One of my goals this year is to read more fantasy by female authors. I will not declare this to be an exclusive goal (if the next Martin or Rothfuss or Lynch or Staveley novel is punished I will devour it with no guilt whatsoever). But as a woman trying to write fantasy, I want to see more what is being published by my female peers. This also may lead to less obnoxious grim-dark fantasy, which sounds great to me. My reading choices are also […]
“I teach you to be warriors in the garden so you will never be gardeners of war”
After discovering that both my CBR 10 reading list and my personal library have been far-too-heavily skewed towards male authors, I was determined to make a correction, and I set out on my first trip away this year with a too-long wishlist that yielded a bonanza of books by women, sixteen in all, pictured here. I could easily have come home with twice as many but kept myself under control if only to avoid overweight baggage charges. After dinner on my second night in London, […]
this shirty forking book, I swear, it made me so mad
There were a few hot minutes where I was trying to pretend like there was anything I liked about this book. “You finished it,” I said to myself. “There had to be something that made you want to keep reading, right?” Well, yes, of course: hatred. From the very beginning, this book and its poor excuses for “characters” pissed me off. The main character is Scarlett, who is gutless and timid and who would do anything for her sister, Tella, because she loves her and […]
The Trick to Falling
I go through phases of reading YA fantasy. I have come to realize that for the most part I age the characters up in my mind, because they rarely seem like teenagers. While I was in the middle of reading Six of Crows, I listened to The Dollop episode 275, “The Newsie Strike.” As a Dave and Gareth were marveling over 8 – 16 year old boys organizing and leading a strike, and understanding the economic theory behind each side’s position. It reminded me that […]