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wendypalmer

@wendypalmer@mastodon.au

I write fantasy ebooks & family-friendly puzzle walk trails while enjoying farm life with goats, alpacas & bees in the South West Boojarah region of Western Australia.

I follow & boost writing, reading, books, knitting, science, history, linguistics, environment, art & Stoicism.

She/her. Avatar AltText: silhouette of a woman in profile, with glasses & bobbed hair; header is my book covers (alt texts on website).

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. For a complete list of posts, browse on the original instance.

kimlockhartga , to bookstodon group
@kimlockhartga@beige.party avatar

@bookstodon on this I'd like to both list and solicit recommendations for books about refugees. With the deepening Climate Crisis, each of us could find ourselves in such a position at any time.

My rec's:

The Beekeeper of Aleppo, Christy Lefteri

Illegal, Eoin Colfer

Welcome To The New World, Jake Halpern, Michael Sloan

What Strange Paradise, Omar El Akkad

The Best We Could Do, Thi Bui

Almost American Girl, Robin Ha

The Wrong End of The Telescope, Rabih Alameddine

Lark Ascending, Silas House

Feeding Ghosts, Tessa Hulls

wendypalmer ,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@kimlockhartga @bookstodon can add The Mars House, Natasha Pulley

wendypalmer ,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@kimlockhartga @bookstodon wasn't it just! Only Natasha Pulley could present an anti-immigration billionaire politician and say, yeah, but you're going to like them anyway😆 (or at least I did. I imagine reception might be mixed...)

wendypalmer ,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@kimlockhartga @bookstodon that was the first one of hers I read, blew me away. I pretty much turned straight back to the start to read it again, and I never normally do that

wendypalmer , to bookstodon group
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

It’s a sad affair when the no-doubt-AI-generated summary of a book has a higher rating than the actual book.

The book itself, A Very Agreeable Murder, is a very fluffy mash-up of Jane Austen and Agatha Christie, pure escapist fun…I can’t see what the point of reading a summary of it would be. You either want the experience of fluffy escapist fun, or you just don’t read it all, surely 🤷‍♀️

@bookstodon

wendypalmer , to bookstodon group
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

This series keeps catching my eye because they’ve done well with the evocative matching titles…but for the life of me I could not work why they’d messed up one.

A Court This Cruel and Lovely
A Crown This Cold and Heavy
A Queen This Fierce and Deadly

But, what, stuck in the middle there, A Kingdom This Empty and Cursed. Sounds so wrong! All they had to do was A Kingdom This Cursed and Empty and it would have matched!

Then I finally looked at the cover.

@bookstodon

Schnuckster , to bookstodon group
@Schnuckster@beige.party avatar

I saw this dreadful neologism in Oxfam Islington. @bookstodon

wendypalmer ,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@glc @Schnuckster @bookstodon not to be too pedantic but it’s possibly because when the trend was just taking off “romantic fantasy” and “fantasy romance” were meant to be two different things ie mostly fantasy with a strong romance subplot vs mostly romance with some fantasy elements (the litmus test being if you can remove the romance and still have the story work)…but that’s not where we are now.

wendypalmer , to bookstodon group
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

Queer Romance Club June pick: A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske (The Last Binding #1)

(QRC is open to all, read the pick at your own pace over the month and post about it under and @queerromanceclub — CW for spoilers if you’re going into details)

I particularly enjoyed this book (and the whole trilogy) the first time I read it (it’s another of my favourite queer romance historical/fantasy trilogies, more here: https://wendypalmer.au/2024/02/11/books-favourite-queer-romance-trilogies/), so I’m happy for chance to re-read. And I’m looking forward to a new Marske book coming out later this year.

I like the Edwardian setting: this feels like a relatively under-used era in (queer) fantasy, compared to Regency and Victorian eras. Off the top of my head, only CL Polk’s Witchmark uses the Edwardian (I’m sure there’s plenty more!). Every other early 20th example that occurred to me was actually between the wars (prohibition, bright young things)…This setting gets to maintain the 19th century formality of relations, class disparities and sexism that makes for good plot and character tension, but also use our knowledge of the coming Great War to cast a long shadow.

The opening chapters do a great job laying out the era, magical system, and opening dilemma, and introducing the two MCs and their problems and backgrounds.

Also:
Robin, about Edwin: he has a eminently punchable face
Edwin, about Robin: he’s half-witted and incurious, not enough wit, not enough sense
😊 It’s basically a nerd-jock dynamic, let’s face it.

I’ll post a bit more on the book in coming days (under spoiler warnings from here on in), but I have the audiobook reserved for later in the month, so I’m looking forward to reading it in a different way to see what strikes me differently.

@queerromanceclub @bookstodon @lgbtqbookstodon

wendypalmer OP ,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@Kay @queerromanceclub @bookstodon @lgbtqbookstodon oh yes of course, the Think of England pair 🤦‍♀️ I knew I missing something obvious (too busy trying to think of magic examples)

golgaloth , to random
@golgaloth@writing.exchange avatar

Releasing a book as an independent author these days is like screaming into the ... wait, hang on.

Do any of you use particular strategies for increasing awareness that your book actually exists? Help an author out, here.

wendypalmer ,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@golgaloth I know some people have had great success with facebooks ads…

There’s a particular guru who several writers here have said is helpful — I’ve forgotten the name but @adaddinsane I think has mentioned him?

wendypalmer ,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@futurebird nod 🙂‍↕️I don’t use them either, due to the same discomfit.

wendypalmer ,
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@futurebird @golgaloth @adaddinsane I don’t use them either, due to the same discomfit, but there’s no denying they can work well 😊

kimlockhartga , to bookstodon group
@kimlockhartga@beige.party avatar

Since we are coming up on June, it seems like a good time to check in with everyone here on @bookstodon regarding favorite reads of 2024 so far. Whatcha got?

My top five reads of 2024 so far:

The Criminal series of graphic novels by Ed Brubaker (ten primary works)

James, Percival Everett

The Book of Love, Kelly Link

Poor Deer, Claire Oshetsky

Prequel, Rachel Maddow

wendypalmer ,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@kimlockhartga @bookstodon top five reads for 2024

Ink Blood Sister Scribe - Emma Torzs

Lola in the Mirror - Trent Dalton

The Raven Tower - Ann Leckie

The Mountain in the Sea - Ray Naylor

Djinn City - Saad Hossain

aehdeschaine , to bookstodon group
@aehdeschaine@zirk.us avatar

I've never been able to get into Stoicism, but I still like reading about different philosophies. However, I also know that that is one where a lot of popular works deviate badly from the original.

So, a question: are Ryan Holiday's books solid/accurate? Are they in line with ancient Stoic philosophy? Are they a purely modern interpretation? Are they worth reading for growing my non-expert knowledge (in a positive, not just critiquing, way)?

@bookstodon

wendypalmer ,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@aehdeschaine @bookstodon I don’t know about Ryan Halliday (he strikes me as quite commercial but that could be unfair), but I do very much like Kai Whiting’s Being Better, Massimo Pigliucci’s Think Like a Stoic, and Brigid Delaney’s Reasons Not to Worry.

(And also the weekly The What is Stoicism? Podcast)

wendypalmer , to bookstodon group
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

My favourite reads for May on the Everand subscription service (plus a few comments on the subscription service itself).

ETA I've updated my May list because I managed to squeeze in the DELIGHTFUL Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis. Thoroughly recommend this comedic fantasy.

#Everand #BookSubscription #Reading #Books #Reviews

@bookstodon
http://wendypalmer.au/2024/05/28/books-may-everand-reads/

wendypalmer , to bookstodon group
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

This is one of those times I wish people would include a review with their rating 😊

(It’s for How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying)

@bookstodon

wendypalmer , to bookstodon group
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

For fans of AJ Demas, she has a new book on preorder! It has felt so long since the last one, I was beginning to get worried about her 😊

https://www.kobo.com/au/en/ebook/the-house-of-the-red-balconies

@bookstodon

wendypalmer , to random
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

#WritingCommunity, I'm re-doing the cover of one of my previous books (doing the print version and can't make the original cover work in print; also need to match to another book in the same world later this year).

I've got this far, but I have the unshakeable feeling there's a book out there already in a similar genre with pretty much the exact colour scheme, and possibly the whole rest of it too.

Can anyone tell me if I have wholly plagiarised this damn thing?

#books #covers

wdsouth , to random
@wdsouth@plasmatrap.com avatar

Either I'm fussier than I thought or I'm having a hard time finding enjoyable #UrbanFantasy books.

Anyone have any worth checking out?

#Bookstodon

wendypalmer ,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@wdsouth are you after something in the Ben Aaronovitch Rivers of London vein, or the Emma Torzs Ink Blood Sister Scribe vein, or something completely different?

@bookstodon it’s an Urban Fantasy request

willaful , to bookstodon group
@willaful@romancelandia.club avatar

? I haven't been posting about books much, been kind of in a meh mood. Still slowly reading Demon Copperhead, which is amazing but a LOT. Listened to Carrie Soto is Back, which was a bit of a hard sell because of the unlikable narrator but very enjoyable in the end. And just finished The Prisoner's Throne which I enjoyed but kind of forgot about as soon as I'd finished it.

@bookstodon

wendypalmer ,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@willaful @bookstodon I should finish City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky today…I don’t normally read very long books with ensemble casts but he won me over with the set-up and his sense of humour.

I am looking forward to finally finishing though, and this weekend will be Connie Willis’s The Road to Roswell — longtime fan, looking forward to it

wendypalmer , to bookstodon group
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

#10authors5booksEach (10 authors you’ve read at least 5 books by)

Connie Willis
Natasha Pulley
KJ Charles
Martha Wells
Sarah Rees Brennan
Jane Austen
Seanan McGuire
AJ Demas
T Kingfisher
Dorothy L Sayers

@bookstodon #books #reading

meshell , to bookstodon group
@meshell@mastodon.social avatar

I finished Olivia Atwater’s The Witchwood Knot this evening and it was just very delightful to be back within her magical human faerie world again. I’m pleased there will be more books in this series.

I’ve been enjoying a lot of faerie / fae / fair folk books lately - another one was heather fawcett’s emily wilde's encyclopaedia of faeries.

I wonder if anyone has any other recommendations in that zone @bookstodon #bookstadon

wendypalmer ,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@meshell @bookstodon I enjoyed both those books, and also enjoyed High Times in the Low Parliament, a novella. It does dump you straight into a fairy-ruled woman-only London without explanation but it’s fun if you just roll with it.

wendypalmer ,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@meshell @bookstodon it does have the lowest rating I’ve ever seen on GoodReads so is obviously not to everyone’s tastes 😊

Have you ever come across Catherynne Valente’s Fairyland series, starting with The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making?

Or Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series? Or maybe Alix E Harrow. Or Zen Cho’s Sorcerer to the Crown…

They’re all sort of adjacent to the books you mentioned — I’m sure I’ve read others that fit them closer but I just can’t think of any right now! (There’s one right on the tip of my tongue, it’s driving me nuts 😊)

wendypalmer ,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@meshell @bookstodon 🤦‍♀️ Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell of course, but you’ve probably read that one

wendypalmer , to random
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

What could possibly have happened to cause a big one-day spike in sales of one of my books?

(It’s always the Victorian-era fantasy romance. Sometimes I picture Kit and Alex being very smug at my couples from settings inspired by less-popular historical eras… though when my VIKING-era book comes out next year, Feilan and Remy are going to give you a run for your money, boys… 😂 )

#WritingCommunity

wendypalmer , to bookstodon group
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

Red, White & Royal Blue is on sale on Kobo Au for $2.99 and it gave me enough pleasure when I read it via my library that I would absolutely buy a copy…except it has the movie cover. Can’t do it. Same reason I couldn’t get Boy Swallows Universe when it was on sale last month either.

But All Our Shimmering Skies and The Adventures of Al-Sirafi are also on sale, with normal nice covers 👍

(Of course, I’m pretty sure they can just swoop in and change the cover even after you’ve bought a copy anyway; I just really wish you got to choose your favourite)

@bookstodon

wendypalmer , to bookstodon group
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

One of the review pull quotes in the blurb for Natasha Pulley’s new book (The Mars House) reads ‘A spiritual heir to Terry Pratchett'.

While I’m sure the quote must come from a longer review which justifies the sentiment, on the face of it, it’s mind-boggling.

I mean, I love both these authors, but I cannot make that connection work AT ALL.

#bookstodon @bookstodon #books

wendypalmer , to bookstodon group
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

For some reason, #Hoopla’s recommendation algorithm is phenomenally accurate for me compared to the commercial options…this is six for six, the downside being I’ve read every one of them already 😂

#bookstodon @bookstodon

SusannaShore , to bookstodon group
@SusannaShore@wandering.shop avatar

I review Death in the Spires by K. J. Charles. A wonderful historical mystery. Out today.
https://susannashore.blogspot.com/2024/04/death-in-spires-by-k-j-charles-review.html

#BookReview #mystery @bookstodon

wendypalmer ,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@SusannaShore @bookstodon I listened to this (double speed) on audiobook in a single unbroken sitting that ended at 1am so, uh, I enjoyed it 😊

wendypalmer , to random
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

My partner decided “loaf” was a weird word so I looked up its etymology and now we know “lord” comes from “loaf-ward” ie guardian of the bread.

#etymology #TIL

wendypalmer , to random
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

I have an eye appointment today which reminds me that my usual optometrist looks exactly like Seven of Nine

SusannaShore , to bookstodon group
@SusannaShore@wandering.shop avatar

I review Small Gods of Calamity by Sam Kyung Yoo. Paranormal mystery set in modern Seoul. Out today.
https://susannashore.blogspot.com/2024/03/small-gods-of-calamity-by-sam-kyung-yoo.html

#BookReview #urbanfantasy #mystery @bookstodon

wendypalmer ,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@SusannaShore @bookstodon thanks for recommending this - I’ve started it tonight and am really liking it so far

wendypalmer , to bookstodon group
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

It’s ’ 15th annual Read an Ebook Week starting today (March 3). So many ebooks on sale from 25-100% off, available at https://smashwords.com/shelves/promos. It’s a great chance to try out new-to-you indie authors (and practice sideloading non-DRM books to your device too 😊 ).

Mine are all 50% off. I write fantasy novels with romantic subplots. Not dark, but not as fluffy as they sound either.
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/wendylpalmer

They’re also available on and and the usual ebook retailers if Smashwords isn’t your thing.

@bookstodon

kayakalison , to bookstodon group
@kayakalison@nerdculture.de avatar

@bookstodon I’m at the pool and just finished “Uprooted” by Naomi Novik. I have two more days of holiday left, any #VacationReads recommendations? #bookstodon

wendypalmer ,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@kayakalison @bookstodon you could go on Novik’s Scholomance series, but how about T. Kingfisher, What Moves the Dead? Creepy fungus-based Fall of the House of Usher retelling, and the stand-alone sequel just came out too.

NickEast , to bookstodon group
@NickEast@geekdom.social avatar

Reader questions: What are you currently reading, and would you recommend it?

@reading @bookstodon @bookbubble @books

#Reading #Readers #ReadersOfMastodon #ReadingCommunity
#Recommendation #BookRecommendation #Books #Bookwyrm #Bookworm #Bookstodon #BookLove #BoostingIsSharing

wendypalmer ,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@NickEast @reading @bookstodon @bookbubble @books Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway. Classic noir hardbitten detective type in a future cyberpunk setting.

wendypalmer ,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@kimlockhartga @NickEast @reading @bookstodon @bookbubble @books isn’t he! I’ll always have a soft spot for Gone-Away World but I’ve loved every one of his books. GNOMON was excellent.

wendypalmer , to bookstodon group
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

#amReading Broken Light by Joanne Harris, about a menopausal woman rediscovering her power both literally and metaphorically. Perfect for my current age, outlook and mood. Greatly enjoying and looking forward to seeing where it goes.

#bookstodon @bookstodon #menopause

wendypalmer , to random
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

Has your day been a bag of dicks? Have a box of ducks to make up for it.

#cute #fluffy #ducklings

wendypalmer , to bookstodon group
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@bookstodon my kid’s listening to the complete Mr Gum stories on audiobook, read by the author, and we two adults are giggling along with him 😊

#kidLit

wendypalmer , to bookstodon group
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

I wish ebook retailers let you choose your cover eg if I wanted to buy a copy of Boy Swallows Universe today, I’d be stuck with the Netflix cover. It doesn’t have to be like that.

#bookstodon @bookstodon

dvmheather , to bookstodon group
@dvmheather@toot.cat avatar

New to me authors in 2023 who I liked enough to read more than once.

https://www.spiritblog.net/new-to-me-authors-in-2023/

#books #reading #bookstodon @bookstodon

wendypalmer ,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@dvmheather @bookstodon I also enjoyed three of those authors this last year (Freya Marske, WR Gingell and Emily Skrutskie), so we must have similar tastes 😊 I’ll check out the other authors

wendypalmer , to bookstodon group
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

Hey @bookstodon what is the name of the literary convention/technique/trope where chapters names are very descriptive — see photo example from India Holton’s The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

Or, in a different, probably more common format, the chapter title is a long descriptive sentence beginning “In which…”

I mostly see it these days in the intersections of historical fantasy romance comedy. I feel like it’s got something to do with the comedy of manners genre or a certain era of writing that some historicals are drawing on.

#bookstodon #chapters

wendypalmer , to bookstodon group
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@bookstodon Natasha Pulley fans, or those would like give her a try, The Half Life of Valery K is on sale at Kobo (and maybe other places) right now.

https://www.kobo.com/au/en/ebook/the-half-life-of-valery-k-1

#bookstodon #HistoricalFiction

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