January reads already! This year is flying by. Some very entertaining and absorbing fantasy and SF, a creative romance or two, a historical mystery, and some middling fiction that I don't know if I'd really recommend (Alongi, Van Pelt).
The latest issue of Books From Scotland is online – featuring
The Kavya Prize
Clairmont
Queering the Greek Myths
Ava Anna Ada
Kevin the Orange
Who’s Aldo?
Green New Worlds
The Hotel Hokusai
James Clerk Maxwell
Café Canna
10 Scotland Street
The Bumblebee Garden
Poor Things
The Salt & the Flame
Sleekit
To the Dogs
As someone new to the #solarpunk genre, I'm wondering if someone would be interested in reading a ~3000-3500 word short story that is solarpunk x my own contemporary fantasy/rural fantasy world of Musimagium
Just curious if I was close to the mark with this. I was going to submit it to an anthology, but decided against it.
My goal is to have it finished by the end of the month.
#introduction Hi, I’m Cait (like Kat), and I moved over to the Wandering Shop server. I’m a #queer, #disabled, and #autistic award-nominated #sff author and award-winning disability fiction editor. That makes me sound really fancy, but I’m just a fun, feisty, and friendly human who really likes cake.
Just found out T. Kingfisher is publishing a Grimm-inspired book in August and the title is "A Sorceress Comes to Call." Have I downloaded a DRC? YASSS @ursulav #sff#fantasy#Grimm#bookstodon@bookstodon
So for those of you who love the story behind the story, about why writers wrote this or that, I've written this blog post about my second collection of stories, Where Rivers Go To Die, which is a finalist for the PKD Awards and longlisted for BSFA. https://www.dilmandila.com/this-year-starts-with-big-good-news-for-my-writing
Catching up on filing and books and realized I didn't post my December reads last month. It was a lot, though several short or quick ones. All were good reads; standouts were Saint Death's Daughter and The Pomegranate Gate.
So the good news continues as my book, Where Rivers Go To Die, makes it to the #BSFA longlist for Best Collection, shortly after it became a finalist at the Philip K Dick Awards. Yay!
The BSFA this year is a very long list with lots of good books to discover and put on your reading list for 2024.
I finished: The Museum of Human History by Rebekah Bergman.
First of all, I really enjoyed the characters and their relationships and those are the main subject of the novel.
Like, A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, The Museum of Human History puts the emphasis on the characters rather than the plot. For example, the conspiracy behind the drugs and medications is there, but ultimately it is just background. This isn't what I'm used to from sci-fi.
Bergman challenged my assumptions on what is important in life and made me think. I'm still processing the novel and trying to figure out what she is trying to convey.
This is definitely a reaction to the opioid epidemic and a treatise against the attempt to avoid aging, pain and ultimately death. Bergman calls on us to live our lives as they are and support each other through the pain and suffering rather than try to find magical fixes, because they always backfire.
But Bergman also attacks the idea of study and preservation, the museums, of Prehistory or of Entomology are demonized. The people who love to study and teach are doing it wrong, they are not learning about life they are ignoring it and hurting the people around them.
As a student of history, family photographer and science enthusiast, I feel attacked. I think learning about the world we live in and remembering our past is a way to give life meaning.
Oh my God! Oh fck! I wake up to this big news and all I can say is fck! I went to bed having read something about Philip K Dick Awards (I can't even remember what I read about it!) and I wake up to learn that my book, Where Rivers Go To Die, has been nominated for this and its a big deal to me and all I can day is f*ck! What a way to start the year!
2024 Book 1: Utopia for Realists by Rutger Bregman.
Insightful but ultimately depressing because, despite #UBI seeming particularly realistic, it feels like we're even farther away from it ever happening at scale than when this first published in 2014. ☹️
2024 Book 6: An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
A wonderfully crafted thriller in sci-fi clothing and socio-political accessories, Solomon keeps the plot and worldbuilding in the background, focusing instead on developing an amazing cast of characters who will stick with you long afterwards. 👍🏽👍🏽