wendypalmer

wendypalmer , 1 day ago to Romancelandia group

Queer Romance Club book choice for July

I’ve got the tiebreaker, so let’s go for the indie author, AJ Demas.

The official pick is Sword Dance.

Technically the first in a trilogy, but stand-alone with a HFN ending. Damiskos is an absolute cinnamon roll of a lead character, and the book itself is down the cosy end of the spectrum (with more plot than some cosies I’ve encountered 😊), though there is discussion of severe injuries including castration (Varazda is a eunuch).

However, Honey and Pepper is currently free on various sites, and The House of the Red Balconies just released a few days ago.

So, officially we’re chatting about Sword Dance in July, but perhaps we can also have a general AJ Demas appreciation month, whichever of her books you happen to pick up. They’re all set in the same fictional classical Mediterranean-inspired ancient world (which does include era-appropriate slavery), and they all feature rather sweet and comforting relationships. You’ll find them on Kobo Plus, your library if it’s better than mine (mine only has Sword Dance), or they’re all reasonably priced.

https://www.kobo.com/au/en/search?query=aj+demas

QRC is open to all, read at your own pace over the month and post about it under #QueerRomanceClub and @queerromanceclub — CW for spoilers if you’re posting early and going into details. No rules: let’s hear reactions, theories, reviews, favourite quotes etc.

Follow the hashtag #QueerRomanceClub, add @queerromanceclub to a list/notifications.

#AJDemas #GayRomance @romancelandia @gayromance #books @bookstodon

wendypalmer OP , 16 hours ago

@herhandsmyhands @queerromanceclub @romancelandia @gayromance @bookstodon Sword Dance is one of my very favourite comfort re-reads 😊

Scotter , 2 days ago to bookstodon group

@bookstodon
Next book I'm listening to. So interesting! Covers so many words--their first use and how their use evolved. Pretty quick at 8.5 hours and just under 300 pages.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

wendypalmer , 1 day ago

@Scotter @bookstodon thanks, this is on my TBR list, I’ve moved it to the top of the list 😊

kimlockhartga , 8 days ago to bookstodon group

@bookstodon on this #WorldRefugeeDay 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 , 8 days ago

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

wendypalmer , 7 days ago

@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 , 7 days ago

@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

Schnuckster , 20 days ago to bookstodon group

I saw this dreadful neologism in Oxfam Islington. #CharityShops #books #bookstodon @bookstodon

wendypalmer , 20 days ago

@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.

golgaloth , 25 days ago to random

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.

#WritingCommunity #AmWriting #writing #authodons

wendypalmer , 25 days ago

@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 , 24 days ago

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

wendypalmer , 24 days ago

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

wendypalmer , 24 days ago to bookstodon group

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 #QueerRomanceClub 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 #BookClub #FantasyRomance #books #bookstodon #TheLastBinding #FreyaMarske

@queerromanceclub @bookstodon @lgbtqbookstodon

wendypalmer OP , 24 days ago

@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)

kimlockhartga , 28 days ago to bookstodon group

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 , 27 days ago

@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 , 30 days ago to bookstodon group

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

#Stoicism #philosophy

wendypalmer , 30 days ago

@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)

wdsouth , 1 month ago to random

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 , 1 month ago

@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 , 1 month ago to bookstodon group

#WhatchaReading ? 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
#bookstodon #AmReading

wendypalmer , 1 month ago

@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

meshell , 2 months ago to bookstodon group

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 , 2 months ago

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