#c m Waggoner

[wizardsvslesbians]

Here we have a very funny Pratchett-inflected magical Victorian fantasy which also features a harrowingly realistic depiction of what having an addict mom is like. Also the first entry in our anglophilia arc!

[newnamesamecharlotte]

Tsira lay still and rested. Her baby rested, too, safe and warm on her chest, tired out from screaming.

She was tiny and angry and perfect.

Unnatural Magic by C. M. Waggoner

[nzbookwyrm]

September 2024

[xiaomao-ai-wo]

Good evening folks

I want everyone to know that the character introductions for the book Unnatural Magic by C M Waggoner are excellent. I totally love that my troll sets out and she's like, I would like to find people to be in my clan. And she encounters someone in the snow

And then the next introduction follows some guy. Literally the most Some Guy tm you could have and you're reading it and it's like, this guy maybe seems cool? And there's no physical description until it connects to where she found him and it's like

Oh he's

Literally sopping wet

In the snow. Absolute loser. And he's just vibin. Saying whatever he wants in the most "This might as well happen" way possible and my girl really said

I love this pathetic loser more than anything

Anyway it's just the character intros so far for me but honestly? What a win. Thank the universe for staff recommendations. Y'all really came through for me this time god damn

[the-algebra-thing]

I read this fantasy novel off the gay books shelf at my university's queer org and it still feels like a fever dream tbh. it was one of very VERY few sapphic novels I've read that have been actually good—I need to keep trying but I got so fucking discouraged after so many disappointments—but it was INSANELY surreal. the sapphic thing was well done and integral to the plot but it was actually about fantasy class inequality and also magic and fantasy heroin and then also some scandal with a really rich family? and the main cast was a team of ladies with interesting or powerful talents that got hired as a protection squad for one of them, which is how they got to all the drama. it was so crazy and I think there's either a sequel or a prequel and I MUST get back and read it. it's called the ruthless lady's guide to wizardry by c. m. waggoner and I highly recommend it. I feel like I spend a lot of my time being really picky about sapphic stories but it is just because we DESERVE quality content!! and I need to balance out the cynicism with positivity. no clue what brought this on it just popped back up in my head it was crazy

[oneidiotwithasword]

since we might be waiting a while for alecto to come out, let us know what your fave sff books are apart from tlt

[daughter-of-ophelia]

Okay, this book isn't out until September of this year, but I definitely want to read it!

The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society

by C.M. Waggoner

Summary:

A librarian with a knack for solving murders realizes there is something decidedly supernatural afoot in her little town in this cozy fantasy mystery. Librarian Sherry Pinkwhistle keeps finding bodies—and solving murders. But she's concerned by just how many killers she's had to track down in her quaint village. None of her neighbors seem surprised by the rising body count...but Sherry is becoming convinced that whatever has been causing these deaths is unnatural. But when someone close to Sherry ends up dead, and her cat, Lord Thomas Crowell, becomes possessed by what seems to be an ancient demon, Sherry begins to think she’s going to need to become an exorcist as well as an amateur sleuth. With the help of her town's new priest, and an assortment of friends who dub themselves the "Demon-Hunting Society," Sherry will have to solve the murder and get rid of a demon. This riotous mix of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Murder, She Wrote is a lesson for demons and murderers. Never mess with a librarian.

[clonerightsagenda]

#recently read October 2024

Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle. When a screenwriter resists corporate pressure to kill off his gay leads, he starts being stalked by his own horror character creations. *Fun concept, very on the nose, also was convinced the boyfriend was going to be evil because he was Too Placid and Perfect but he was just like that. Shame.

Scholomance trilogy by Naomi Novik. El tries to survive a killer magic school while not turning into the dark sorceress she's prophesied to become. *Very readable, appreciate the interest in structural inequalities in access to education. Feel like it should be classed as YA though.

The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C M Waggoner. Small town librarian Sherry solves murders in her free time, until she begins to realize there's a greater force behind the high mortality rate in town. *Has fun prodding at cozy mystery tropes

Scarlett and Browne 1&2 by Jonathan Stroud. A post-apocalyptic UK Weird West setting following an outlaw and a teen who escaped from a facility for children with... unusual abilities.

Miserable showing this month, but I was very busy. Also I guess Scholomance is three books which would've padded this list out a lot. I am not writing a novel this November so maybe I will have time to read more.

[brokehorrorfan]

The Darkest Night will be published in paperback and e-book on September 24 via Crooked Lane Books. The 320-page anthology of winter horror stories is edited by Lindy Ryan and includes an introduction by George C. Romero.

It features 22 stories by Josh Malerman, Eric LaRocca, Clay McLeod Chapman, Rachel Harrison, Christopher Golden, Tim Lebbon, Jamie Flanagan, Kristi DeMeester, Nat Cassidy, Darcy Coates, Tim Waggoner, Hailey Piper, Thommy Hutson, Gwendolyn Kiste, Sara Tantlinger, Christopher Brooks, M. Rickert, Cynthia Pelayo, Lee Murray, Mercedes Yardley, Stephanie M. Wytovich, Jeff Strand, and Kelsea Yu.

From some of the biggest names in horror comes an Advent calendar of short holiday horror stories perfect for the darkest nights of the year. Edited by award-winning author and anthologist Lindy Ryan and with contributions from masters of horror like Josh Malerman, Eric LaRocca, and Clay McLeod Chapman, this horrific anthology will chill you to the bone.

Pre-order The Darkest Night.

[accidentalspaceexplorer]

April Monthly Recap:

This month, I was participating in Magical Readathon by BookRoast on Youtube, and I smashed it! I read 13 of the 14 class prompts, as well as 4 quest books, plus four that didn’t count for the readathon, bringing me up to a total of 21 books this month! Clearly life is calming down a little bit and I have more time to read than February/March. Unfortunately, despite my reading quantity, my quality wasn’t awesome - my average rating this month was 3.6, compared to my typical average rating of around 4. This was also my first month without a 5-star read this year. However, I did read and really enjoy Babel, Half a Soul, and Unnatural Magic.

Tommy Cabot Was Here by Cat Sebastian: 4.25/5

Tell the Machine Goodnight by Katie Williams: 2/5

A Restless Truth by Freya Marske: 4.5/5

Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater: 4.75/5

Bryony and Roses by T. Kingfisher: 4.5/5

Peter Cabot Gets Lost by Cat Sebastian: 4.5/5

Babel by R. F. Kuang: 4.75/5

The Kraken’s Sacrifice by Katee Robert: 1.75/5

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman: 2/5, dnf

The Bright Ages by David M. Perry & Matthew Gabriele: 3/5, dnf

An Embarrassment of Witches by Jenn Jordan & Sophie Goldstein: 2.5/5

Obsessive, Intrusive, Magical Thinking by Marianne Eloise: 2.5/5, dnf

Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier: 4.5/5

Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho: 3/5

You Sexy Thing by Cat Rambo: 4/5

Umbertouched by Livia Blackburne: 4/5

Silver Moon by Catherine Lundoff: 2.5/5

The Councillor by E. J. Beaton: 4.25/5

Winterkeep by Kristin Cashore: 4.25/5

The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. LeGuin: 4/5

Unnatural Magic by C. M. Waggoner: 4.75/5

Goal progress below the cut:

23 in 2023: 10 [+3]

Read 100 books: 63 [+21]

Translated works: 1 [+0]

Physical TBR: 8 [+5]

Top of TBR: 3 [+1]

Books in Spanish: 0

Read 40% AOC: 22.2% [-4.0%] *BOY is this going in the wrong direction

Discworld books: 1 [+0]

Series: 9 started vs. 16 caught up on/finished [+6/+4]

Storygraph recs: 1 | avg. 3/5 [+0]

Indigenous authors: 1 [+0]

[scarlettgauthor]

Hey just wanted to know if you have any recommendations similar to your book my partner recently read it fell in love and can't find another similar

Hello! First off, I'm delighted that your partner liked my book so much! Thank you for sharing that!

Unfortunately I don't have a bunch of 1:1 recommendations off the top of my head, since I wrote His Secret Illuminations/His Sacred Incantations specifically to be books I wished existed, but here are a few that have similar vibes in one way or another:

The Saint of Steel series by T. Kingfisher. Fantasy romances with funny, irreverent humor in a wonderfully detailed fantasy world. Paladin's Strength features a six foot tall werebear female lead!

Unnatural Magic by C. M. Waggoner. There are two parallel stories going on in this one, one of which involves the slow-burn romance between a hulking, half-orc woman and the weedy little human man she rescued from freezing to death in the snow.

Scarlett Peckham writes a bunch of kinky historicals that I very much enjoyed!

Happy reading!

[haveyoureadthisqueerbook]

Tash Hearts Tolstoy, Kathryn Ormsbee, ace

Transmogrify! 14 Fantastical Tales of Trans Magic, edited by g haron davis, trans and many other things

The Secret History, Donna Tart, mlm

Black Water Sister, Zen Cho, lesbian

Spell Bound F T Lukens, nb/m romance

In Deeper Waters, F T Lukens, mlm

So This is Ever After, F T Lukens, mlm

Hench, Natalie Zina Walschots, bi main character

Legends and Lattes, Travis Baldree, wlw

She Drives Me Crazy, Kelly Quindlen, wlw

The Atlas Six, Olivie Blake, idk everyone's bi

These Violent Delights, Micah Nemerever, mlm

The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry, C M Waggoner, wlw

The Girls I've Been, Tess Sharpe, wlw

Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses, Kristen O'Neal, bi main character

Between Perfect and Real, Ray Stoeve, trans main character

Kemosha of the Caribbean, Alex Wheatle, wlw

Tarnished are the Stars, Rosiee Thor, aro and wlw rep

Golden Boys, Phil Stamper, mlm

Vespertine, Margaret Rogerson, aroace

Malibu Rising, Taylor Jenkins Reid, lesbian part-main-character (one of four)

The Henna Wars, Adiba Jaigirdar, wlw

I'm Afraid of Men, Vivek Shraya, trans author (autobiographical)

The Gilded Wolves trilogy, Roshani Chokshi, mlm and poly rep

That Inevitable Victorian Thing, E K Johnston, wlw and intersex rep

Girls of Paper and Fire, Natasha Ngan, wlw

Daja's Book, Tamora Pierce, wlw

If We Were Villains, M L Rio, mlm

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, wlw

Ramona Blue, Julie Murphy, sapphic but questioning main character

The Fascinators, Andrew Eliopulos, mlm

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, Hank Green, bi main character

On a Sunbeam, Tillie Walden, wlw

Wilder Girls, Rory Power, wlw

Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit, Jaye Robin Brown, wlw

We Are Totally Normal, Naomi Kanakia, mlm and some unaddressed trans undertones

Like a Love Story, Abdi Nazemian, mlm

Pet, Akwaeke Emezi

The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass, Adan Jerreat-Poole, nb gay queer rep

Finding Home series, Hari Conner, mlm

The Sea in You, Jessi Sheron, wlw

Love Letters, Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West, wlw

The Summer of Jordie Perez, Amy Spalding, wlw

I Was Born for This, Alice Oseman, trans, mlm, and unlabelled main characters

Radio Silence, Alice Oseman, demisexual and bi main characters

Ash, Malinda Lo, lesbians

Our Wives Under the Sea, Julia Armfield, trans and wlw main characters

Confessions of Frannie Langton, Sara Collins, wlw

A Taste of Gold and Iron, Alexandra Rowland, mlm

Even Though I Knew the End, C L Polk, wlw

Huntress, Malinda Lo, wlw

Hope that's better, sorry I missed the submissions form! I checked everything against your list so these are all new.

These are finally all queued! Thanks for your patience :)

[newnamesamecharlotte]

Jeckran had always classed listening to anecdotes from other people's childhoods as one of the more detestable possible uses of his time,

but the thought of Tsira having ever been a child who had eaten honeycomb filled him with sensations of such tenderness that he was quite embarrassed by himself.

It was a confoundedly uncomfortable thing to be in love.

Unnatural Magic by C. M. Waggoner

[fluideinschweden]

Kiruna

Kiruna liegt nochmal 4h nördlich von Lulea. Mit Auto... Hier kann es wirklich das ganze Jahr über mal schneien. August: Ah ja ne es schneit. Woche zur Midsommerwende? Jaaa... Was könnte da passen... Ah: Schnee!

Kiruna ist bekannt für die **weltgrößte unterirdische Eisenmine**. An für sich, ist einfach die ganze Stadt eine Mine. "Wir haben hier ein Eisenvorkommen, das wir abbauen wollen. Wo bauen wir die Stadt dazu hin?" - "So nah wie möglich, damit man die schöne Aussicht auf die Mine genießen kann"

Wer sich jetzt gedacht hat "kann eine Mine denn schön sein?", der hat sich hoffentlich auch mal bei einer Stadt gedacht, die ein kompletter Hafen ist.

Die Antwort ist: Nein.

Ah und verdammt wir bauen die Mine ja ab, auf der wir die Stadt gebaut haben. Was machen wir denn da.... Ach wir bewegen einfach die ganze Stadt!

Tatsächlich sind bisher 2.5 Milliarden Euro geflossen, damit die halbe Stadt abgerissen und 3-5 km weiter links wieder aufgebaut wird. Alles von der Minenfirma gezahlt, versteht sich.

Bei so einer Minenbesichtigung (die übrigens mehr bezahlte Schleichwerbung war als alles andere), kommen auch tolle Fragen von Besuchern auf. Unser Best-Of, als es darum geht, dass da früher auch mal ein See über der Mine war: "Did you moved the lake or did you just drained it?"

Ja, in so einem 500 m tief gelegendem Museum ist Sicherheit natürlich die erste Priorität.

Hier nochmal random Fakten über die Mine:

19.000 t Eisenerz werden hier pro Jahr abgebaut. 10.000 t davon werden pro Tag mit dem Zug zu den beiden nächsten Häfen (Narvik in Norwegen und Lulea in Schweden) transportiert. Dabei hat ein jeder Zug 68 Waggons, ist insgesamt 715 m lang, wird von vier leistungsstarken Lokomotiven gezogen und davon gibt es 10 am Tag. Einer der 680 Waggons ist übrigens gold und wer den goldenen sieht, hat Glück, sagt man.

Die Minie geht insgesamt derzeit bis 1600 m unter der ursprünglichen Spitze des Berges runter, wobei 1465 m das derzeitige Abbaulevel ist. Das Besucherzentrum, in das man inzwischen mit Bus runter fährt, liegt auf 540 m. Früher fuhren hier tatsächlich Straßenbahnen runter.

Insgesamt arbeiten 4500 Leute in der Firma auf 3 Minen verteilt, wobei 4300 in Kiruna sind. Die Mine wird durchlüftet (und eigentlich hätte mich das genaue Prinzip dahinter interessiert) mit 150.000m^3 Luft pro Minute. Dabei wird versucht eine Temperatur von 11-18°C zu halten, doch auf Level 1465 ist es dann doch schon 22 °C

Meine ehrliche Meinung: Kann man einmal sehen, kann man sich aber definitiv auch sparen :) Fachliches Wissen war von dem Führer nämlich eh nicht da und dann war es nur das rein fahren in die Mine, große Dinge sehen und sich ganz viel Werbung anhören. Nicht nur von der Abbaufirma, versteht sich, sondern auch von Partnerfirmen.

[aleatoryw]

I've passed my goal of reading twenty books for the year! And so, allow me, with a brain full of cool books, to recommend you something to read next year. presenting...

Books Wrapped 2022!

#3: Fortune Favors the Dead and Murder Under her Skin, both by Steven Spotswood

These murder mysteries follow Will Parker, a plucky sharpshooting bisexual tomboy in 1940s New York City, as she gets a job assisting a famous but aging private eye. In the first one, the detectives take on the case of a murdered heiress at a fortune-telling party, with every guest a suspect. If you like investigations, murder attempts, and a touch of noir, give these a shot! (the third one, Secrets Typed in Blood, was just released as well! #1 on my 2023 list.)

#2: Unnatural Magic and The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry, both by C. M. Waggoner

Two fantasy novels set in the same Victorian-inspired fantasy universe (and connected via some characters but - spoilers!) where magic is commonly practiced via mathematical parameters and trolls and humans live alongside one another in relative peace. The first follows Oona, a determined and talented young wizard as she attempts to solve some murders and get admitted into magic university, and a will-they-won't-they pair that flips gender and romance expectations on their heads and had me putting the book down to pace the room and go "oooooh my god. oh my god this is everything."

#1: Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

There's no way a tumblr user in the year 2022 hasn't heard of these but the hype is real. Sure, there are lesbian necromancers in space, but more crucially, the writing is as fast and sharp as the swordfights within, perfectly balancing the stakes in Gideon the Ninth between finding clues in the creepy ancient mansion before getting murdered, and Gideon's glorious inner monologue and emotional development. Harrow the Ninth is a twisting adventure unlike anything I've read before featuring fucked up necromancy shit and weird, one stop ahead of the reader action. The third one, Nona the Ninth, is out now, but shhh! I haven't read it yet!