … Continue reading
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Two More Lovely Stories, and Ringing in the New Year
Once there was a little girl, born at midnight during the Feast of the Sacrifice, in a certain city of Arabia. The baby’s mother, sighing, named her Dunya. Dunya means “the world,” but what her mother meant by that, no … Continue reading
Book Selfie! With The Mammoth Book of SF Stories by Women
The Mammoth Book of SF Stories by Women, edited by Alex Dally MacFarlane, was published last month. Not sure when I’ll be able to get to reviewing it because mammoth, but wanted to commemorate the occasion somehow. So I tracked … Continue reading
Posted in Books, feminism, Science Fiction
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Lovely Stories, Things for Ballots
A wee handful of things I’ve read recently for which it’s very tempting to post nothing but links along with an endless sequence of hearts. “Seven Commentaries on an Imperfect Land” by Ruthanna Emrys is a vision of a Jewish Narnia. … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Fantasy
Tagged 2015 Award-Worthy, african fiction, chinelo onwualu, Jewish fiction, litany of earth, Omenana, ruthanna emrys, tor.com
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5 2015 Fantasy Books To Look Forward To
I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest Once upon a time two best friends created a character together and told her adventures in comic book form. When one of the pair dies in a tragic accident, so ends the storytelling … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Fantasy
Tagged 2015 releases, aliette de bodard, catherynne valente, Cherie priest, fantasy, Naomi novik, novels, stina leicht
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Five 2015 Science Fiction Books To Look Forward To
The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor A genetically modified woman is the protagonist of this Afrofuturist prequel to Who Fears Death, Okorafor’s compulsively readable post-apocalyptic vision of epic fantasy. The setting and protagonists — a biracial east African young … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Science Fiction
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Girl Cooties in your FTL Drive!
Last week I wrote about the dearth of female protagonists in stories about time travel. This is somewhat less true for the cluster of subgenres with space as their setting — women rarely get to travel in time, but they … Continue reading
Manic Pixie Dream Worlds 