#Paula Guran

[bookclub4m]

Episode 200 - Library Fiction

It’s episode 200, which means it’s (finally) time for us to discuss Library Fiction! We talk about the stereotypes and tropes of library fiction, unacknowledged work of library workers,and more. Plus: we talk way more about our actual jobs than we usually do.

You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system.

In this episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray 🦇 | Jam Edwards

Things We Read (or tried to…)

Labyrinths: Selected Stories & Other Writings by Jorge Luis Borges 

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrence

Ex Libris: Stories of Librarians, Libraries, and Lore by Paula Guran (below are direct links to many of the stories from this collection)

In the House of the Seven Librarians by Ellen Klages

In Libres by Elizabeth Bear

Those Who Watch by Ruthanna Emrys

Paper Cuts Scissors by Holly Black

Summer Reading by Ken Liu

Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link

With Tales in Their Teeth, From the Mountain They Came by A.C. Wise

The Librarian’s Dilemma by E. Saxey

The Green Book by Amal El-Mohtar

A Woman's Best Friend by Robert Reed

If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Xia Jia, translated by Ken Liu

The Sigma Structure Symphony by Gregory Benford

The Fort Moxie Branch by Jack McDevitt

The Last Librarian: Or a Short Account of the End of the World by Edoardo Albert

How Can I Help You by Laura Sims

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor 

Souls in the Great Machine by Sean McMullen

Other Media We Mentioned

The Library of Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

The Empty Crown by Rosemary Edghill 

Meghan meant The Abortion by Richard Brautigan (not Trout Fishing in America)

The Midnight Library by Kazuno Kohara

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

Bookhunter by Jason Shiga

Unshelved by Gene Ambaum and Bill Barnes

Library Comic by Gene Ambaum and Willow Payne

Welcome to Night Vale

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Episode 134 - Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Abbott Elementary

Pounded In The Butt By My Handsome Sentient Library Card Who Seems Otherworldly But In Reality Is Just A Natural Part Of The Priceless Resources Our Library System Provides by Chuck Tingle

My Librarian Is A Beautiful Lesbian Ice Cream Cone And She Tastes Amazing by Chuck Tingle

Party Girl

Public Enemy - Fight the Power

Fictional Librarians

50 Fictional Librarians, Ranked

Rupert Giles (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Barbara Gordon (DC Comics)

The Librarian (Discworld)

Lucien (The Sandman)

Evelyn Carnahan (The Mummy)

Marian Paroo (The Music Man)

Librarians (Welcome to Night Vale)

“While their description is never fully given, minor details of their physical characteristics have been described:”

yellow, gnarled teeth

sharp claws and pincers

Wings

Tentacles

thousands of spiny legs

rattles (that make noise when they move)

thoraxes

Links, Articles, and Things

Two-Fisted Library Stories zines

North Boulder Library is ready to open (there’s a slide in image 6!)

15 Librarian & Library Fiction by POC Authors

Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers’ Advisory Podcasts chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

What You Are Looking for Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama, translated by Alison Watts

Cora's Kitchen by Kimberly Garrett Brown

The Next Best Fling by Gabriella Gamez 

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

The Library of the Dead by T.L. Huchu

The Library of Fates by Aditi Khorana

The Plotters by Kim Un-Su

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer by Janelle Monáe

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki

The Library Thief by Kuchenga Shenjé

The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

Bookhunter by Jason Shiga

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Join us again on Tuesday, October 1st we’ll be getting ready for spooky season with the Weird West! (That’s Supernatural Horror Westerns)

Then on Tuesday, October 15th it’s time for our “We All Read the Same Book” episode as we discuss A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher.

[justsomerandomfanfic]

🥧- do you have any book recommendations? What’s one or a few personal favorites you have read? 💚✨

Ooooh! Excited about this!!

My favorite books;

Beauty by McKinley (fantasy/romance)

A Deal With The Elf King by Kova (fantasy, romance, drama, adventure)

The Mammoth Book Of Cthulhu edited by Paula Guran (fantasy, horror, drama)

If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won't) by Betty White (fun autobiography)

The Phantom Of The Opera by Gaston Leroux (romance/mystery)

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood by Oliver Bowden (romance, adventure, action)

My favorite songs (atm);

Derrière Danse by Indila

Born Without A Heart by Faouzia

No More Drama by Charlie Puth

Imagine by Ben Platt

Creep by Radiohead

The Entire FurnGully (1992) Soundtrack (featuring the amazing Robin Williams, Tim Curry, and more!)

[arwainian]

My Reading this Week

This week was my last week of classes for the fall semester, so I've been busy with prepping for presentations and final exams and final papers. However! I have done some reading, through of mix of reading on sunday and easy reading like manga, short stories and fanfiction

Finished:

Blood Sisters: Vampire Stories by Women edited by Paula Guran

Father Peña's Last Dance by Hannah Strom Martin Sun Falls by Angela Slatter Magdala Amygdala by Lucy A. Snyder The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black In the Future When All's Well by Catherynne M. Valente

I am shocked that I managed to finish this before I left for the airport, but my determination to have one less this to pack was strong. My favorite of this set of short stories was Magdala Amygdala, because it was super gross so I sent it to some friends to read too! fun fact: reading this anthology got me hyped to writing my vampire story, so I've been working on that

Started and Finished:

you there? keep me company by misspickman on ao3

(hi moss!) as i wrote in my reading journal, this is for recording READING not recording BOOKS. now, i do not know tim and kon very well, but i am here to support my mutuals' writing whenever possible

Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 10 by Kamome Shirahama

i adore the art of this series so much, it's so cute and INTRICATE and also the plot is so stressful to ME. I am stressed. I just want these kids to be okay....

the cat who got the whipped cream by bluecloak on ao3

this is a f@tt fanfic that i managed to skip when i was digging through the archive looking for good fic a few weeks back. i came back to it bc i saw cute fanart for it and enjoyed my time! i think the fact that it was labelled a coffee shop au initially scared me off

Sharp Teeth, Sharp Eyes or: The Boy-God and the Wolf by thunder_rolled_a_six on ao3

i gotta love a good fairytale style story about gods, this was cute though I don't have much to say

beautiful, curious, breathing, laughing by Aidan James

my friend sharing this short story he read with us prompted me to say we needed a book club channel in our server. this was good, and you should read this if you like androids that fuck with gender and fuck in general

Started:

Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia

this is a mystery I got recommended a while back, and my second time taking it out of the library to try reading it. i don't like how short the chapters are and this hasn't really clicked with me, but i desperately want to try continuing with it. if i don't really like it by the time i'm a quarter of the way through i'll just drop it

Article, Chapter, and Primary Source Reading for School:

"Racial Health Disparities and COVID-19--Caution and Context" by Dr. Merlin Chowkwanyun and Dr. Adolph Reed, Jr. in The New England Journal of Medicine "Inequality's Deadly Toll" by Amy Maxmen "COVID-19 Can Last for Several Months" by Ed Yong Ottonian Queenship, "Queens and Dynasties in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries" by Simon MacLean "Bolesław I and the Emergence of Poland" (1025AD) as translated by Paul W. Knoll & Frank Schaer "The Election of Hugh Capet" by Richer of Reims (987AD)

(and here's all the readings i did for my final week of classes. i did not skip a single reading, though when given a choice between two i DID pick the shorter one, may or may not go back and read the longer one when i have time but just for my own fun)

everyone please wish me luck on my finals and stuff!

[lexreadsdiversely]

Forgot to post my tiny thrift store book finds. I used to go to Savers and walk out with like 10 books, now I'm lucky if I find 3 I'm interested in, but these seem really promising.

Pictured:

Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiences by Saidiya Hartman

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

Mermaids and Other Mysteries of the Deep edited by Paula Guran

[alorabyoung]

Paula Guran Reviews The Deadlands, The Sunday Morning Transport, and Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet

Imaginative and poignant.

a review of ‘Terracotta Urn’ in Locus

[profmorbius]

Posted a review of Warrior Women edited by Paula Guran on my blog. Read it here.

tl;dr – Overall a very strong collection

[persephones-stenographer]

I have to work really hard not to freak out about The Locked Tomb at my friends, and thoroughly enjoyed Princess Floralinda... Deepwater Bride is my favorite thing that Tamsyn has written. And it's not even close. If you like her stuff, go find it: It's in a Sci-fi short story magazine, or a queer short story anthology edited by Paula Guran.

[bewitchedbaddie]

"The farther we’ve gotten from the magic and mystery of our past, the more we’ve come to need Halloween."

-Paula Guran

[aurorawest]

Reading update:

What can I say that I haven’t already said about this trilogy? I loved the conclusion. I loved the casual queerness, I loved the politics of the world, I loved El and Liesel and Aad. I don’t want to spoil anything because there was a pretty excellent OH SHIT moment.

This was a weird read because I loved the characters and the premise. The beginning was great. But the middle just dragged a bit. I think I still rated it like 4.75 stars because I was able to forgive the draggy middle. Unfortunately I spoiled myself about the big twist, but tbh I had kind of wondered if that’s where it was going. Good read, excited for the second one. I actually almost moved it up in my TBR pile but decided I should probably read the literature that was next in the pile...

And okay you know what, this book was incredible. Gorgeous, aching, gutting. The intersection of immigration, the opioid crisis, and queerness was beautifully portrayed. Should be required reading.

This is one of those romances that was just...fine. I do like the small town romance trope, and I enjoyed the second book in this series well enough (The Beautiful Things Shoppe). In some ways I probably preferred this one. My main complaints are, 1. Stover’s prose, and particularly his dialogue, feels stilted most of the time, and 2. this book contained the worst description of an orgasm I have ever read in my entire life.

Currently reading:

SFF short story collection with queer characters. Pretty much every story has been very good. I just read Tamsyn Muir’s contribution.

ADJF;AKJFK;AJDF;AKDFKDAJ;F can I marry a book? Is that possible? Can I marry this book? Look, I loved Winter’s Orbit—I’ve recommended it to pretty much everyone I know who I think might even vaguely be interested in it—but I think I might love Ocean’s Echo even more. I LOVE Tennal. I LOVE Surit. I love their just barely budding relationship (I just finished part 1). This book is SO FUNNY too. How is it fair that it has great world building, wonderful characters, emotional depth, and it’s funny? Everina Maxwell is my hero.

I’m actually trying to savor this one instead of racing through it. We’ll see how well I do with that.

[justsomerandomfanfic]

Happy Birthday 🎂 🥳 🎉

🥧 please can I get some recommendations for music and books please ❤️

Yayy! Thank you!!! <333 Here are a few of my favorite things!

My favorite books;

Beauty by McKinley (fantasy/romance)

A Deal With The Elf King by Kova (fantasy, romance, drama, adventure)

The Mammoth Book Of Cthulhu edited by Paula Guran (fantasy, horror, drama)

If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won't) by Betty White (fun autobiography)

The Phantom Of The Opera by Gaston Leroux (romance/mystery)

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood by Oliver Bowden (romance, adventure, action)

My favorite songs (atm);

Derrière Danse by Indila

Born Without A Heart by Faouzia

No More Drama by Charlie Puth

Imagine by Ben Platt

Creep by Radiohead

The Entire FurnGully (1992) Soundtrack (featuring the amazing Robin Williams, Tim Curry, and more!)

[wanderrealms]

That's good to hear. I haven't read much and I expected more high fantasy settings, back when I started reading dark fantasy short stories.

I think high fantasy could give the wrong idea as well, since the setting is a nightmare world with possessed factories that create monsters. I need to tell the readers what's up in the blurb and collection introduction.

The Years Best Dark Fantasy and Horror 2019 anthology by Paula Guran (read for a writing workshop) did have otherworldy settings, I think the majority were here and now. I need read more in the genre.

I listened to dark fantasy lectures, which were useful. The teacher mentioned that the majority of dark fantasy is set here and now.

Unfortunately, the stories with Glassface hunting people up and down the riverine, so he can drain their lifeforce, are set in another world. Calling them dark fantasy could misslead readers who are expecting here and now fantasy with horror or gothic elements.

[sharry-arry-odd]

"You're a prize dumbass trying to save me from myself, Hester Blake." I said, "You're the only one I wanted to like me."

Far Out: Recent Queer Science Fiction and Fantasy, edited by Paula Guran “The Deepwater Bride”, by Tamsyn Muir

[arwainian]

My Reading This Week

formatting changes, what do we think about italics for book titles and authors to set them apart from what I write about them? (maybe i should try color coding?)

Lots of reading this week because I had half the week off to go home for the holidays, but honestly I spent more time crocheting than reading, which I won't complain about

Finished:

Boy Oh Boy by Zachary Doss

recommended to me by @unfathomabletortoise , and I'm still rotating the themes and such of it around in my head. one that was on my mind this week was where your boyfriend lives literally inside your body. the like... "oh i'm so close to you, i'm with you all the time" but really you're not close at all you're just being used. but ALSO the intimacy of loving someone so much, physical affection as the closest substitute we have to unzipping someone else and living inside them... much to think about. as I said on my Twitter thread, I may recommend this collection to my queer scifi teacher from a few years back

Ambrosia, edited by Tab Kimpton & Jade Sarson

started reading this a while back! i will keep most of my thoughts on this private ;), but i will say I'm glad this exists

Started and Finished:

Lucky Charm by Chase Verity

this was cute, but just. so short. too short. like how short it was really worked to its detriment because I think it could have really benefitted from taking more time to flesh out the characters and their relationship. i really enjoyed the concwpt though and it made me want to look into deaf silent film stars (have yet to do so, someone remind me)

Mob Psycho 100, Vol. 9 by ONE, translated by Kumar Sivasubramanian

mp100!! i just. really like this manga. i dont have many longering thoughts from this volume except just like excitement at its existence and god i love reigen and mob and this was fun to read even if i already watched the anime

Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots by Cat Sebastian

i was about to say i thought i didnt have much to say about this one. but then i remembered that actually i do, i even started my brand new reading journal saying stuff about it: this was cute and sweet and low stakes! i am technically in the acknowledgements of this book by virtue of being in the author's writing discord server, which she mentions! I will say, there were a few too many [typos/apparent name mix ups/one instance where a character says "fifth disease" in a bit of dialogue which was clearly just meant to be a placeholder for an actual disease to add to the list] for me to fully overlook, so i got a little bit frutrated. doesnt take away from the good character work, but did give it a bit of an unfinished feeling

Uncommon Charm by Emily Bergslien & Kat Weaver

like the above this book is more quiet vignette and low stakes character work than plot-y plot, but this book just hit Perfectly for me. i think because i loved the narrator/pov character so much. i am gently shoving this novella into my bf's hands when i next see him.

Ongoing:

Blood Sisters: Vampire Stories by Women edited by Paula Guran

La Dame by Tanith Lee Chicago 1927 by Jewelle Gomez Renewal by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro Blood Freak by Nancy Holder The Power and the Passion by Pat Cadigan The Unicorn Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas This Town Ain't Big Enough by Tanya Huff Vampire King of the Goth Chicks by Nancy A. Collins Learning Curve by Kelley Armstrong The Better Half by Melanie Tem Selling Houses by Laurell K. Hamilton Greedy Choke Puppy by Nalo Hapkinson Tacky by Charlaine Harris Needles by Elizabeth Bear From the Teeth of Strange Children by Lisa L. Hannett

I said last week that I had trouble sitting down and reading multiple stories from this in a row, but that was not a problem for me this time! as of writing i only have five stories left to read from this anthology, and those amount to less than 100 pages.

i've idenfitied a repeated theme (though not one present in even half the stories here) of several lady vampires presenting a sort of 'to defeat a predator you have to become one' rape-revenge sort of monster hunting fantasy. like i said, this is FAR from a uniting theme, but its an interesting motif. also several stories deal with very predatory vampires without being the above, and having read Dracula earlier this year i appreciate vampire fiction grappling with the themes of vampirism and sexual assault that were set up in the classics

[weirdletter]

The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: Volume One, edited by Paula Guran, Pyr, 2020. Cover image by Shutterstock, info: simonandschuster.com.

Join twenty-five masterful authors and talented newcomers with more than 400 pages of the disturbing, unnerving, haunting, and strange. This outstanding annual exploration of the year’s best dark fiction delivers tales of deathly possession, the weirdly surreal, mysterious melancholy, and frighteningly plausible futures. Confront your own humanity and the fears that stir you—from the darkly supernatural and painfully familiar to the disquieting terror of the unknown.

Contents: Introduction: Strange Days – Paula Guran The Fourth Trimester Is the Strangest – Rebecca Campbell Shattered Sidewalks of the Human Heart – Sam J. Miller The Surviving Child – Joyce Carol Oates The Promise of Saints – Angela Slatter Burrowing Machines – Sara Saab About the O’Dells – Pat Cadigan A Catalog of Storms – Fran Wilde Thoughts and Prayers – Ken Liu Logic Puzzles – Vaishnavi Patel A Strange, Uncertain Light – G.V. Anderson Conversations With the Sea Witch – Theodora Goss Haunt – Carmen Maria Machado Nice Things – Ellen Klages Glass Eyes in Porcelain Faces – Jack Westlake Phantoms of the Midway – Seanan McGuire Hunting by the River – Daniel Carpenter Boiled Bones and Black Eggs – Nghi Vo His Heart is the Haunted House – Aimee Ogden In That Place She Grows a Garden – Del Sandeen The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye – Sarah Pinkser The Coven of Dead Girls – L’Erin Ogle Blood Is Another Word for Hunger – Rivers Solomon The Thing, With Feathers – Marissa Lingen Some Kind of Blood-Soaked Future – Carlie St. George Read After Burning – Maria Dahvana Headley Other Recommendations from 2019 Acknowledgments About the Editor

[eemoo1o-animoo]

The Divided Self by R.D. Laing — Consciously for Grelle characterisation.

Superstition & Science by Derek Wilson — For Sebastian characterisation but I can’t remember any reasoning beyond that.

The Mammoth Book of Cthulhu (anthology) edited by Paula Guran — For Sebastian characterisation, especially any Lovecraftian nature that it may entail.

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut — Really, I’d only bought this because there was a sale on for every pair of books bought in the store (the fifth book was from another store) would be cheaper than what two books would have been when bought separately, but I did buy it with the thought of Grelle, and by extension “Grim Reapers Through the Ages” characterisation.

Bonus:

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jeanette McCurdy — This was for me, because I wanted it for a while, but I suppose subconsciously it’s also for The Story of Grelle The Reaper formatting and development.

I just realised how the four or five books I previously bought were to do with me writing Black Butler fanfiction.