between the rock and the cold, cold sea

Books 2014: 46-52


46. S.L. Huang, Zero Sum Game. Ebook, 2014. Forthcoming. Copy courtesy of author.

This is a very fun book, in a subgenre-crossing way. Set in LA, it strikes me as tonally urban fantasy but with a science fiction explanation. And maybe a little superhero genre thrown in.


47. Nnedi Okorafor, Lagoon. Hodder & Stoughton, 2014. Forthcoming. Copy courtesy of publisher.

I've talked about this elsewhere. A really interesting book.


48. Kate Elliott, The Law of Becoming. Ebook, date that I should look up but won't. (1994?)

Final Jaran book. Will mention in column. Interesting, if one has read the previous books. Sprawling. Surprising. Enjoyed it.


49. Sophia McDougall, Mars Evacuees. Egmont, 2014. Forthcoming. Copy courtesy of author.

Very fun science fiction story aimed at 9-12s. Have mentioned elsewhere, will mention in column.


50. Django Wexler, The Forbidden Library. Doubleday, 2014. Forthcoming. Copy courtesy of publisher.

Very fun fantasy story aimed at 9-12s. Have mentioned elsewhere.


51. Karen Healey, While We Run. Little, Brown & Co., 2014. Forthcoming. Copy courtesy of publisher.

Really good science fiction. Read for review for Tor.com. Highly recommended.


52. Greg van Eekhout, California Bones. Tor, 2014. Forthcoming. Copy courtesy of Tor.com.

Read for review for Tor.com. This is a really good heist novel with some deeply interesting worldbuilding. Highly recommended.

Books 2012: 270-278


270. Mary Douglas, Natural Symbols. Routledge Classics, 2003. (First edition 1970.)

Douglas is both old-fashioned and her ultimate thesis is difficult for me to follow. Something something grid and group something something symbols something something value judgement.


271-2. Chris Anne Wolfe, Shadows of Aggar and Fires of Aggar. Ebooks.

When I am anxious, in the last couple of years, I go looking for lesbian SFF romance. These are pretty good examples of the subgenre, with what seems like a deep influence from the Marion Zimmer Bradley end of planetary opera.


273. Sarah Ettritch, The Salbine Sisters. Ebook.

More lesbian fantasy romance! Not particularly good, but less terrible than I was expecting.


274-5. Jean Johnston, A Soldier's Duty and An Officer's Duty. Ebooks, Ace.

Space opera with a Very Special Protagonist. But entertaining for all that.


276-7. Isabel Cooper, No Proper Lady and Lessons After Dark. Ebooks.

So... that happened. Moving on.


278. Juliet Rossetti, The Escape Diaries. Ebook.

Heard of this one via @eilatan on Twitter. Is mad, in a good way, I suppose?

---

Today was Visit A Relative Day. I hate the holidays. Can it be done with now?

Books 2012: 259-265


259. Saara Lilja, The Treatment of Odours in the Poetry of Antiquity. Societas Scientiarum Fennica, Helsinki-Helsingfors, 1972.

Exactly as it says, it is a discussion of how odours were treated of in ancient poetry. As it doesn't include prose, it is not everything I could wish: but it's an interesting and worthwhile read.


260. Courtney Milan, The Duchess War. Ebook, purchased from Kobo.

I heard of this from Radish Reviews, and since it was selling for $3.99, thought I'd give it a shot. How well I liked it may be intuited from what follows -


261-265. Courtney Milan, Unveiled, Unclaimed, Unravelled, Proof By Seduction and Trial By Desire. Ebooks, from Kobo.

Yes. I went and got the author's entire backlist. They're imperfect by my standards: while Milan has an eye for the historical dimension of interpersonal power-dynamics, she has watered them down. Also, I've never been able to whole-heartedly enjoy romance as a genre. However, the characters here are kind of brilliant. (Although Proof and Seduction are rather weak, comparatively.)

And in my Night of DOOM, I read six books. Actually, eight, but I'd prefer not to talk about the last two. *g*

Meme, via oursin and sartorias.

What are you currently reading?

Mary Douglas, Natural Symbols

On my super's recommendation. Douglas is decidedly odd, and rather dated at this point.

Michael Pearson, Those Damned Rebels: The American Revolution As Seen Through British Eyes
Padhraig Higgins, A Nation of Politicians: Gender, Patriotism and Political Culture in Late Eighteenth-Century Ireland

Both of them personal interest.

Saara Lilja, The Treatment of Odours in the Poetry of Antiquity
Olsen and Sens, Archestratos of Gela

Research. I would like them more, did I not resent them for keeping me company in my misery.


What did you recently finish reading?

Today? Melanie Rawn's Touchstone. Recently? Check the "books 2012" tag. There've been a lot.


What do you think you’ll read next?

For research the list is long, and gives me anxiety. For fun and/or reviewing?

Karen Lord's The Best of All Possible Worlds and Felix Gilman's The Rise of Ransom City are probably next up. And Vourvoulias' Ink. I have shelves full of competing NEXTs, and a bunch of electronic things I ought to be reading. (I'd like someone to give me a copy of Manieri's Blood's Pride and ask me to review it, but sky, pie, fishes, wishes, etc.)

Books 2012: 248-249


248. Carole Blackwell, Tradition and Society in Turmenistan: Gender, Oral Culture and Song. Routledge, 2001.

A study of the women of contemporary Turkmenistan, particularly the relationship of folksongs to culture. Absolutely fascinating, and immensely readable: I owe thanks to alankria for the recommendation.


249. Malinda Lo, Adaptation. Little, Brown & Co, 2012.

This is one for the award lists. I'm serious: it has the kick of Cory Doctorow's Little Brother with none of the wooden proselytising, and Lo's teenagers are far more real. Also, conspiracy theories! Aliens! Teenager lust!

Books 2012: 243-246


243. Sherwood Smith, Revenant Eve. DAW, 2012.

A third volume in Smith's Ruritanian romance, this one involves magical ghostly time-travelling on the part of the protagonist Kim: as a ghostly observer, she witnesses the youth of her ancestress Aurelie in the 1790s and early 1800s, and must act as a spirit guide. This makes for a novel very weird in terms of structure and emphasis, although the historical parts seem very solid: I hold out hopes that Smith will write a straight (or nearly so) historical some day.


244-246. John Marsden, While I Live, Incurable, and Circle of Flight.

More terrible but cracky YA, sequels to the Tomorrow series.

Books 2012: 231


231. Barbara Ann Wright, The Pyramid Waltz. Bold Strokes Books, 2012.

In my search for bad lesbian fantasy romance, I have discovered that rare treasure: good romantic fantasy (subtype, lesbian). Inevitable? Or unlikely? You decide!

This is Wright's debut novel, although Crossed Genres has published two of her short stories. It has some of the usual debut novel flaws: occasional worldbuilding oddness/lack of elucidating incluing, a couple of developments emerging without the expected amount of build-up (although this could as equally be a flaw of marrying a romantic storyline to an action plot), and a climax a little on the rushed side.

(Yes, Virginia. You are allowed to take more than three short chapters for the Big Demon Showdown. I encourage it, in fact!)

Those caveats aside, however: this is a reasonably solid fantasy novel* that shows definite promise. The young woman Starbride** has come to the royal court in the kingdom of Farraday because her mother expects her to snare a husband whose influence would be useful back home in Allusia. But Starbride doesn't want a husband: instead, she wants to learn Farradain law and use it to Allusia's advantage. A chance encounter with Princess Katya Nar Umbriel, the royal family's second child, leads to entanglement in affairs of the heart, of the state, and of magic.

In public, Katya plays the bored rakish princess. In private, she heads a secret society dedicated to defending the throne and protecting the royal family's secrets, including the most important one: the whole royal family is part "Fiend" (a kind of demon) and must participate in a ritual every few years to keep a far more terrible demon imprisoned. But there's treachery on the loose, and someone's determined to upset the royal family's image - and perhaps the ritual too.

It's in this context that Katya and Starbride's tentative friendship blossoms into romance, in one of the better romantic storylines I've read. (The misunderstanding here aren't stupid ones: for the most part they're justified.) Starbride's gradual education in the ways of court and in Katya's secret world is reasonably well done, and Katya's slow learning-to-trust is believable.

(Both of our protagonists seem just a little too competent for eighteen- and nineteen-year-olds, but damn do I love wish-fulfillment: this would go down quite well with teenagers, as well, I think.)

Wright's prose is competent at the sentence-level, showing flashes of more. (And that competent may seen like faint praise, but most books have merely competent prose - and Wright's is several giant steps above the tolerable-to-laughably-bad I've come to expect from BSB's SFF offerings (those where the prose is slightly better than slushpile quality, the worldbuilding is at best naive, at worst completely broken (and yes, I know I'm doing the nest digressions thing)) - and competent prose is what the genre's built on.) Wright has a good touch with dialogue, though: there're moments of sparkling banter here.

With a good editor, I expect Wright could improve immeasurably. As it stands? This is a good book, and although it ends with some matters unresolved, I'm given to understand that a sequel is anticipated next summer.

So I recommend it, particularly to anyone feeling a dearth of (queer) women in their fantasy.


*I find it hard to say better than this about any romance story. The romantic element remains stubbornly predictable.

**Let's say that I found the name a little ridiculous until the cultural worldbuilding behind it was revealed, at which point it became amusing.

Books 2012: 224-229


224-228. Dorothy Gilman, The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax, A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax, Mrs. Pollifax On Safari, Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station and Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha. Fawcett, 1970s-1985.

Novels about the elderly Mrs. Pollifax (I say elderly, but she's only a few years older than my mum, how attitudes to age have changed) who's taken up a late career as a spy. These are slightly delightful, slightly faily books - but the sense of humour works perfectly for me most of the time.


229. John Marsden, Tomorrow, When The War Began. Ebook.

Not particularly good YA. But it seems like it would be like crack to its intended audience.

Books 2012: 218-219


218. Laura E. Reeve, Pathfinder. Roc, 2010.

Space opera, satisfying to my tastes. Will talk more a post on Tor.com in coming weeks.


219. Andrzej Sapkowski, The Last Wish. Gollancz, 2007. Translated from the Polish by Danusia Stok.

First published in Poland in 1993, the series begun in this novel has enjoyed global success, including two videogames, although - thanks to complicated rights issues, I believe - it is little-known in English.

Good points: the style is interesting, the translation fluid, the narrative a set of loosely-linked episodes riffing off well-known fairy or folktales, which works well.

Bad points: treatment of women. Honestly? Honestly?

Books 2012: 214


214. Chaz Brenchley, House of Bells. Severn House, 2012.

A gothic, horror-esque, deeply affecting novel. Look out for review in winter Ideomancer, but in the meanwhile, I recommend it highly.