2
Two new space operas have appeared in the last couple of days. I inhaled them both: one a novel by Elizabeth Bear, and the second is a four-author serial, a form that is becoming increasingly popular As I pointed out … Continue reading
Sherwood Smith
Francesca Forrest’s The Inconvenient God is technically a novella (maybe even a novelette by some counts) but has been published as a slim book by Annorlunda Books, which specializes in shorter works. It’s an elegant book featuring a gorgeous cover by … Continue reading
Last summer after yet another wave of bad news, I found myself longing for escapist feel-good wish-fulfilment, and what is more indicative of escapist wish fulfilment than a ballroom filled with grand costumes, beguiling music, intrigue and romance? I … Continue reading
Tired of generic medievaloid historical novels? How about reading one written by someone who has studied the period, and knows the real deets—with a plot you can’t predict? Gillian Polack’s Langue[dot]doc 1305 newly out from Book View Café, is about a … Continue reading
I first began teaching at a small private school that got its furniture and texts from public school discards. The history textbook I was given was a massive, excruciatingly dull text listing kings, Prime Ministers, and battles, interlarded by great … Continue reading
When Wilkie Collins—close friend of Charles Dickens—published his fifth book, The Woman in White, (found here in a collection of all his work, for a buck ) in spite of outrage on the part of critics, it was a runaway … Continue reading
After any extreme event, ever since the advent of print (I’m sure before as well, but it’s more difficult to find the evidence) people have penned their memoirs. For the longest time the ones considered significant were those written by … Continue reading
For a while some twenty years ago, there was this meme going around that maintained you might not be as boring as you think you are. I’d like to believe that, but I don’t. About as far as I can … Continue reading
Lily Anderson first came to my attention with her debut book, The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You, a hilariously witty young adult novel about smart kids at a smart school that used as its substrate Shakespeare’s Much … Continue reading
Some days I need a little silly. During my time as a sixth grade teacher at a private school, Howard Pyle’s Robin Hood was one of our texts. Its faux-medieval Victorian prose was actually a fairly easy way to accustom … Continue reading