This review and the following interview are a year late, because the author had to flee her home in Australia last year as the firestorm raged across the landscape. The publisher also had to flee. Then came Covid. But they … Continue reading
Two words, power and privilege. What’s not to like? What’s not to hate? Whatever those words power and privilege evoke to us, it’s usually not boredom. It’s tough to get away from the fact that human beings tend … Continue reading
This space opera/mystery, the first in the Chronicles of Nuala series, is just as much fun to read as it was when it first came out. Kimbriel has created a fascinatingly complex culture in the Nualans, who have adapted to a … Continue reading
One of my favorite women of history is Liselotte von der Pfalz. Liselotte was properly styled Princess Palatine Elizabeth Charlotte, or, in German, Pfalzprinzessin Elisabeth Charlotte. She was born in Heidelberg, 27 May 1652, and died at Saint-Cloud, 8 December … Continue reading
The thing that stands out about Sara Stamey’s prose, for me, is how taut it is, while managing to convey an image-rich atmosphere while keeping the pace headlong. All her books are like that—running action and image in tight-wired tandem, … Continue reading
When I first immerse into a book I am no longer I, but ego dissolves away into an eye, absorbed completely into the world of the story, remerging at the end with that snap of the spiritual umbilicus. I use … Continue reading
Lord Hervey’s Memoir, by Lord John Hervey. Hervey is one of the most interesting figures of English history of the mid 1700s. About him it was said that there are three sexes–men, women, and Herveys. Not only was he flagrantly bisexual, … Continue reading
On the YA fantasy front, author Rosamund Hodge has been making quite a splash with her moody, dark, intensely atmospheric reworkings of myths and fairy tales. So when I had the chance to review this collection, Desires and Dreams and … Continue reading
Bright, Burning Stars, by A.K. Small Algonquin Young Readers There are a lot of us who danced while young, and loved doing it. Many continued as adults to dance in some form … Continue reading
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
