samvara

*glee* The steampunk alternate history of Belgium’s invasion of the Congo if the natives had known a lot more about steam technology. Air canoes! Mechanical bicycles!

Queer women, women being awesome.

Read everything she has written, there's lots.

Rock solid dystopian future writing and worldbuilding, fabulous bio-mechanics.  Interesting body and gender identity stuff. Cruelty to women. Diversity of opinion among women who continue to work together as if women do that.

Run, don't walk, and read this lady's short stories.

Thoroughly interesting and enjoyable. Some body-horror. Yes, she does think she is a planet. No, I don’t want to spoil it.

Opium wars, the high seas, imperialism and colonialism. The Ibis, an ex-slave ship is re-fitted to carry opium and indentured servants, becomes the focal point of the story as far-flung characters start to converge. Deeti is fleeing her dreadful rapey brother-in-law, Zachary has fled racism and accidentally jumped up a class or two, Neel is on his way to prison and Paulette, too seeks a better future.

This is rich, evocative, and full of complex language and details. I can see why it was Booker shortlisted, they all seem to have that intensely personal, wordy style.

I want to love this more than I do, the (realistic) sexual violence makes me angry and sad and my willingness to experience it in fiction when I have to put up with it in life is very low.

A copy arrived unsolicited ETA: as a surprise gift from a friend in the mail last week for maharetr and another copy came addressed to me yesterday. I might have read it and was looking through the table of contents when I found this:


Text: A NOTE ABOUT GENDER USAGE

The case examples throughout the book tell stories about men and women who have battled depression. in the case of presentations, the mixed use of "he" or "she" is easy, deliberate, and purposeful. How-ever, when I speak in general terms or in terms of principles, I use only masculine pronouns. Why? it is simply too clumsy and distracting to try to work both the masculine and the feminine into each idea. so, to make the book an easier read, I opted for the less-than-perfect choice of the traditional masculine. I hope you will understand that its a choice made not of ignorance or preference but of necessity.

Dear Michael D. Yapko,

I hope you will understand that I do not read works that contain hate-speak, it is a choice made not of ignorance or preference but of necessity.

Me.

*Interesting note: the Amazon preview does not display this page but the Random house one does.

Friends don't let friends date vampires.

Fun look at the vampire romance trope from the perspective of a determined and feisty lass called Mel. Her best friend thinks the vampire at the local high school is worryingly attractive... will their friendship survive?

Rex Riders by J. P. Carlson. LibraryThing Early Reviewers copy. Dinosaurs in the wild west; it's such a great (and yes pulpy) concept and the illustrations are seductive. Young Zeke Calhoun is constantly getting into trouble. His uncle doesn't understand him, and his attempt to helpfully ride a neighbour's valuable, escaped stallion isn't working out as he planned. When he stumbles across an unconscious alien and his domesticated juvenile T-Rex he gets an opportunity to 'borrow' an even more exciting steed. I read the first 233/440 pages then admitted I just wasn't into it and put it down. This reads like a first novel pitched at a young audience. I found the shifting point of view a little confusing, initially this read like Zeke's story and later it shifted to being... Uncle Jesse and Bull's?  The character development was a bit flat and the exposition chunky - telling, not showing.  I did love the T-Rex Zeke manages to ride and Carlson obviously did too. I probably wouldn't pick up another book by this author but I might recommend it to young, dinosaur enthusiasts.

The Demon's Surrender by Sarah Rees Brennan. Young adult fantasy. Book 3. The Ryves brothers are deep in crisis, the Market is at war with the Aventurine circle and the leadership of the Market is yet to be determined. I have so much love for this series. The point of view for the final book is Sin (Cynthia) and it's a joy to ride along with her as events unfold. I really value the personhood found in the characters, especially the ladies and I value how central their stories are. There is such a lovely balance of whimsical humour and emotional depths that I found myself giggling one moment and holding my breath the next.

Courtney Crumrin Tales Volume 2: The League of Ordinary Gentlemen by Ted Naifeh. I'm enjoying the back story but love the works that feature Courtney the most. I was unsurprised by the plotline but enjoyed watching it unfold - Aloysius' world is a creepily dark as I could hope for.

Pet Noir by Pati Nagle. LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Noir detective style short stories about a superkitty "feline investigator" engineered to go undercover on a space station. Leon works for the Security department until he pays off the cost of his creation. In the meantime he badgers his human partner for food and fights crime! I enjoyed this. Leon is a convincingly reluctant, cynical cat detective and Nagle has captured the tone that makes the genre so enjoyable. The stories are reasonably light and build in a lot of humour but retain some of the darker elements. The first of the five stories is the weakest, it sets up the characters and the scene but Leon is a bit too savvy for a four week old kitten. Despite this, it's worth a read and I'd cheerfully read more of Nagle's work.

Northlight by Deborah Wheeler. LibraryThing Early Reviewers. An emotionally repressed and terribly cool Ranger from the North makes her way inland to find someone to help her rescue her partner from an ongoing border war. She forms an unlikely alliance with an idealistic young scholar as secrets unfold around them. Has a lot going for it, creative, interesting, good characters. I appreciate a good post apocalypse story and really enjoy a story with complex female characters (of different ages even!). I wanted a more complex plot but would definitely read more of her work.

Dark Horse by Kate Sherwood. Boy from Wrong Side of the Tracks making Good through love of a Good Man and Horses Loses Boy but Finds other Boy(s) - what’s not to love. Quite nuanced queer poly relationship accidentally developing between people who are not philosophically poly. What actually won my heart was the way Sherwood wrote the emotional process of dealing with grief and past relationships, her characters felt very real.

Agatha H. and the Airship City (Girl Genius) by Phil Foglio. Novel of first Vol of the webcomic - I loved it! I found it a lot easier to absorb the rich details that are present in the webcomic when it was presented in text form and it was like a second voyage of discovery appreciating just how much there is to see in the webcomic.

Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner, turns out I’ve read it before which is a little bit of a shame because people have been nudging it at me promising great things and while I enjoyed it, it wouldn’t make my re-read list (except how it sort of stealthily did). Also I liked it far more this time which may simply be not having the flu. In a city where Swordsmen fight Lord's honour battles for them, a rising star and his nihilistic lover are drawn into political machinations. Rich, complex world building and characterisation. I loved how many different plot lines were interwoven and really appreciated the queer characters. I wish the characters were more likeable, this has enough going on that it has strong re-readability but I'm not invested enough in anyone to want to follow their story.

The Shattered City by Tansy Rayner Roberts. Creature Court (2). Satisfying follow on, I look forward to book 3. This kept up the pace and expanded further on the setup in Power and Majesty. Yay!

New culture novel but would probably stand alone. Lededje Y'breq wants revenge for her abuse and subsequent murder. Her highly personal tale is woven through a much bigger one exploring of the use of virtual realities as Afterlives - specifically Hell(s) and the galactic war raging around it.

I usually love his books but for me this tipped over the ‘too gross’ line where the suffering described doesn’t justify the payoff the story achieves.

Digger by Ursula Vernon. Graphic novel and web-comic. Digger is a wombat who ends up in very different world, far from home which she handles with gorgeous wombattish pragmatism. The plot is a mix of heroic quest and slightly creepy whimsy, I love the variety of female characters and the humour. The art relies on lots of blacks, has great atmosphere and is good at conveying emotion. maharetr has the first three books and was giving me one every time I finished another assignment. After I finished book three she gave me the webcomic link and I caught up - loved it, will follow the continuing adventures with enthusiasm.

I wants an electronic copy of Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal but cannot find a seller in Australia.

I can Paypal you $ and would prefer the apple version to other stores.

ETA: Whee! Thank you thank you thank you!