Howdy to all my fellow readers and bookworms! It's beginning to look like Spring is on its way, which is normally not good news for those of us with pollen allergies, but this winter has been very long, wet and cold, and I'm actually looking forward to warmer temps and days without liquid falling from the skies. That said, I've been hunkering down with a lot of books at the bottom of my TBR pile, and I'm going to have to read as many books that I've "put aside" for reading later in the next couple of weeks than I'd like, but, grocery and housing/heating prices being what they are (outrageously high), there hasn't been any money leftover for books of late. I remain a dauntless booklover, however, and so I know I will find a way to survive the upcoming book drought, while my son spends time with his beloved in Canada, away from the stress and insanity of our household. Meanwhile, here are the latest tidbits and reviews for your edification.
In days gone by, I used to be caught up with all the latest SF/F books that comprised the field for the Nebula awards, but other than Martha Wells "Murderbot" series, I haven't been enticed by the mostly dystopian and horror/SF hybrids that account for at least 75% of science fiction/fantasy these days. I seem to be more in the market for cozy or positive books, which are thin on the ground in this genre. Again, it used to be that the grimmer things were in politics in America, the more readers sought the positive aspects of science fiction, ala Star Trek and its many incarnations, so as to know that there's a hopeful future ahead. Not anymore. Now there seems to be a race to find out who can write the grimmest future imaginable. (BTW, I loathe zombie stories...anything blood drenched disgusts me). Anyway, here's the latest finalist for the Nebulas, none of which I've even heard of...where the heck is John Scalzi this year?
The
60th Annual Nebula Awards Finalists Are…
This
year’s Nebula Awards finalists have been announced! The award,
founded and organized by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers
Association (SFWA), celebrates the previous year’s best science
fiction and fantasy writing of the year, as voted on by SFWA members.
Highlights include Rakesfall
by Vajra Chandrasekera (novel); one of my favorite 2024 reads, The
Book of Love
by Kelly Link (novel); Lost
Ark Dreaming
by Suyi Davies Okungbowa (novella); twice-nominated Eugenia
Triantafyllou for “Joanna’s Bodies” and “Loneliness Universe”
(novelette); “Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole”
by Isabel J. Kim (short story); and, Moonstorm
by Yoon Ha Lee (Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction). You can find
the full
list, and plenty of great speculative fiction to catch up on, here.
Just another example of the ignorant fascist regime that has taken over the White House. Next up for this administration: concentration camps for intellectuals and those who don't agree with their fascist policies...followed by authors, POC, LGBTQ people, anyone of a faith other than WASP, etc...we've seen this before, during the late 1930s and through WWII.
The
Case of the Disappearing Words
As
readers, we understand the importance and power of words, so it’s
no small thing that the Trump admin is flagging hundreds of words to
avoid. “Diverse,” “pronounce,” “gender,” “mental
health,” and “segregation” are included in this eye-watering
list. According
to The
New York Times,
this partial
list
was used to flag grant proposals and other materials for review, to
find anything at odds with the vibes over at the White House–I
don’t think I have to spell out what those are. You can see what a
few of the changes on some of the at least hundreds of federal agency
websites look like over at The
Times,
and this was a particularly choice quote from the article:
Indeed,
the office of the presidency carries with it a tremendous power to
drive the discourse. But the pattern of vanishing words established
here suggests Mr. Trump and his administration may be more interested
in chilling the national conversation — at least when it comes to
their own disfavored topics — than in expanding it.
Another complaint from the book publishing world, (below) where the heck are the regular fantasy books? The ones that focus on adventure and magical creatures, but don't have ultra buff fae men having sex with young women every other chapter. There's also a lot of "enemies to friends/lovers" books in this genre, many of which are just an excuse for the author to write BDSM porn. I hate that, because if I wanted to read porn, I'd buy pornography. There's a lot of "romance" (which is now code for sex scenes) in science fiction novels, too, and nearly all YA books that I've picked up in the last 5 years or so are full of the sexual awakening of young girls by older guys, usually a bad boy (even serial killers) who is just too handsome to resist, though he's obviously a pedophile. YUCK. I don't know what that says about our society and misogyny, but I don't like it at all.
But
I Can’t Find Non-Romance Fantasy Books!
This
is where I’ve heard the most complaints and worries from long-time
readers of non-romance fantasy. They’re wondering how to find new
fantasy books that don’t focus on romance. And they’re right:
there are probably fewer non-romance fantasy books being published
right now in favor of romantasy.
I don’t have numbers on that, but
there are only so many spots on bookstore shelves. Rest assured,
however, non-romance fantasy books are DEFINITELY still getting
published.
Traditional
genre publishers like Tor,
Orbit,
and Angry
Robot are
still publishing more non-romance fantasy books than they are
romantasy. Maybe they’re not getting the same level of
international attention and press coverage, but those books are still
hitting store shelves. Indie publishers are cranking out romantic and
non-romance fantasy titles, too. Find those publishers and look at
their websites and social media. Follow your favorite authors on
social media, too. We’re never shy when it comes to talking about
our newest books. You can also subscribe to genre magazines like
Locus
or
Strange
Horizons to
not only keep up with the industry but also discover authors you love
who may also be writing non-romance fantasy novels.
And,
of course, Book Riot always has you covered with lists of new
fantasy books,
the best
fantasy books,
and all sorts of other
quirky lists about fantasy books
(and every other genre, for that matter). You can sign
up for our Swords and Spaceships newsletter to
keep up to date with all the biggest SFF releases—romantic and
non-romantic alike.
One of my son's best buddies lives in Puyallup, and I am hoping that he will stop in to this new bookstore and let me know what its like. Paging Logan!
Page
& Pine Coming to Puyallup, Wash.
A general-interest bookstore called
page & pine is opening in
Puyallup, Wash., this spring, the News
Tribune reported
Owner Emily Foster has found a space at
207 W. Stewart Ave. in downtown
Puyallup and hopes to have the
bookstore open in late May or early June.
At opening, Foster intends to carry a
wide assortment of books while
leaving room for requests from
community members. She plans to host
author readings, book clubs, and other
events.
She told the News Tribune that getting
to know her customers' tastes
will be one of her main goals early on.
"I need to know from my
community what they want on the
shelves."
While Foster has no prior experience in
bookselling, she has owned a
small business before and has taken
Professional Booksellers School
classes.
Foster first had the idea of opening a
bookstore of her own in Puyallup
in 2023, and she decided to take the
leap in 2024. Her biggest
motivation was community need. "I
just see the need for it."
This looks like a great book that we should all try and get copies of ASAP. Anytime a book is banned for telling the truth, it needs to be supported by the reading community.
Author
of Meta (Facebook) Tell-All Forced to Halt Book Promotion
Meta sues to stop former executive and corporate whistleblower
Sarah Wynn-Williams from promoting new tell-all book.
Rebecca
Joines Schinsky Mar 13, 2025
Just one day after Careless
People, her tell-all account of six years working at Meta, hit
shelves, Sarah Wynn-Williams, former global director of public policy
for the internet giant, has
been forced to halt promotion.
Claiming that it will incur “immediate and irreparable loss” if
Wynn-Williams is allowed to continue publicizing the book, Meta won
an emergency arbitration ruling on Wednesday. The book, which was
kept secret until right before its publication, comes on the
heels of the
whistleblower complaint Wynn-Williams filed last week alleging
that the internet giant was so eager to curry favor with the Chinese
Communist Party that it considered sharing user data and allowing the
party to make decisions about content visibility.
Meta’s
argument in the suit hinges on a non-disparagement agreement
Wynn-Williams signed when she was fired in 2017 after an
investigation “found that she’d made “unfounded” statements.”
(CNN
notes
that “Wynn-Williams implied in her book that she was fired in
retaliation for reporting sexual harassment.”) Macmillan, which
published Careless
People,
contends
that it is not bound by the arbitration agreement.
While the temporary ruling forces Wynn-Williams to halt promotion and
do what she can to prevent further publication, it does not require
any action by the publisher.
Careless
People remains available through all major retailers and,
presumably, through your local bookshop. Sure would be a shame if we
helped it hit the bestseller list.
These are two books that I am going to be on the look out for in the next couple of months, as they sound fascinating.
Two
Books Debut:
Back
in the day, John Green had me (secretly) crying in a New York City
subway car subway about a girl with a terminal illness, and now, his
latest nonfiction book is on a potentially terminal illness that has
plagued us for millennia. This account of the curable disease, which
is also the most deadly of the infectious variety since it kills 1.5
million people a year, is both full of scientific and social history,
as it is personal. In 2019, Green met a young tuberculosis patient
named Henry at the Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone, and the
two became fast friends. Ever since, Green has advocated for better
awareness and equity concerning treatment of a disease that is so
deadly yet totally treatable.
Murder
by Memory
by Olivia Waite
This
promises a cozy, A
Memory Called Empire
meets Miss
Marple experience,
which sounds like the perfect alternative to doom scrolling. It takes
place on the HMS Fairweather, a luxury interstellar passenger liner
where guests are able to be granted new bodies, rest between
lifetimes, and have their minds carefully preserved in glass in a
mind library. Yeah, it’s extra, and so is the predicament Dorothy
Gentleman — one of the ship’s detectives — finds herself in.
She wakes up not only in a new body but just as someone else is found
murdered. What’s more, she soon realizes that bodies and
minds
are being deleted. Though she quickly gathers a cast of possible
suspects — which includes her chaotic nephew and the ex-girlfriend
of the body Dorothy currently has — she finds she may have to think
bigger in order to really get to the bottom of things.
This looks to be a great show, and the showrunner has worked on some of my favorite TV series of the past several years.
TV:
Raven Kennedy's Plated Prisoner Novels
Kate Rorick will serve as showrunner of
a series adaptation of Raven
Kennedy's Plated Prisoner fantasy novel
series, which includes the books Gild, Glint, Gleam, Glow, Gold, and
Goldfinch, Deadline reported. Peter Guber's Mandalay Television is
developing the
new take on the story of King Midas.
Rorick has previously served as
showrunner of Leverage: Redemption, the
Freevee revival of the TNT action crime
series. She has also written on
series including TNT's The Librarians
and Freeform's Marvel series Cloak
& Dagger.
Beach Read by Emily Henry is a contemporary romantic comedy by an author well acquainted with the romance genre (and the YA romance genre). Here's the blurb: A romance writer who no longer believes in
love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long
challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily ever
afters.
Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.
They’re polar opposites.
In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they're living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer's block.
Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She’ll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he’ll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really.
Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.
They’re polar opposites.
In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they're living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer's block.
Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She’ll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he’ll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really.
That last bit is disingenuous, I'm afraid, as the two protagonists do fall in love, and there's a pretty standard HEA at the end to attest to that trope. Still, it's a pretty book, with a lovely cover and colorful sunset edges and endpapers. I liked the fact that both Gus and January are convinced that the other one is truly missing out by not reading or writing in their preferred genre, and the way that they set out to change the other's mind is interesting, if not impressive. It's something of a cliche that men can't fathom why romance or romantic scenarios matter to women, suggesting that unless its grim and deadly or bloody and war-like, men can't read it and not lose their toxic masculinity card. The same cliche is thrown out here that women are only interested in a fantasy of love that few men can ever accomplish (because it's not "manly" bro!). Along this same line of thinking is that men can only express 'love' as sex, and women can only appreciate sex if there's love/romance attached to it. Both sides just don't understand the other's "love language" which is what leads to so many people being alone and lonely (see "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" for further breakdowns of this aspect of society). As is inevitable in these cliched circumstances, January is supposed to understand what is broken in Gus, while he is not forced to do the same, as women are always less important and are expected to be the healers of immature men in romance novels. Blech. Still, I enjoyed the dialog and interplay between these two writers, and I also liked the fact that January discovered that she had hidden depths as a writer. I'd give this slightly soggy romance a B- and recommend it to any writers who have struggled to consistently churn out books in one particular genre for years.
Rebel Witch by Kristen Ciccarelli is book two of the Crimson Moth series, a YA historical romantasy novel that is the finale begun in "Heartless Hunter" which I read (and enjoyed) last month. Here's the blurb:
A WITCH...
Rune Winters is on the run. Ever since the boy she loved, Gideon Sharpe, revealed who she was and delivered her into enemy hands, everyone wants her dead. If Rune hopes to survive, she must ally herself with the cruel and dangerous Cressida Roseblood, who’s planning to take back the Republic and reinstate a Reign of Witches—something Cressida needs Rune to accomplish.
A WITCH HUNTER...
Apparently it wasn’t enough for Rune to deceive Gideon; she’s now betrayed him by joining forces with the witch who made his life a living hell. Gideon won’t allow the Republic to fall to the witches and be plunged back into the nightmares of the past. In order to protect this new world he fought for, every last witch must die—especially Rune Winters.
AN IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE...
When Rune makes Gideon an offer he can’t refuse, the two must pair up to accomplish dangerous goals. The more they’re forced into each other’s company, the more Gideon realizes the feelings he had for Rune aren’t as dead and buried as he thought. Now he’s faced with a terrible choice: sacrifice the girl he loves to stop a monster taking back power, or let Rune live and watch the world he fought so hard for burn.
In Kristen Ciccarelli's Rebel Witch, the exciting conclusion to The Crimson Moth duology, love has never been so deadly.
The prose used here is lovely and smart, while the plot careens along like a roller coaster on steroids to a dazzling conclusion. I normally decry books in which the female protagonist has to die to save the day, but here, Rune's path to saving the world leaves her few options. Gideon, as is standard in romantasy these days, is a lout, a cad and a jerk who only later in the book realizes that he's in love with Rune, and then only when its too late. Still, the HFN is pretty well done, and I felt that the series was tied up rather neatly. I'd give this sequel a B+ and recommend it heartily to anyone who has read the Heartless Hunter.
Rune Winters is on the run. Ever since the boy she loved, Gideon Sharpe, revealed who she was and delivered her into enemy hands, everyone wants her dead. If Rune hopes to survive, she must ally herself with the cruel and dangerous Cressida Roseblood, who’s planning to take back the Republic and reinstate a Reign of Witches—something Cressida needs Rune to accomplish.
A WITCH HUNTER...
Apparently it wasn’t enough for Rune to deceive Gideon; she’s now betrayed him by joining forces with the witch who made his life a living hell. Gideon won’t allow the Republic to fall to the witches and be plunged back into the nightmares of the past. In order to protect this new world he fought for, every last witch must die—especially Rune Winters.
AN IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE...
When Rune makes Gideon an offer he can’t refuse, the two must pair up to accomplish dangerous goals. The more they’re forced into each other’s company, the more Gideon realizes the feelings he had for Rune aren’t as dead and buried as he thought. Now he’s faced with a terrible choice: sacrifice the girl he loves to stop a monster taking back power, or let Rune live and watch the world he fought so hard for burn.
In Kristen Ciccarelli's Rebel Witch, the exciting conclusion to The Crimson Moth duology, love has never been so deadly.
The prose used here is lovely and smart, while the plot careens along like a roller coaster on steroids to a dazzling conclusion. I normally decry books in which the female protagonist has to die to save the day, but here, Rune's path to saving the world leaves her few options. Gideon, as is standard in romantasy these days, is a lout, a cad and a jerk who only later in the book realizes that he's in love with Rune, and then only when its too late. Still, the HFN is pretty well done, and I felt that the series was tied up rather neatly. I'd give this sequel a B+ and recommend it heartily to anyone who has read the Heartless Hunter.
Remedial Magic by Melissa Marr is a lesbian romantic fantasy that was written ina sprightly style with a zingy plot that takes readers through the pages in record time. Here's the blurb: The Magicians meets One Last Stop in this brand-new fantasy romance Remedial Magic,
about an unassuming librarian who 1) has fallen in love with a powerful
witch; 2) has discovered that she is a witch; and 3) must attend
magical community college to learn how to save her new world from
complete destruction.
Ellie loves working in her local library in the small town of Ligonier. She loves baking scones and investigating the mysterious and captivating in her spare time. And there is nothing more mysterious and captivating than the intriguingly beautiful, too properly dressed woman sipping tea in her library who has appeared as if out of nowhere. The pull between them is undeniable, and Ellie is not sure that she wants to resist.
Prospero, a powerful witch from the magical land of Crenshaw, is often accused of being… ruthless in her goals and ambitions. But she is driven to save her dying homeland, and a prophecy tells her that Ellie is the key. Unbeknownst to Ellie, her powers have not yet awakened. But all of that is about to change.
Ellie loves working in her local library in the small town of Ligonier. She loves baking scones and investigating the mysterious and captivating in her spare time. And there is nothing more mysterious and captivating than the intriguingly beautiful, too properly dressed woman sipping tea in her library who has appeared as if out of nowhere. The pull between them is undeniable, and Ellie is not sure that she wants to resist.
Prospero, a powerful witch from the magical land of Crenshaw, is often accused of being… ruthless in her goals and ambitions. But she is driven to save her dying homeland, and a prophecy tells her that Ellie is the key. Unbeknownst to Ellie, her powers have not yet awakened. But all of that is about to change.
While LGBTQ romances generally don't fall into as many cliches as straight ones do, this particular book set out to make the more aggressive member of the couple, Prospero, out to be masculine in her style and general angsty unkindness. Again, for reasons that seem cloudy to me, this entices our heroine Ellie into deeply desiring a relationship with her, even when Prospero is obviously a villain bent on pain and destruction. Of course, as the more 'feminine' member of the duo, Ellie is expected to give up everything she holds dear, including her life, to save Prosperos world. I'd give this tense romantasy a B- and recommend it to anyone who likes dire circumstances and LGBTQ couples.
A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland is a historical retelling of the selkie fairy tale out of Ireland that is romantic and beautifully written. The prose is so hypnotic, in fact, that readers will find themselves coming to the end of the tale before they know it. Here's the blurb: I literally could not put this book down, and I read it in one sitting. The peek into midwifery in remote places (like Nova Scotia in the 19th century) was fascinating, and the cultural aspect of people from two different worlds falling in love and saving one another was mesmerizing and surprising. My only complaint about this book, and its a small one, is that the protagonist Jean doesn't twig on to Muirin's staus as a selkie until relatively late in the novel. Celtic fairy tales about seals that become women are ubiquitous, and even someone in a remote fishing village would surely have heard them time and again. But then, this could be my own bias, as I have loved Celtic fairy tales since I was a child, and I watched The Secret of Roan Inish about 12 times when I was in my 20s. I'd give this lovely retelling of a seal woman fairy tale an A, and recommend it to anyone who loves historical sapphic retellings of old Celtic legends.
No comments:
Post a Comment