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Trying to be better about posting at least short book recs, and also I was part of a Trans and Nonbinary Pride book talk panel for World Pride in May so I read so many queer books last month.

Linus and Etta Could Use a Win by Caroline Huntoon - A middle grade series about a trans boy moving to a new school and a girl he befriends. Very sweet, I especially loved Linus, who came out and it went fine, everyone was supportive, but then he just kept having to come out again and again and he wanted a fresh start with people who only know him as a guy when his family moves to be closer to his elderly grandmother.

Just Happy to Be Here by Naomi Kanakia - A YA novel set in an alternate Virginia about a trans girl trying to get into an elite group at her private school. This was an interesting read-- it's very much the POV of a self-absorbed teenage girl who does not want to be face of the trans right movement, she just wants to date this other girl and talk about historical speeches. There's transphobia and racism, but Tara carves out a happy life for herself.

The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion by Margaret Killjoy - A post-apocalyptic punk horror fantasy story about a woman trying to figure out why her best friend killed himself after leaving a mysterious town. This was a little slight for me, but the horror elements were great and I enjoyed a lot of the characters and enjoyed it enough to seek out the sequel.

The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door by G. Parry - An adult fantasy novel set post-WWI in which a woman discovers faeries and magic are real and gets a scholarship to a magic university to try and save her older brother from a faerie curse. Probably my favorite of the books I read, the worldbuilding is cool, the friendships are fascinating and complicated, there's interesting classism involved, and I just really liked the main character a lot.

In the Form of a Question by Amy Schneider - A memoir of the longest-running female contestant on Jeopardy and her journey to that and figuring out she was trans. This was a great read, I really loved how Amy's love of learning came across and her anecdotes were funny and sad and complicated but all ultimately hopeful.

The City in Glass by Nghi Vo - A fantasy novel about a demon whose mortal city is destroyed by angels and her relationship with an angel she cursed that stays in the dead city with her. What a weird book, I say with great affection. The demon has such a completely alien mind which is a great POV, and her grief over her lost city and efforts to build a new one is a compelling read. Probably my other favorite of what I read but then I love all of Nghi Vo's works.

These Fragile Graces This Fugitive Heart by Izzy Wasserstein - A post-apocalyptic scifi noir novella in which a trans woman is trying to solve the murder of her ex-girlfriend in the commune she self-exiled herself from a few years earlier. Also a wild ride! The main character makes some interesting decisions, the mystery is engaging and twisty, and I really enjoyed the ending.

So one of my favorite childhood series is Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia Wrede.

Imagine my delight when one of my coworkers pointed me to a puppet show livestream performance of a play someone has made of the first book Dealing With Dragons! It airs tonight, January 31st, at 6 pm CT and Sunday, February 2nd, at 2 pm CT, and for eight whole dollars you can watch it!

The tickets for the livestream are here!

I'll be watching tonight before D&D!

Just Finished

I actually had a three day weekend and besides playing two sessions of D&D I caught up on a lot of reading. That, and I had to read or lose a couple of ebooks, and forgot to do this last week, so it's a longer list than usual.

I read five books and a few manga during that time.

First up, Proper English by KJ Charles, the f/f historical romance prequel to my favorite book of hers Think of England. This was a fun read, and I loved watching Fen and Pat fall in love, and meet a few other interesting characters. I wonder if Charles will write a side novella about Spoiler and Spoiler. Honestly my only problem was that I'd read a fic about Pat and Fen and the story line is so similar and the characterization so on point that I keep getting distracted by that.

Can't Escape Love by Alyssa Cole is another installment of the Reluctant Royals series. No royalty in this, except with the subplot of Reggie introducing a princess fantasy show to Gus over the course of the story. I really liked this one! Reggie's fannishness felt like familiar, and I loved her developing relationship with Gus, and the way they both understood each other being underestimated because of Gus' autism and Reggie using a wheelchair. I felt the ending was a little abrupt and tied too much into the fallout for Reggie's sister's book, but otherwise it was great.

Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone is the first book in the Craft Sequence, a fantasy series I keep meaning to read more of. I read this one years ago and forgot most of the plot, but wanted to actually read the whole series, so I read it again. It's a great read, I love the worldbuilding and the characters, and look forward to reading more in the universe. (I'd also misremembered that one character died and so was very pleasantly surprised at their survival!)

The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie is a fantasy novel in which Leckie continues her wonderful trend of writing non-human POVs. It's great! The story itself was a blend of Hamlet and a couple other stories, which was fun. I hope Eolo and Tikaz live happily. I really loved the gods in this, and the worldbuilding. I think my only complaint is that I like the character of Hamlet a bit more than Leckie seems to, but it was still enjoyable and I will continue to read anything Leckie gives to us.

Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse is the sequel to Trail of Lightning, a post-apocalyptic fantasy series. I whined to myself for the first chapter about how I wanted Maggie to have more female friends, and Roanhorse was like, "How would you like her to accidentally adopt a grieving, angry bisexual teenage girl?" as well as brought back two of the female characters from the previous book, so I enjoyed it a lot, despite some grim stuff happening.

Manga-wise, I read Satoru Noda's Golden Kamuy volumes 5 through 7. I continue to enjoy this weird blend of slice of life (all the gushing about food and cooking) and bleak post-war life story. I really love Sugimoto and Asripa's friendship, and Ogata accidentally being adopted by the village. I can't wait to pick up the next few manga.

I also read the entire series of Sweet Blue Flowers by Takako Shimura, which is a classic yuri manga that I've been meaning to read for ages. I was not expecting the first f/f relationship in the series to be cousin incest, which took me by surprise, but the relationship is over at the start of the series, and I really enjoyed the messy, complicated relationships of the two groups of girls in this, and the mixture of lesbians and bisexual girls in it, the way the main couple has complications because sexuality and feelings are hard. I love track of a few characters just because there were so many side stories, but I ended up liking it a lot.

Currently Reading

Still making my way through Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott, which is part memoir, part writing advice and an all-around fascinating book. It's also got some very useful advice. I'm tempted to actually buy a copy for myself to use as I tackle my original works, because a lot of the mental struggles she addresses really resonates with me.

I also just started A Beautiful Poison by Lydia Kang. I initially didn't remember why I'd checked it out -- it's a jazz age murder mystery -- but the first chapter has an f/f/m relationship so maybe I found it on a queer novels recommendation list? Either way I'm only into the second chapter but it seems like it'll be an interesting read!

Up Next

Well, An Elegant Madness: High Society in Regency England by Venetia Murray and Prince of Pleasure: The Prince of Wales and the Making of the Regency both have holds on them, so both probably those next. I keep kicking around the idea of writing an f/f regency romance novel, so maybe I'll read these books and take some notes.

So between a friend visiting and us touring a million museums, work being a hellish nightmare (every time I think my manager can't get worse, she exceeds my expectations), and just writing a ton of fic in my free time on top of playing multiple D&D sessions, I didn't read much of anything this month, whoops. So let's catch up!

Just Finished

I've read a whopping five books in June. A Prince on Paper by Alyssa Cole, Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee, and three Royal Diaries books in expectation of writing a royalty AU with a friend for RvB fandom.

A Prince on Paper is the latest in Alyssa Cole's Reluctant Royals romances. I enjoyed the relationship a lot in this one, and while the execution of one of the side plots didn't entirely work for me, I appreciate that Alyssa Cole is writing the exact romance she wants to write. I also enjoyed the entire meta game Nya was playing during the story. Honestly I would play that game. Dear Ms. Cole: you should get someone to make that dating simulation game!

Revenant Gun was the concluding book in the Machineries of Empire series. I thought it was an excellent end to the series, and most of the story worked for me! I am just mostly sad because I was enjoying this background ship and horrible things happened to them and I wanted them to get a happy ending. But I still really love the world created here, and the characters and all the complicated, messy politics.

And then I read three books in the Royal Diaries series, which was a spin-off of the Dear America series. As you may have guessed, the Royal Diaries series are fictional diaries of female royalty throughout history. I ended up reading Cleopatra VII: Daughter of the Nile by Kristiana Gregory, Catherine: The Great Journey by Kristiana Gregory, and Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor by Kathryn Lasky.

Of the three, the book about Catherine the Great was the weakest by far. It felt like nothing happened despite all the dangerous politics and the fraught relationship the future Catherine had with her power-hungry mother, which is funny because Gregory's book about Cleopatra is fraught with politics as Cleopatra deals with her usurper for a sister, her alcoholic father, and both the power schemes within Egypt and Rome. And Cleopatra's book had my favorite side characters, who I'm glad got a happy ending! So not sure what happened between those two books.

Meanwhile, Lasky's Elizabeth I book was also great, full of messy politics and Elizabeth's fraught relationship with her power-mad father! I am sensing a trend here. I think of the three, Elizabeth was my favorite book, with Cleopatra a very close second.

Currently Reading

Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse, the second book in The Sixth World series. I whined to myself for the first chapter about how I wanted Maggie to have more female friends, and Roanhorse was like, "How would you like her to accidentally adopt a grieving, angry bisexual teenage girl?" so I am enjoying the book a lot so far!

That's the ebook I've been reading when things are slow on the desk. At my apartment, I'm making my way through Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott, which is part memoir, part writing advice and an all-around fascinating book. It's also got some very useful advice. I'm tempted to actually buy a copy for myself to use as I tackle my original works, because a lot of the mental struggles she addresses really resonates with me.

Up Next:

Probably the other ebooks I have checked out, so either Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone or The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon!

I've been spreading this link to various friends and thought I'd share here, since I've found two great free and/or inexpensive book bundles for Pride month! Especially since I don't really a Reading Wednesday for you guys since I've been busy with vacation and work and have read like one book in two weeks.

Tor's LGBTQ novella bundle for free that ends on the 8th.

and

Storybundle's LGBT Fantasy bundle which includes KJ Charle's Spectered Isle, one of my favorite books of hers.

Or Thursday, as the case may be, because I did my usual outreach on Tuesday and it's thrown my whole week off.

Recently Finished

Still chipping away at my pile of library books, and I forgot to do this last week, so this looks like more books than it is. I read The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden, Once Ghosted, Twice Shy by Alyssa Cole, Tiamat's Wrath by James S. A. Corey, How Long 'til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin, A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine, and Fearless Girls, Wise Women, & Beloved Sisters: Heroines in Folktales From Around the World by Kathleen Ragan.

It took me a few chapters to get invested in The Bear and the Nightingale, but wow that prose! It definitely felt like a fairytale without being trite, I really found the main character's relationship with her family fascinating, and the ending was unexpected but good. I'll definitely be looking for more in that series.

Once Ghosted, Twice Shy is a f/f novella set in Alyssa Cole's Reluctant Royals series, and was very charming. I loved both characters. I don't have much to say about it, not because it wasn't good, but because it was very short and sweet story.

Tiamat's Wrath is the latest book in The Expanse series and was a wild ride. I really love how the writers have expanded into so many women's POVs compared to the first few books, and how deftly they've brought in characters from earlier books. I cannot wait for the next one, which I think is the final one? Also, uh, I have a lot of feelings about what happened to certain characters. A lot.

How Long 'til Black Future Month is probably one of the best short story collections I've ever read, hands down. There was so much variety, and so many interesting stories. I haven't never been able to get into her longer works, but I loved 90% of her short fiction in this and hope that she does more. I also really hope a few of the stories get nominated for Yuletide this year.

Speaking of some of the best things I've read, if you like speculative fiction that looks at imperialism, spy intrigue, and awesome worldbuilding, or if you liked the Imperial Radch series, PLEASE READ A MEMORY OF EMPIRE. It's about a diplomat from a free colony that is sent into the heart of the nearby encroaching empire to a) figure out if the previous ambassador was murdered and b) keep the empire from annexing her world. It's seriously one of the best books I've read this year, and is queer and complicated and wonderful. I loved it a lot.

Fearless Girls was also an interesting collection, even if some of the stories got a little repetitive. Still I enjoyed the read and would love to see some of the stories expanded into full length novels!

Currently Reading

I just finished Tiamat's Wrath last night and haven't picked up a new book yet!

What's Next

At this point I'm still going with books that are due back at the library with holds on them, which means next up is either Bird by bird : some instructions on writing and life by Anne Lamott or A beautiful poison by Lydia Kang.

Recently Finished

Still chipping away at my pile of library books, though I’ve been distracted writing like three fics for Red vs Blue Rare Pairs Week, so I only got through The Black Tides of Heaven by JY Yang, a really fascinating novella set in an Asian-influenced fantasy world that does some really interesting things with worldbuilding, gender, and magic. My only complaint is that it felt very rushed. I think the story would have been better served as a novel rather than a novella. But I am still looking forward to reading the sequel, and requested that through Overdrive!

Currently Reading

Right now I’m about halfway through How Long 'Til Black Future Month? which is a short-story collection by N. K. Jemisin. I have always admired Jemisin as a writer even as I often bounced off her books for being too bleak for my personal tastes, but I am loving her short stories. They’re amazing, and I’ve enjoyed every single one so far and cannot wait to read the rest of the stories. Definitely recommending this to everyone who enjoys queer fantasy and N.K. Jemisin’s works in general.

What's Next

At this point I'm still going with books that are due back at the library with holds on them, which means next up is Fearless Girls, Wise Women & Beloved Sisters: Heroines in Folktales from Around the World, a collection by Kathleen Ragan and then A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. I have a three day weekend with my only plans being a D&D session, going through a few boxes of books for donation, and then maybe trying to write some more RvB rare pairs, so I think I’ll get them both read this weekend!

Recently Finished

Still chipping away at my pile of library books, and between going home sick on Monday and the heat in the library hitting 82 yet again last night meaning I got five hours of unexpected free time, I did quite a bit of reading this week! Finished Alyssa Cole's A Duke By Default, the second in the Reluctant Royals modern romance series, which was a much more enjoyable read than the first one and with a dynamic I enjoyed much more. I think my only complaint is that Cole's villains are just so over the top and obvious that they make some of the plot drag.

I also read The edge of anarchy : the railroad barons, the Gilded Age, and the greatest labor uprising in America by Jack Kelly, which was a fascinating albeit depressing read about a railroad union and the biggest strike that occurred in the United States during the depression of the 1890s. The union had genuine grievances, and learning how both Cleveland and the future president Taft thought of them was depressing. I was really fascinated by poor Debs, the leader of the strike, who was a man ahead of his time and fairly doomed to failure from the racism and prejudice of the era. Also the Pullman Company's factory town would feel overdone in a dystopian novel, and yet it actually happened!

I also read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo. I really should've taken notes, but it was very useful. One of the most useful concepts? Eliminating the idea of "tidying a little each day" because then you'll always be tidying and it'll feel like a never-ending chore. Instead she suggests taking a few weeks of major effort in discarding and organizing your space and then maintaining that effort. Hopefully I can get my ass in gear and utilize her ideas.

Currently Reading

Between books at the moment! I didn't want to start any right away when I'm working this weekend, have a new Dungeons and Dragons game starting, and then also want to try my hand at a few fics for the Red vs Blue Rare Pair Week in May.

What's Next

At this point I'm going with books that are due back at the library with holds on them, which means next up is either Fearless Girls, Wise Women & Beloved Sisters: Heroines in Folktales from Around the World, a collection by Kathleen Ragan or A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine, whom I heard speak the other week and am really excited to read her debut science fiction novel!

Recently Finished

Still chipping away at my pile of library books, but I worked this weekend and didn't have a chance to read, so nothing new to report this week!

Currently Reading

I'm about one-third of the way through Stuntwomen: The Untold Hollywood Story by Mollie Gregory, which is a history of stuntwomen in Hollywood from the silent era until now. I have put that one temporarily on hold since my library ebook of Alyssa Cole's A Duke By Default, the second in the Reluctant Royals modern romance series, is expiring in three days. I'm about halfway through it and it's definitely much stronger than the first. I like the relationship much more, and I like that we get to know Tav and Portia's families.

What's Next

Well, The edge of anarchy : the railroad barons, the Gilded Age, and the greatest labor uprising in America has a hold on it and it's due this week, so I guess I'm reading that one next so the person waiting for it doesn't wait longer! After that, the Marie Kondo book I have checked out to help me tidy up my room.

Or Thursday, because days of the week are hard.

Recently Finished

Still chipping away at my pile of library books, which means I read Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh, The Mortal Word by Genevieve Cogman, and A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole.

Downbelow Station is the start of a space opera series chock full of complicated politics, people trying their best with bad information or bad situations, cool aliens, and landed me with an OT3. The first chapter was a bit rough to get things up, but I loved how Cherryh threw like twenty characters and fifteen plots at me and it all felt cohesive and easy to follow. Unfortunately my library doesn't have the rest of the series and most of her books don't seem to be available via ebooks, so I'm sad about not getting to read the rest.

The Mortal Word is the latest book in Genevieve Cogman's Invisible Library series. This series is great, and this one was no exception, with more intrigue within the Library and outside as Irene is forced to solve a murder during a secret peace talk conference between the Fae and the dragons. I was a little sad that we got to see Bradamante and then she vanished after a few chapters, because my one complaint for this series is that Irene needs more female friends, but the book was still a very fun read and had some interesting set-up for future books.

A Princess in Theory is the first book in Alyssa Cole's Reluctant Royals series, which is essentially taking popular romance tropes and letting black women be the main character instead of a white woman. I've read one of Cole's historical romances in the past and enjoyed it a lot, but for this book I wanted to like it more than I did. I loved Naledi, a worn-down grad student who's trying to study infectious disease and keep herself together after aging out of the fostercare system, who begins receiving clearly scam letters from a person who tells her she is the long-lost betrothed of a prince of a small African nation, only to discover that person was telling the truth. But I never got attached to the love interest and the rest of the plot -- Naledi reuiniting with her lost family and solving a mysterious illness in her new homeland -- felt very rushed.

Currently Reading

I'm about one-third of the way through Stuntwomen: The Untold Hollywood Story by Mollie Gregory, which is a history of stuntwomen in Hollywood from the silent era until now. It's an interesting but tough read -- so much discrimination, unsafe stunts, sexual harassment, pretty much everything you'd worry about. I wish Gregory would go into some more details at times. She drops a "three stuntwomen died" fact and then doesn't follow it up. That said, I'm fascinated.

What's Next

...is that you find too many books at work, until you've accidentally checked out 20 at once and you get stuck in a loop of "I should read these, but which one" and end up reading none, and then just staring, stressed out, at the pile of twenty books on your floor.

Finally started Downbelow Station because it's hit the renewal limit almost, but there's still so many left to read.

The Chinese in America : a narrative history
Mrs. Sherlock Holmes : the true story of New York City's greatest female detective and the 1917 missing girl case that captivated a nation
Room {1219} : the life of Fatty Arbuckle, the mysterious death of Virginia Rappe, and the scandal that changed Hollywood
Stuntwomen : the untold Hollywood story
The edge of anarchy : the railroad barons, the Gilded Age, and the greatest labor uprising in America
Bird by bird : some instructions on writing and life
The beautiful country and the Middle Kingdom : America and China, 1776 to the present
Radiant days, haunted nights : great tales from the treasury of Yiddish folk literature
A beautiful poison
The life-changing magic of tidying up : the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing around the world
Fearless girls, wise women, and beloved sisters : heroines in folktales from around the world
For the thrill of it : Leopold, Loeb, and the murder that shocked Chicago
Blood royal : a true tale of crime and detection in medieval Paris
Chinese Yankee : a true story from the civil war
An elegant madness : high society in Regency England
Prince of pleasure : the Prince of Wales and the making of the Regency
Pinkerton's great detective : the amazing life and times of James McParland
The notorious Reno Gang : the wild story of the West's first brotherhood of thieves, assassins, and train robbers
Without lying down : Frances Marion and the powerful women of early Hollywood

We've still got like...ten minutes left of Wednesday. That totally counts, right?

Recently Finished

Still chipping away at my pile of library books, which means I reread Harpist in the Wind by Patricia McKillip, the final book in one of my all-time favorite trilogies, and then Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou and The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani.

The Riddlemaster of Hed is one of my favorite trilogies of all time-- Patricia McKillip's prose makes me green with envy, and it's so much fun to reread the series every few years and fall in love with the language again. Bad Blood was a fascinating if frustrating read about Elizabeth Holmes and her scam company. It's incredible how many people she hoodwinked and for how long she got away with it!

The Night Diary was a required reading for work, but it was also a harrowing but wonderful read. It's an epistolary novel in the form of a twelve-year-old half-Muslim, half-Hindu girl writing a diary to her dead mother as she and her family are affected by the Partition that separated Pakistan and India. It's a tough read, but a rewarding one, and tackles so many difficult topics at once with a deft hand and a believable young narrator. Definitely one of the best children's books I've read in a while!

Currently Reading

I've just started The Mortal Word, the latest book in Genevieve Cogman's Invisible Library series. This series is great, even if I sigh a bit over yet again librarians having magical libraries and keeping outsiders from being able to enjoy the collection. It's more of an archive, but I do love Irene and the other characters, and look forward to see what trouble they're going to get themselves into this book.

What's Next

Whatever's due back at the library, so probably either Simon Batz's, For the thrill of it: Leopold, Loeb, and the murder that shocked Chicago, which, surprise surprise is about the Leopold and Loeb murder, or Blood royal: a true tale of crime and detection in medieval Paris by Eric Jager, which is about the assassination of King Charles' brother Louis of Orleans and looked interesting.

Recently Finished

Mostly been scrambling to finish books due back to the library, whether it was an ebook or a physical one, which means I just finished Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han, the conclusion to the To All the Boys I've Loved Before series. It was a charming reading, even if I did get a bit frustrated with the miscommunication between everyone. It was still a great cast of characters, and I always love seeing books set in Virginia that feel grounded in the state.

I also read volumes three and four of The Golden Kamuy. I'm really enjoying this manga a lot. Yeah, definitely gory and violent at times, but learning about Ainu is really interesting, and I love the character dynamics, especially with the whole "this guy wanted to kill us but now he's hurt, time to bring him back to the village, where everyone immediately adopts him" bit. Can't wait to keep reading.

Currently Reading

I'm between books at the moment, though with 20 books checked out of the library and a three-day weekend coming up this weekend, that should change.

What's Next

Whatever's due back at the library, so probably Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou and The Kingdom of Copper by S. A. Chakraborty, the second book in the Daevabad Trilogy.

Yesterday was a mess, so have a Reading Thursday instead. I haven't gotten much reading done lately with work and real life and a fic series consuming my life (I've written 6,000 words in three days for this AU, whoops), but here you go!

Recently Finished

I've read three books this month. The first was Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America's Most Powerful Mobster by Stephen L. Carter. It was a very interesting read about a fascinating family, though sometimes I wished it didn't focus quite so much on the family and went into more detail about the woman, Eunice Hunton Carter, herself.

Then, while sitting around for jury summons, I read The Pinks: The First Women Detectives, Operatives, and Spies With the Pinkerton National Detective Agency by Chris Enss and Any Old Diamonds by K.J. Charles. The first book wasn't particularly well-written, but it was definitely interesting! I loved learning about Kate Warne, the first female Pinkerton agent, and some of her major cases, especially the one where she helps solve a murder by sprinkling blood around a house and going "Ghost? What ghost?" as her fellow male agent dressed up as the ghost of the murdered man and kept walking around the murder suspect until the killer confessed. Crime-solving in the 1860s was a wild time! Also I hadn't realized that there were black and biracial Pinkerton agents during the Civil War spying on the Confederacy.

Any Old Diamonds was a great read! Sometimes K.J. Charles' id and mine don't match (though I still generally enjoy the book), but the relationship in this one worked for me a lot! I loved the secondary cast as well, including a few familiar faces from her earlier series, which I hadn't realized would happen and were a lovely surprise.

Currently Reading

I'm between books at the moment, though with 20 books checked out of the library and a three-day weekend coming up next week, that should change.

What's Next

Probably whatever's due back at the library, so probably either Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou or Iris Chang's The Chinese in America: a Narrative History. I also really want to read Radiant Days, Haunted Nights: Great Tales from the Treasury of Yiddish Folk Literature by Joachim Neugroschel soon.

Hey, a snow day! I was on vacation and at an anime convention this past weekend so I mostly read manga this week.

Recently Finished

The Sisters of the Winter Wood by Rena Rossner, which is a historical fantasy novel that combines Jewish folklore, Rosetti poem The Goblin Market, and the author's family history of surviving pogroms to focus on two Jewish sisters who have magical abilities. It was a very good read, though I misjudged both of the love interests, and side-eyed a bit of a choice at the end. Still, the sisters' relationship was great and the magical world was fascinating!

I also read several manga. One, Beauty and the Beast Girl, was a one-shot shoujo ai manga about a monster in the woods and a blind girl who falls in love with her. It was an enjoyable read, though I'm not sure the ending was believable. Still, a happy ending is good! The other one was the first volume of 10 Dance, a yaoi manga about two male ballroom dancers who challenge each other to participate in the famous 10 count dance competition and fall in love. I really like it so far! The guys' chemistry is great, and I appreciate that their female partners also get a chance to shine and befriend each other.

Currently Reading

I'm into the final chapters of the nonfiction novel Orphan Trains: The Story of Charles Loring Brace and the Children He Saved and Failed by Stephen O'Connor, an account of the mixed success of a 19th and 20th century child welfare program in which vagrant children of cities like NYC were sent to rural families in the Midwest. It was a fascinating, if harrowing look, at how child welfare and care has evolved, and why the program, while well-meaning, had serious flaws. It also had a lot of fascinating first-hand accounts.

What's Next

Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America's Most Powerful Mobster by Stephen L. Carter is due soon, so probably that one. After that, either The Pinks: The First Women Detectives, Operatives, and Spies With the Pinkerton National Detective Agency by Chris Enss or Radiant Days, Haunted Nights: Great Tales from the Treasury of Yiddish Folk Literature by Joachim Neugroschel.

I've seen this meme floating around and it seems like a good one to start doing!

Recently Finished

The Only Gold by Tamara Allen, a really charming historical m/m romance. Jonah is a great protagonist, all repressed but well-meaning, and I love the slow-burn of his relationship with Reid, the outside man who swooped in and took the position within the bank that Jonah's spent the last fourteen years work towards. It also has a lot of engaging female characters, which was great.

Currently Reading

I'm about halfway through the nonfiction novel The Poker Bride: The First Chinese in the West by Christopher Corbett, which is ostensibly about Polly Bemis, a woman who was sold/kidnapped into prostitution from China and ended up marrying a white man who won her in a poker game and living most of her life out in Idaho, but has mostly been an overview of the history of Chinese immigration. It's an interesting book! But I hope we see a bit more about Polly Bemis as well.

What's Next

I have so many books checked out, so whatever one is due soonest. Probably either Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America's Most Powerful Mobster by Stephen L. Carter or The Pinks: The First Women Detectives, Operatives, and Spies With the Pinkerton National Detective Agency by Chris Enss.

I'm trying to be better about reviewing things, so first up is an anthology of thirteen stories exploring the world of Jane Austen and celebrating her influence on ours. Overall I enjoyed this collection, though there were a few clunkers in it (mostly ones that just repeated the original canon beat for beat just with hidden queer romances or characters, but one that decided to kill off the love interest at the end in a very gotcha way - a hearty anti-rec for "The Wind Over Pemberly" by Fae Mcloughlin).

Still, it was a fun mix of remixes, queer retellings, modern AUs, and stories where the characters are Austen fans.

My favorites, in no particular order:

"Margaret" by Eleanor Musgrove - The one where Margaret Dashwood and Eliza (Colonel Brandon's ward) fall in love.
"Know Your Own Happiness" by Narrelle M. Harris - The one that was kind of a modern day Persuasion story where this guy was convinced at age 19 to dump his boyfriend because his parents would disown him if they found out he was bi, and he didn't want to be a burden to the boyfriend.
"Cross and Cast" by Sam Evans - The one that was a take on Pride and Prejudice in modern day except it was a soap opera star turned Dancing With the Stars sort of guy and his relationship with a dance choreographer.
"A Charming Marine Prospect" by Lou Faulkner - The one where William Eliot and Richard Musgrove hooked up and met Mary Anning.
"Hide nor Hair" by Atlin Merrick - One of the trans love stories, though I couldn't figure out if they were minor characters from one of the books or just inspired by an Austen book. The couple was great in it though.
"Man of War" by Sandra Lindsey - Another trans romance, this time about the minor Mansfield Park character William Price and his experiences on board the HMS Thrush.
"A Particular Friend" by JL Merrow - Another Mansfield Park story, this time about Susan Price and Mary Crawford. This one had a lovely voice and I really liked the developing relationship.

So after being burned by too many LGBTQA rec lists (why does anyone rec Perry Moore's Hero, it is a piece of sexist garbage and the gay relationship is so slight that some people have read it and not even realized it was meant to be a relationship, SIT IN THE CORNER AND THINK ABOUT YOUR CHOICES) I decided I was going to just have 2016 be my queer sci-fi/fantasy year! I pulled up a lot of rec lists, squinted at the descriptions of books, and requested about 30 different books.

I have read two so far and-- well, apparently what all those rec lists have in common is that they neglect to mention when something is the start of a series. And both books have ended on cliffhangers (( spoilers )), WHY.

...of course only one of them is one I think I'll actually continue.

Look, I WANTED to like Mary Gentle's The Lion's Eye. It's an alternate history where Carthage doesn't fall, the Holy Roman Empire is in shambles, Egypt is ruled by a queen, and the main character Ilarrio is a hermaphrodite and former slave on the run from their mother, who's just tried to kill them! There are great characters, like the Egyptian eunuch who helps them and has some cool chemistry with and is may or may not be a spy but is also CERTAINLY a scribe and book-seller who conveniently wanders around the continent, and the main character's father who didn't know they existed and is now super cheerful about his daughter-son and keeps trying to coax them to come and be his heir and live on his nice little villa and do what they like! The hapless assassin that Ilarrio makes pose as a model for their painting of Judas for hours on end, being uncomfortable and super confused about things!

...but then there is the whole there where about three-fourths of the way through the book everything gets...weird. ( More spoilers )

I am, however, looking forward to Lisa Bowen's sequel to Wake of the Vultures, which is due out in October. Even if it ended on a LITERAL CLIFFHANGER (thanks, Bowen!), it was definitely a better book and one I want to continue with, despite a few negative qualities to the book. (Two rape attempts, really? Must we?)

But Wake of the Vultures is also an alternate historical fantasy, this time set in a vaguely American West, with the main character Nettie Lonesome, an ill-used half-black, half-Indian girl who murders a stranger one day and begins to see monsters all around her, from vampires to shape-shifting coyotes who have the habit of transforming into Indian twins and ruining Nettie's life. And her entire life changes, with her struggling to find her place in a world that doesn't understand her (although it's a tight third-person POV focused on her and the book uses she/her pronouns, Nettie repeatedly identifies as a man and attempts to pass as one among other people) and in a role she doesn't want (once you've killed a monster, the other monsters tend to come looking for you). The magic in this is wonderfully creepy, the characters are great, and I'm interested in seeing what happens next. I just have to...wait until October. *pulls a face*

So I did not know until I stumbled upon this collection of short stories that Louisa May Alcott, while writing books like Little Women, was also secretly writing glorious Gothic short stories and novels under a pen name!

But anyway, I just sat down and read all of The Lost Stories of Louisa May Alcott, which contains nine Gothic stories Alcott wrote. Most of them are pretty great. I cannot decide which is my favorite!

Is it the one where the guy is super into this woman he just met until he learns that a) the lovely lady is in fact a boy of sixteen who’s run away from school and b) is totally his nephew? THAT’S NOT AWKWARD.

Or is it the tragic romance which boils down to “Let me tell you alllll about how Russia is the worst and Poland is the best, okay? Sit down and let me tell you about this because it’s important. Poland = awesome amazing people. Russia = assholes.”

Captain Robert Walton: Dear sis, after failing to be a great writer, I am going to the NORTH POLE to do SCIENCE and find a FRIEND.

Margaret: Okay, Robert, I love you but can I give you some constructive criticism?

Robert: That depends. Is this going to be like your constructive criticism for my writing that made me cry?

Margaret: …Maybe. I admire your sense of adventure, but…that whole friendship thing. Why would you think the North Pole is a good place to find a friend? Isn’t the whole point of the North Pole no one lives there?

Robert: Er…. Well…. Look, sis, I’m just lonely! The crew is very nice and professional, but they don’t UNDERSTAND me! They can’t hold a decent conversation about literature or science. I just want someone I can have long talks with and enjoy dinner with and–

Margaret: So by friend you meant boyfriend. Got it. Still not seeing how you’ll find a beau in the North Pole–

Robert: SIS! We followed this weird gigantic figure on a dog sled and I found this gentleman on the ice. He’s like starved and half-frozen, but aside from being nearly dead, he definitely used to be REALLY HOT and he’s SUPER SMART and a GENTLEMAN and he might be into SCIENCE?? :D :D

Margaret: ….Huh.

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"A Certain Persuasion: Modern LGBTQ+ fiction inspired by Jane Austen's novels"

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Rec: "The Lost Stories of Louisa May Alcott"

A summary of the beginning of Frankenstein

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