Here are the books I re-read since the beginning of May:
N.K. Jemisin, The Inheritance Trilogy (The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, The Broken Kingdoms, The Kingdom of Gods). Epic fantasy. Not earth Medieval Europe based, wonderfully developed characters. Naha is a favorite.
Lois McMaster Bujold, Sharing Knife Series (4 books: Beguilement, Legacy, Passage, Horizon). Fantasy/romance. Has a great depiction of riverboat culture.
Kate Elliott, Spiritwalker Trilogy (Cold Magic, Cold Fire, Cold Steel). Epic fantasy. I love Ms Elliott's worldbuilding. An example: an intelligent species based on troodons.
Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman, Good Omens. Because it's a delightfully funny apocalypse tale.
Elizabeth Bear, 2 books: Blood and Iron and Whiskey and Water. Urban fantasy. Inventive combination of classic Fairie, the Morgan/Arthur myth, mages, werewolves, and a dragon, centered in New York City. Her Morgan is my favorite Morgan ever. And Ms Bear gives the kelpie realistic horse-like behaviors when he's in human form.
Here's what I read that was new for me since the beginning of May:
C.J. Cherryh, The Morgaine Saga. A collection of three SF novels; interplanetary time travel and culture clashes.
N.K. Jemisin & Hiromi Goto, Systems Fail. A collection of short stories and essays published for WisCon38, where they were the Guests of Honor.
Ursula Vernon, Toad Words and Other Stories. Ms Vernon tells delightfully original fairy tales. She is also very good at re-imagining traditional fairy tales. If you're unfamiliar with her work, starting here would be a good choice. Then read Digger (beginning of the story) - just sayin'.
I finished Toad Words today. I think I'm ready to tackle more new books now.
Showing posts with label Elizabeth Bear. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elizabeth Bear. Show all posts
31 August 2014
22 March 2013
Dithering
I can't settle on a blog topic, so here's a mix of stuff as it occurs to me.
Princess Cruises sends me emails with enticing sales. I dithered for weeks in late January/ early February about taking a 14 day trans-Atlantic cruise before finally deciding I'd buy a new computer and attend at least one writing conference instead.
About writing conferences: I'm going to WisCon, a science fiction writing convention. It's in Madison, Wisconsin. Shame they didn't name it MadCon ...
Another email from Princess Cruises. This time I only dithered for a few days (up until today, actually) about a 12 day cruise around the British Isles that includes England, Ireland and Scotland, even the Orkneys! Still need to buy that new computer, and this cruise, though shorter than the trans-Atlantic one, was half again more expensive. I guess because there are more ports. Really don't have that kind of money, but it sure is fun to dream.
I can't explain why this makes me so excited, but my blog got two hits from KERIBATI, someone searching on red imported fire ants. Hi, Keribati person! I sure hope Solenopsis invicta hasn't invaded your islands.
The Inkwell, a sort-of novel I wrote with a friend, is completely posted now - see tab at top of my blog here. There are 40 sections of roughly 2000 words each. We learned collaborating on a story can be so much fun it's amazing it's not illegal. Have a look if you're so inclined.
I really enjoyed the cruise to Alaska last year and hope one shows up in these sale emails that actually fits my budget. The sea, it is calling me ...
Three interchangeable responses to "You're a bitch!"
1. You say that like it's a bad thing.
2. Everyone has to have a hobby.
3. And?
On Monday I finished reading a book (The World Until Yesterday by Jared Diamond). Since then I've purchased three books (The Fire Ants by Walter Tschinkel; Queen Victoria's Book of Spells, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling; and Shattered Pillars by Elizabeth Bear). My TBR pile will never disappear.
Perhaps I need a large writing project to keep my mind focused. (Rising Tide version 3 is out visiting Beta readers.) Without one ... ooooh shiny!
Princess Cruises sends me emails with enticing sales. I dithered for weeks in late January/ early February about taking a 14 day trans-Atlantic cruise before finally deciding I'd buy a new computer and attend at least one writing conference instead.
About writing conferences: I'm going to WisCon, a science fiction writing convention. It's in Madison, Wisconsin. Shame they didn't name it MadCon ...
Another email from Princess Cruises. This time I only dithered for a few days (up until today, actually) about a 12 day cruise around the British Isles that includes England, Ireland and Scotland, even the Orkneys! Still need to buy that new computer, and this cruise, though shorter than the trans-Atlantic one, was half again more expensive. I guess because there are more ports. Really don't have that kind of money, but it sure is fun to dream.
I can't explain why this makes me so excited, but my blog got two hits from KERIBATI, someone searching on red imported fire ants. Hi, Keribati person! I sure hope Solenopsis invicta hasn't invaded your islands.
The Inkwell, a sort-of novel I wrote with a friend, is completely posted now - see tab at top of my blog here. There are 40 sections of roughly 2000 words each. We learned collaborating on a story can be so much fun it's amazing it's not illegal. Have a look if you're so inclined.
I really enjoyed the cruise to Alaska last year and hope one shows up in these sale emails that actually fits my budget. The sea, it is calling me ...
Three interchangeable responses to "You're a bitch!"
1. You say that like it's a bad thing.
2. Everyone has to have a hobby.
3. And?
On Monday I finished reading a book (The World Until Yesterday by Jared Diamond). Since then I've purchased three books (The Fire Ants by Walter Tschinkel; Queen Victoria's Book of Spells, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling; and Shattered Pillars by Elizabeth Bear). My TBR pile will never disappear.
Perhaps I need a large writing project to keep my mind focused. (Rising Tide version 3 is out visiting Beta readers.) Without one ... ooooh shiny!
31 December 2012
This Year and Books
2012 wasn’t a bad year for me. I put in much time editing and writing and as a result have taken a novel farther than I have ever done before. I took a real vacation for the first time in nearly a decade to a place that has fascinated me since I was a kid = awesome with awesome sauce.
I didn’t read as much as I’d like; time spent writing is time not reading. Looking over the list, it was a year of mostly favorite authors, their new stuff as well as re-reading older works. Here it is, with ocasional notes:
JANUARY
(1) David Jauss, On Writing Fiction, Rethinking Conventional Wisdom About the Craft. Essays on point of view, flow, epiphanies, and more.
(2) Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn. Beautiful writing.
FEBRUARY
None
MARCH
(3) Seanan McGuire, Discount Armageddon. Marvelous fun! A monster-protecting competition-level ballroom dancer protagonist who is seriously awesome! This book made the Grande Finale of the Cover Battle of 2012 at Ranting Dragon. Up against Blackbirds, as of now (12/31/12) the count is 52%/48% in favor of Blackbirds.
(4) Elizabeth Bear, By the Mountain Bound. Prequel to All the Windwracked Stars. Good fantasy, spun from a Norse foundation
APRIL
(5) Elizabeth Bear, The Sea Thy Mistress. Sequel to All the Windwracked Stars. Now I’ve finally read all three books that make up the Edda of Burdens series.
MAY
(6) N.K. Jemisin, The Kingdom of Gods. Book three in The Inheritance Trilogy. Marvelous and satisfying.
(7) Ellen Datlow, ed, Naked City. Anthology of urban fantasy stories by Jim Butcher, Holly Black, Elizabeth Bear, and others. Loved it!
JUNE
(8) Carol King, A Natural Woman. A memoir that brought back memories of events we all lived through and how important her music, and the music of others, was in defining and solidifying those times.
(9) Jenny Lawson, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir). Hilarious and sad and fascinating. At times like watching a train wreck. But in a good way.
JULY
None. :-(
AUGUST
(10) Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter, The Long Earth. New SF book, not Discworld. I enjoyed it.
SEPTEMBER
None. :-(
OCTOBER
(11) Lois McMaster Bujold, Cordelia’s Honor. Re-read of a loved book.
NOVEMBER
(12) Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, Good Omens. Another re-read of a favorite. Yes, I took time off from writing during NaNoWriMo to read! If you look at my stats [Kat's NaNo Stats] you can probably tell when it was, too. {Oops. Maybe not! It was the first slump; the second slump was work-induced.}
DECEMBER
(13) Elizabeth Bear, shoggoths in bloom. Collection of many good short stories
(14) Terry Pratchett, Hogfather. Traditional to read this at Christmastime. Starting back when my daughter was around 14, we would read this out loud to each other, doing voices. She does Death’s voice very well.
(15) Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time. The book that follows Hogfather.
In Progress: Elizabeth Bear, Range of Ghosts. Thought I might get it finished today, but didn’t.
Well, I managed more than one book per month. Perhaps I will do better next year.
OMG, my cup of New Year's Egg Nog is nearly gone! I blame that for any typos.
I know 2012 could not end soon enough for many. I feel fortunate that I was not in that group this time.
May 2013 be kind to all.
I didn’t read as much as I’d like; time spent writing is time not reading. Looking over the list, it was a year of mostly favorite authors, their new stuff as well as re-reading older works. Here it is, with ocasional notes:
JANUARY
(1) David Jauss, On Writing Fiction, Rethinking Conventional Wisdom About the Craft. Essays on point of view, flow, epiphanies, and more.
(2) Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn. Beautiful writing.
FEBRUARY
None
MARCH
(3) Seanan McGuire, Discount Armageddon. Marvelous fun! A monster-protecting competition-level ballroom dancer protagonist who is seriously awesome! This book made the Grande Finale of the Cover Battle of 2012 at Ranting Dragon. Up against Blackbirds, as of now (12/31/12) the count is 52%/48% in favor of Blackbirds.
(4) Elizabeth Bear, By the Mountain Bound. Prequel to All the Windwracked Stars. Good fantasy, spun from a Norse foundation
APRIL
(5) Elizabeth Bear, The Sea Thy Mistress. Sequel to All the Windwracked Stars. Now I’ve finally read all three books that make up the Edda of Burdens series.
MAY
(6) N.K. Jemisin, The Kingdom of Gods. Book three in The Inheritance Trilogy. Marvelous and satisfying.
(7) Ellen Datlow, ed, Naked City. Anthology of urban fantasy stories by Jim Butcher, Holly Black, Elizabeth Bear, and others. Loved it!
JUNE
(8) Carol King, A Natural Woman. A memoir that brought back memories of events we all lived through and how important her music, and the music of others, was in defining and solidifying those times.
(9) Jenny Lawson, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir). Hilarious and sad and fascinating. At times like watching a train wreck. But in a good way.
JULY
None. :-(
AUGUST
(10) Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter, The Long Earth. New SF book, not Discworld. I enjoyed it.
SEPTEMBER
None. :-(
OCTOBER
(11) Lois McMaster Bujold, Cordelia’s Honor. Re-read of a loved book.
NOVEMBER
(12) Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, Good Omens. Another re-read of a favorite. Yes, I took time off from writing during NaNoWriMo to read! If you look at my stats [Kat's NaNo Stats] you can probably tell when it was, too. {Oops. Maybe not! It was the first slump; the second slump was work-induced.}
DECEMBER
(13) Elizabeth Bear, shoggoths in bloom. Collection of many good short stories
(14) Terry Pratchett, Hogfather. Traditional to read this at Christmastime. Starting back when my daughter was around 14, we would read this out loud to each other, doing voices. She does Death’s voice very well.
(15) Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time. The book that follows Hogfather.
In Progress: Elizabeth Bear, Range of Ghosts. Thought I might get it finished today, but didn’t.
Well, I managed more than one book per month. Perhaps I will do better next year.
OMG, my cup of New Year's Egg Nog is nearly gone! I blame that for any typos.
I know 2012 could not end soon enough for many. I feel fortunate that I was not in that group this time.
May 2013 be kind to all.
12 December 2012
Reading on 12/12/12
Over at shouldbereading , today's meme is:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you'll read next?
I am currently reading Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear:
Ms Bear's imagery and sensory details, along with a ripping great yarn, are why I love her work. This is book one of a trilogy; she has used a Mongul base rather than the standard fantasy medieval European base. I'm only on Chapter 5. So far it's wonderful.
I most recently finished Shoggoths in Bloom by Elizabeth Bear:
This is a collection of short stories. I started it back in October; took a break for NaNoWriMo in November, and finished it early in December. It includes her two stories that won Hugo Awards.
I will next read Hogfather by Terry Pratchett:
because it is a family tradition to read this book at Christmastime. I may read it before finishing Range of Ghosts. Or I may watch the movie, which is well done but lacks one of my favorite scenes, one that involves a teddy bear.
Please share your recent and future reading list!
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you'll read next?
I am currently reading Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear:
I most recently finished Shoggoths in Bloom by Elizabeth Bear:
I will next read Hogfather by Terry Pratchett:
Please share your recent and future reading list!
26 October 2012
NaNoWriMo Prep
What little planning I’m doing for NaNo is moving along. I have more than fifty prompts for stories but only hazy ideas for characters. That bit’s a little worrisome. Back when I wrote lit fic short stories, I could start with anything. Over the last four years or so - when I’ve focused on novels - it seems I need a character before I can start writing. I’d love to get back to starting with anything. Maybe that ability will return in November.
My daughter is doing NaNo this year. She’s far more organized than I am, with pages of notes. She writes faster, too. Good writing, let me tell you, and that’s not just because I’m her mom!
Elizabeth Bear’s new short story collection, Shoggoths In Bloom, arrived at my door Wednesday. I plan to devour it. Several of the stories included are among my favorites (“Tideline” and “Cryptic Coloration”) and I’m sure I’ll have a few more favorites by the time I finish the book.
I’m also half way through another anthology, Dragon Lords and Warrior Women, edited by Phyllis Irene Radford. Maybe I’ll get that one done before November 1 as well.
See, it’s all part of the NaNo prep. If I want to write short stories, I need to read them!
Happy reading, everyone!
My daughter is doing NaNo this year. She’s far more organized than I am, with pages of notes. She writes faster, too. Good writing, let me tell you, and that’s not just because I’m her mom!
Elizabeth Bear’s new short story collection, Shoggoths In Bloom, arrived at my door Wednesday. I plan to devour it. Several of the stories included are among my favorites (“Tideline” and “Cryptic Coloration”) and I’m sure I’ll have a few more favorites by the time I finish the book.
I’m also half way through another anthology, Dragon Lords and Warrior Women, edited by Phyllis Irene Radford. Maybe I’ll get that one done before November 1 as well.
See, it’s all part of the NaNo prep. If I want to write short stories, I need to read them!
Happy reading, everyone!
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