#fantasy/scifi first rather than romance first

[4th-make-quail]

Adding a few more recentish SFF recs!

Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon - an epic fantasy doorstopper with matrilineal royalty, dragon riders and courtly intrigue, I absolutely loved this one!

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri - a tale of vengeance and royal intrigue with some very cool magic. It tends a little darker in the second book, but I have faith it will all work out

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martin - a scifi murder mystery with some really cool cultural linguistic stuff and a subtle wlw relationship that's more of a backdrop, very fun

The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood - a story of gods and priestesses, sacrifice and magic, really fun and the wlw relationship is super cute

The Councillor by E.J. Beaton - political fantasy full of courtly intrigue and a real fun protagonist embroiled within it. I'm looking forward to book 2 coming out!

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson - this one is on the darker side (check the content warnings at the storygraph link), but it's so fucking good!! About an accountant trying to win back freedom for her people from the empire who conquered them, by playing the empire's game

The Thousand Names by Django Wexler - this one isn't so recent, but it's a flintlock fantasy with a main character who crossdresses as a man to join the army. Very cool magic and setting, and although the wlw relationship doesn't turn up til the second book, it's still worth reading!

why are wlw books so angsty and deep all the time like where is my casual wlw romcom or my fantasy lesbians, space bis and trans princesses like not every wlw has some lost love in some town in the middle of nowhere

[alpaca-clouds]

The Thing About Solarpunk Romance

Something that is quite interesting to me is a certain dualogy within the few novels that have been released for the genre is that there are basically two different kinds of novels there - and then there is Fox Hunt, but let me first talk about the novels there are.

Now, mind you. This list involves only novels that according to my information were written to be Solarpunk Fiction, rather than novels written at times before the invention of Solarpunk, that the label was later applied to. And these novels are:

The Biodome Chronicles by Jesikah Sundin (a Solarpunk vs Cyberpunk story)

The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson (Solarpunk YA)

Foxhunt by Rem Wigmore (a Solarpunk action novel)

Seeds of the Swarm by Sim Kern (a story focusing on establishing Utopia)

Another Life by Sarena Ulibarri (kinda an anthology in a meta narrative and with a heavy philosophical focus)

When We Hold Each Other Up by Phoebe Wagner (a story about a Solarpunk society emerging after ecocide)

Now, it might be that I am overlooking some books here, especially as most Solarpunk publishing is happening within the context of Indie publishing and self publishing. So, if I do not hear about it through social media, I will probably not hear about it at all. And sure, I can go through Amazon and look at books tagged as "Solarpunk", but I am just guessing.

Outside of that, there is only the many, many anthologies that have been released, but I will not generally talk about them right now.

Now, I generally have the feeling that a lot of Solarpunk writers are like me: Oh, I have a story idea for a Solarpunk novel, but... I am not quite motivated to write it. Pretty much all writers I have been in contact with who were at some point writing a Solarpunk novel have put that project on pause to write something else. (Which is probably an issue for another day.)

But no, what I wanted to talk about is: Of those six books above I have read three so far. The first three. The first two I would actually categorize as romances. While both Biodome and Summer Prince involve of course the dystopia/utopia connundrum happening, they both have very much the same feel I would argue a lot of the dystopian YA novels that were released around the same time as those two novels (earlier half of the 2010s) had to me. Sure, there is a story, but in the end the books have a strong core in the main relationships.

Foxhunt also had a romance, but it really felt more tertiary to the plot and was not a focus of the story for the most part.

As I said, I have not read the other three novels yet. But yeah, this is what I can say about it. And I do wonder...

I am honestly not quite sure whether those first two novels were written as Solarpunk. I know that at the very least The Summer Prince was marketed under the tag, but that is pretty much where my knowledge ends.

It makes sense though, that those books came out at the time they did. They were just riding the dystopia high related by the Hunger Games, nothing else. And because of that there are the romance subparts there.

But here is the thing: In some way romance is a strange viability marker. No matter what kind of base idea exists, there is a romance subgenre that deals with it. Because no matter how much pretty much everyone derides the romance genre, it is actually the best selling genre of literature there is. If you look at the fiction genres, there is romance (including smut), then there is mystery/crime, then there is nothing, and then there is everything else in terms of both sales and the number of stories there is. Romance sells more books than fantasy or scifi can dream off. But at the same time Romance has crossover with pretty much every other genre, because Romance can happen in any genre.

Let's face it, the different between most superhero movies and a romance is the central focus of the story. You absolutely could restructure the Iron Man movies in a way to make them romance movies that happen to also feature one of the main couple to be a superhero.

And yes, there is a ton of superhero romance out there in the book market. Because no matter what concept there is: There is romance of it.

Now, I will openly admit: Cyberpunk is also a genre where at least the English and German market does not have a whole lot of romance. Sure, there is some, but not a whole lot. (Japanese Cyberpunk ironically has spawned a whole lot more romance - but again, a topic for a later date.)

But it is interesting to me. Romance is fairly accessible in terms of the SP market, and I note that it is interesting how there is little in terms of Solarpunk romance out there. Now there is the question: Is this because the main audience for Romance does not know much about Solarpunk - or because they don't gel with it.

I don't have the answer for this. But I cannot keep but wondering.

What do you think?

[booasaur]

Any new upcoming series with w/w?

Lol, I had a whole answer typed up and almost completed last night, I could only remember a few upcoming shows but added a bunch of ongoing and recent with descriptions and then the post editor hiccuped and removed most of it so I angrily went to sleep instead.

But maybe that was for the best, because this morning a video of upcoming f/f shows in April came out so now I can add a few more.

There's Dead Ringers, that show with Rachel Weisz playing twin gynecologists and since it's a genderbent adaptation of an existing movie we already know it's gonna be super messy. It would be pretty wild for Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies to not have some wlw and luckily it does, the trailer itself reveals a couple. Tiny Beautiful Things, with Kathryn Hahn and Sarah Pidgeon (Leah in The Wilds) playing her younger self, apparently Kathryn Hahn's character's daughter is queer. Slip is a kinda scifi, where a bored wife cheats on her husband and realizes every time she has sex with someone, she wakes up married to them. The show's about her trying to get back to her original life, and there are a series of different husbands, but also a few wives (also, the first "replacement" husband is played by Boorman's actor from Willow!). There are also the upcoming Thai dramas Be Mine, Reverse 4 You, and 23.5, as previously mentioned.

In terms of returning series coming back, there's the Disney cartoon The Owl House, getting its final ep. Single Drunk Female's second season is returning soon. It has a bi lead, and she did have a female love interest but it was pretty temporary compared to the will they/won't she has with the main character male love interest. Her Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor, also a very main character, is a lesbian, and she's married but her wife's actress is a regular on another show now so I dunno if she'll be back.

Welcome to Eden, a Spanish thriller about people trapped on an island with a cult, ended the first season on a major cliffhanger so it'll be exciting to see what happens now, though it feels like anyone could die so that's a bit nerve-wracking. It has a lot of different kinds of rep, f/f, m/m, trans, one of the gay guys is deaf too and it's a plot point that his boyfriend won't learn sign even though his friends have.

The Epix series From is a pretty well done horror series about people trapped in a town and who get hunted at night, it's more ominous and suspenseful than outright gory. It actually has three wlw, though one is mostly with one guy, the one who's engaged to a woman outside the town seems to be about to start a romance with another guy, and one is a teen who's crushing on the first woman, feels unrequited. I didn't know about any of them when I started, so they're a bonus, the show itself is rather compelling.

As for current shows, The Power (lol, get it, current) started last night on Prime, it's nice that after the misreading of Class of '07, this new show about girls does immediately have a wlw. Gap's already finished but it made such a splash, if you haven't watched, I'll mention it again. The other Thai drama, Show Me Love, is still airing. Fantasy Island is honestly kind of sweet, it feels like one of those '90s shows, episodic, bright colors and optimism, and great guest stars. One of the two leads, I'd say, or at least the second billed main, is queer.

We got our three firefighter shows, 9-1-1 with a solid (now) established relationship, Fire Country, a lesbian character but not much screentime, and of course Station 19, which is honestly winning me back in a huge way with their current storyline (if they land it).

Cop wlw update (why are there so many of them!): NCIS Hawai'i remains super cute, especially when Lucy is on, looks like Ayanna on Law & Order: Organized Crime got herself a new gf with a super hot voice, The Rookie: Feds still has Niecy Nash playing a super likable and bi lead. I couldn't stand the egregious copaganda in FBI: Most Wanted, and like, imagine how bad it'd have to be, when I can still watch all the rest of these shows, but Sheryll's still there, so. Sin Huellas (No Traces) has already finished but gets another mention for being as funny as it was, with a cute, hot couple at the center. Rabbit Hole's just started, but the initial antagonist/probable grudging ally's an FBI lady who within the first 10 minutes of the first ep dropped that she had a wife. Van der Valk has started its third season and though I'm gonna keep hoping Lucienne's INCREDIBLY hot ex from 2x03 returns, Lucienne, second billed, is plenty hot by herself. Ariana Guerra, who played the novitiate in Helstrom, has joined the second season of CSI: Vegas. Her character's bi and has a main character boyfriend but he seems like he'll most likely end up with a different character.

I'm not really going through these in any particular order, except combining the above two types, but let me just blow through the rest of the ongoing shows: the Canadian family comedy Run the Burbs has been quite sweet in how it's written the teen daughter, How I Met Your Father comes across as an old fashioned sitcom, except one of the characters is a lesbian. It's kind of fun in its familiarity and low stakes. I didn't expect to be as drawn into The Watchful Eye as I did, the trailer felt quite soapy and it was, at times, but all the nannies were great, and I ended up quite liking the f/f side couple. It's amazing what actual personalities can do. :o A Million Little Things is winding down its final season and Grace Park's character is engaged to Cameron Esposito's character so it feels pretty endgame at this point.

If you didn't watch or stopped watching Carnival Row because the main m/f relationship seemed so especially trite, you maaaay want to give it another look. I'm not nearly caught up with Bel-Air, but in the first season they wrote Ashley's sexuality really well, especially since she's so young. I'm sure you can't have missed my Perry Mason gifsets by now, but I can only reiterate what a great character Della Street is. One of the kids in Gotham Knights is bi (and her brother is trans!) but I'm not sure it's worth getting invested before cancellation. Unless the CW is only going to keep projects involving the Supernatural trio?

At this point, hoping everyone who's into wlw has at least tried Yellowjackets or is aware enough of it to know they don't want to try it. Las Pelotaris 1926 is a Spanish language historical drama about female athletes playing--well, the sport is basque pelota but if you need a reference point, it's like squash or racquetball. If you haven't yet caught up with RWBY, now would be an okay time. Lastly, I've still never watched any of Riverdale or even Choni clips, but its final season has just started and you know, I gotta respect the longevity of whatever they've been doing with them, however up and down they seem to have been, and perhaps this final season will be an up. From what I've seen on SM, they seem to get endgame soulmatey treatment more than any of the other ships and I can respect that.

Aside from the Thai dramas that might air after April and a few of the other shows that ended their seasons in March (or February in Gap's case), all of these have eps airing this month. After this year of cancellations, I think it's worth enjoying what we can, even as we acknowledge how much lead/main character rep and longevity we're losing. :o

[booksandchainmail]

Lodestar (not a hugo) Finalists 2024

Impressions and loose rankings of the best children's/YA finalists for 2024. Note that I didn't read Promises Stronger than Darkness, since I didn't like the first book or finish the second book in that trilogy

To Shape a Dragon's Breath, by Moniquill Blackgoose. This was one of my favorite books last year and one my nominees for the Lodestar, and having read the other finalists still my top choice. I'm just going to copy my response from this end of year post: This book was so perfectly targeted to me, I'm a sucker for books where people raise dragons. And the worldbuilding! Such an interesting alt-history, and such a fun magic system that is mostly actual chemistry/physics. This is one where I also got really really invested in the side characters, Theod's arc in particular hit me really hard. But it's also great to have a book (not even a super long book!) where I can say things like "I'm interested in the main character's older brother's girlfriends plotline about inventing long-range airships", and have that level of engagement across a wide cast. Also, this book has the perfect title in ways that become clear partway through.

Liberty's Daughter, by Naomi Kritzer. Remember that article about libertarians going to "seastead" on a cruise ship, and how bad it was? This book is dystopian scifi set in a world where they pulled it off. I think it does a good job of a main character whose been raised with libertarian ideals broadening her perpective, and I have to give props to any book that makes the dashing rebel group in a YA dystopia literally the IWW. More books should contain the line "the Wobblies are here". I think it also does a good job of treading a fine line between "why is this kid in danger" while not stripping agency from her: a lot of tension in the later parts of the book comes from responsible adults not wanting Beck in danger, and then because of it infantilizing her and her pushing back to be respected in her home and vocation

Unraveller, by Frances Hardinge. Just finished this the other day, an excellent fantasy novel. I particularly appreciate the push-and-pull between the two POVs, and how this is a teen novel with a male and female protagonist and there is absolutely no romance. Very nice fairy tale/fae vibes, riffing on general feeling rather than adapting a specific story, which is always a trick to pull off. Nettle's backstory in particular feels like she could be a retelling of an existing story, but I'm pretty sure it's original (though pulling inspiration clearly).

The Sinister Booksellers of Bath, by Garth Nix. I read this when it came out, so my memories aren't strong. I remember being disappointed: I don't know if it's just that I'm older, but the newer Garth Nix books have not lived up to his reputation. I like the lead characters, but I didn't have any particular reaction to the books as a whole. I will say I find it amusing that this is sold as YA despite the protagonist being a university student. This could easily be swapped with the one below.

Abeni's Song, by P. Djeli Clark. I think this book is suffering largely from how broad a category the lodestars are. The other nominees I ranked are all books aimed at older teenagers with crossover appeal for adults, whereas this book is middle grade. It's hard for me to judge, because I feel like I would have liked this book if I was the target age! But it's hard to judge a hypothetical "would I have liked this at nine" versus "I like this now". I think the book should have spent more time on the adventure section rather than the living with a witch section, but probably the rest of the series will even that out.

[jewishdragon]

For Yonah and/or Sophia:

1, 3, 13, and 19!

you got it!

Was your OC influenced or inspired by any particular fictional character(s) when you made them?

Ok so both Yonah and Sophia are explicitly based on characters from The Enchanted Forest Chronicles

Princess Sophia started off as basically a clone of Princess Cimorene except instead of tall and pale skinned she's short and dark skinned. The only difference was Sophia liked being a princess (though i made it better to be one), she was just not good at it, acted out, etc (turned out i gave her The Autism and ADHD without realizing it). sophia's personality has developed a lot since her inception and she's no longer a cimorene clone but that is how she started.

She's also based on the prince from EFC book 1 who was cursed to be a half-stone statue. basically he was made of stone but could still move. Sophia has a similar curse but it turns her into glass (they have figured out a way to temporarily disable this for about 4hrs at a time)

and instead of being kidnapped by a dragon she's kidnapped by a giant wizard.

which brings us to Yonah! the giant wizard! He is not an as much of a clone of an enchanted forest chronicles character as sophia was... but he's REALLY similar to Brandel the fire witch who lives in a tower in a swamp. wants to be left alone (very shrek vibes )

as Yonah is a half-giant half-fire witch who lives in a tower in a magical forest. also got some shrek vibes. remember one of the firsts scene in shrek? where he tells a group of soldiers that he's not a giant so he doesnt grind bones into bread, but had a bunch of other specific threats involved turning body parts into food? yonah also wouldnt do that but only bc that's too much work but uhhh he aint above biting of limbs >.> he is an EVIL giant after all! Hire him to pillage a town or something :D

3. What genre would your OC do badly in but it would be hilarious or interesting to watch?

My OCs being designed to be genre savvy would probably be hilarious in most genres since ideally they'd be adapted to be savvy for them! But let's say they arent savvy in other genres. Their source genre is farcical fairytale/fantasy so they'd not be great at horror or romance XD they'd be ok in SciFi. 13. What Pokémon would be on your OC’s team and/or what would be their preferred type?

I HAVE SOMETHING BETTER THAN LISTS I HAVE ART OF THIS

Yonah and sophia as gym leaders/elite four/frontier brains. art by @fedoraqueen

Sophia's team is Forest Themed: the largest lycanroc (her starter), Trevenant, Shamin (does not battle), Shroomish, Usaring, Stantler

Yonah's team is Mage/magic themed (sort of): Mismagius, Bewear, Aloan Marowak (shiny), Alakazam, and Snivvy (his starter, who he named Sophia, does not fight)

his Bewear is NOT short, yonah is FUCKING TALL.

19. If your OC was in Star Trek’s Starfleet, what would be their role/position? Or, if that doesn’t really fit your OC: why would they get kicked out of Starfleet? Yonah is Science and Sophia would basically be asexual!beckett mariner from lower decks (parents are an admiral/captain and while she willingly joined starfleet she was forced to go into command and there are high expectations and she CANNOT get kicked out even if she acts reckless and disobeys orders)

Also in most AUs/alt versions of these characters taht arent in a fairytale world, Yonah was Sophia's babysitter rather than her evil captor. (they still are obviously best friends tho, yonah would have been like 12 when he started babysitting a 5 year old sophia, so once Sophia is an adult they are besties)

[melanielocke]

Book recommendations - science fiction

I couldn't put the pictures next to each other as half the books would fall off the picture, but I decided to continue with a selection of science fiction books. Some are set in space, but not all of the, because sci-fi as a genre is more than just space books so if you're not into space books perhaps one of the other books might be a good choice.

I'll start with Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

This is not a space book. It's a mermaid book. And while you'd think that's fantasy, this one is actually a sci-fi horror. The way the mermaids are portrayed here is very scientific and also rather horrifying, which is why it's a scifi horror.

While the ending leaves an opening for a sequel, there is currently no sequel. As I understand, this is due to the publisher but if a lot of people were to buy the first one a sequel could still be possible.

Seven years ago, the Atargatis set out to the mariana trench to film a mockumentary about mermaids. The ship disappeared, and was discovered weeks later drifting somewhere with no one on it. Now, a new ship filled with scientists is traveling to the same area to find out what happened.

This book follows a wide cast of characters, but the main character is Tori. Tori is a marine biologist whose older sister was on the Atargatis and presumably died and she wants nothing more than to find out what really happened to her sister.

Some of the other major characters include Olivia, an autistic lesbian who is a tv presenter, the same job Tori's sister had on the previous voyage, deaf twins Holly and Heather who both have their own scientific expertise, dr. Jillian Toth, a marine biologist and siren expert at a time when people generally don't believe in mermaids.

There isn't a lot of romance in the book, but the main pairing is sapphic.

One of the greatest strenghts of this book is the use of science, everything in here is really believable, and the way scientists are portrayed. As very curious people who do not have a lot of self preservation (which is why they're looking for mermaids that might very well kill them all)

Next up is Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell, which I had to include if I'm making a sci-fi list although I've talked about it before as I used the premise from this book for the Stars Collide. The book on the picture is the UK edition, which I bought because at the time it was the only available paperback, but I'm kind of regretting that I don't have a US cover edition because I like that cover a lot better.

Winter's Orbit is a sci-fi romance that follows prince Kiem, a minor prince of the Iskat empire. When Kiem's cousin Prince Taam dies suddenly and unexpectedly, Kiem is rushed into an arranged marriage with Taam's widower Jainan to keep the treaty between Iskat and Jainan's home planet Thea.

It soon turns out Taam's death might not have been an accident and Jainan is a suspect, and Kiem and Jainan will have to navigate an investigation, possible conspiracy and their growing feelings for each other.

Winter's Orbit is equal parts sci-fi and romance, and I think one of the books where miscommunication is done well. It makes sense here for Taam and Kiem to misunderstand each other based on their past relationships, assumptions and expectations, and I would definitely recommend this if you like queer romance, sci-fi romance and arranged marriage stories.

Oceans' Echo is Everina Maxwell's second book, which I also discussed in my first book recommendations post. However, back then I hadn't gotten around to reading it yet and just wanted to show off my very pretty new book. Now I have read it and can tell you a little more about it.

Ocean's Echo is set in the same universe as Winter's Orbit, but featuring different characters set in a completely different part of the galaxy. You do not need to read Winter's Orbit to read this book. The only thing that appears in both books is the existence of the Resolution and their treaties and the remnants, but it'll make sense if you haven't read Winter's Orbit.

The story is set on a planet where they've done experiments with neuromodification, resulting in readers and architects existing. Architects are more common and can "write" people's minds, imposing their will on them, depending on how strong they are. Readers can read people's minds, and they are rarer, and generally not trusted, but their abilities do allow them to navigate chaotic space while mentally linked to an architect.

The main character is Tennal, a reader and walking disaster. He's conscripted into the military under very dubious circumstances, and is ordered to soul bound with young lieutanant Surit Yeni. This soul bond would essentially allow Surit to follow control Tennal's mind.

Surit is the son of a famous dead traitor general, and he is determined to prove he's not a traitor. He seems like the kind of guy who just follows orders, until he's told to soul bond with an unwilling Tennal. The moment he's told to do something unethical he throws that all obedient soldier guy thing out of the window and decides they have to fake a soul bound until he can help Tennal escape the military.

Compared to Winter's Orbit, this book leans more toward sci-fi than romance. It's more sci-fi with a major romance subplot than sci-fi romance, and I found myself less rooting for the romance, but more for the plot and the characters individually. I still liked them as a couple, but that's not the main focus here. It's very military focused, but in a way that portrays the military as an institution with dubious morals that they are mainly trying to escape from.

Next up is the Space between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

This is a sci-fi not set in space but focused on interdimensional travel instead. In this world, interdimensional travel has been made possible, but there's a problem. You can only travel to worlds where you're already dead.

Cara, the main character, is exceptionally good at dying. So much that out of the currently discovered worlds, she is dead in 372 worlds and only alive in 9. This makes her an ideal candidate to travel to parallel worlds to do research them, which allows her to move from her poor community into the wealthier city, and if she keeps up the job long enough can even win her citizenship there.

I'm not sure how to tell more about the plot without giving everything away, but there are a few things I'll mention.

The second character on the cover is Dell, a Japanese woman who works with Cara and sends her on assignments and such. Dell has grown up in the city, and is unable to travel to other worlds herself because she's still alive in too many of them. She is also Cara's love interest.

This story, and the reason Cara is so good at dying, is largely about poverty and racism. Cara is a Black woman who grew up in an unsafe and poor part of the world, whereas Dell grew up wealthy, and spends a lot of time exploring that, and how the poor area Cara grew up in works in her world but also different worlds she travels too.

There are also a couple of twists that really surprised me and I didn't see coming. While I admit I'm not the best at predicting plot twists, I think this book has one that will surprise a lot of people.

On the Edge of Gone is an internationally published book by a Dutch author (which aren't many), and is set in the Netherlands. Amsterdam, specifically.

A comet is set to hit earth, and Denise and her family have been assigned a shelter to hide in for the blast. Unfortunately, Denise's sister Iris is not home in time and her drug addict mother is slowing her down too, she's never getting to the shelter in time. Through a teacher from Denise's school, she discovers a space ship that has not yet taken off that they can hide in for the blast.

The problem is, passengers need good practical skills to be able to contribute to be allowed on the ship, and Denise is an autistic teenager who doesn't know what she has to offer, nor her mother or sister. Still, she tries her best to secure them passage on the ship.

This book is written by an autistic author, and the autism is very well portrayed here. The story is mostly focused on Denise's relationship with her family and people she meets on the spaceship, and about her autism and the idea of having to contribute. It's not very plot heavy and not very fast paced, and the spaceship doesn't actually take off, it's hidden on Schiphol (Amsterdam airport), and remains there after the impact, after which Amsterdam is flooded. I imagine if disaster strikes, that is likely because Amsterdam is below sea level.

I would recommend this mainly for the autism representation, if you're looking for something fast paced with a lot of plot this one isn't for you.

Next up is the Darkness Outside Us, which is a survival story set in space

Ambrose is a trained astronaut. When his sister's distress beacon goes off on Titan where she was the first human to settle, a rescue missue is launched, and Ambrose is chosen to go find her.

But the rescue doesn't go as planned. Ambrose wakes up on the space ship with no memory of the launch, and it turns out there's a second part of the ship with a second astronaut he wasn't aware of, a spacefarer from a different country who locks himself in his own part of the ship and wants nothing to do with Ambrose. And the ship's a worn down mess, with lots of repair jobs Ambrose has to do.

To survive and succeed in the rescue, Ambrose and Kodiak, the other spacefarer, will have to work together.

This book is YA, but a lot of goodreads reviews will tell you it reads more as adult. I'm not sure if that's true, since YA is mainly determined by the age of the main characters, who are teenagers in this book, but if you're more interested in adult sci-fi I think you might still like this book.

There is a lot of emphasis on the themes of survival, isolation, and humanity and bonds between humans, it does get more philosophical than some other books on this list. Ambrose and Kodiak are completely alone on their spaceship, they only have each other, and much of the focus is on that. Their relationship also becomes romantic at some point.

The book is divided into 5 or 6 different parts or so, with the first one being the longest, and I won't say what divides them as that'd be a huge spoiler. However, as you go from part 1 into part 2 you're going to be very confused. It makes little sense, until it does, and I thought this was a very intriguing idea.

Last book on this list is Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

Iron Widow is the first book in a duology with book 2, Heavenly Tyrant, coming out this August. The book is a reimagining of Empress Wu, the only female emperor in Chinese history, and many of the characters are based on Chinese historical figures. However, the setting is a futuristic sci-fi world inspired by ancient Chinese culture.

Huaxia has been under attack by aliens called Hunduns for many generations. The only way to fight them is with a chrysalis, a sort of robot that is piloted by a couple of pilots. Their shapes are based on Chinese mythological animals, such as the nine tailed fox and the vermillion bird.

The chrysalises are piloted by male pilots, paired up with a female concubine-pilot. No one really cares that the girls very often die.

Wu Zetian offers herself up as a concubine pilot after her sister was killed by a powerful male pilot outside of battle, to get revenge. And she gets it in an unexpected way. When she goes into battle with the pilot, she kills him through their psychic link and is labeled an Iron Widow, a female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up a chrysalis.

She's paired with Li Shimin, the strongest male pilot in Huaxia, and the most controversial as he was on death row for killing his father and brothers and his execution has been postponed indefinitely because he's so powerful.

But Zetian won't let him kill her or tame her, she's had a taste of power and she won't stop until she's destroyed the system that treats girls as disposable.

Zetian is kind of unhinged in the best way. After she killed the first male pilot, she yells something like "I'm your nightmare" on camera, and I love her for it. She's definitely a morally gray character, but very easy to root for because she's pissed off because of the patriarchy and wants to take it down.

The two other major characters in this book are Shimin and Yihzi. I already talked a little about Shimin before. Yihzi is Zetian's secret boyfriend at the start of the book, and at some point while Zetian's paired up with Shimin he shows up again. His super power is that he's rich, his father is the richest man in Huaxia. At some point he literally says "You can't shoot me, I'm rich". He seems like a very sweet guy but he can actually be quite brutal when he wants to be.

All three main characters are bisexual and end up being in a polyamorous relationship which I really liked. The author described this book as 400 pages of Zetian and Shimin suffering while Yihzi has the most bisexual time of his life.

@alastaircarstairsdefenselawyer @life-through-the-eyes-of @astriefer @justanormaldemon @ipromiseiwillwrite @a-dream-dirty-and-bruised @amchara @all-for-the-fanfiction @imsoftforthomastair @ddepressedbookworm @queenlilith43 @wagner-fell @cant-think-of-anything @laylax13s @tessherongraystairs @boredfangirl16 @artist-in-soul @bottomdelioncourt @ikissedsmithparker

[elephant-in-the-pride-parade]

⭐️Star ⭐️

I think I'll dust off Eden's Deception for this one.

So what you'd never know about Eden's Deception is this story actually went through three drafts.

2018 - The romantic fluff fest hyperfocused on a J/C romance in their scifi "Garden of Eden" on my first rewatch of the series as a 25 y.o. i felt absolutely cheated and teased by the romantic undertones that this episode failed to fulfill. the first draft was wish fulfillment where they frollicked around new earth falling in love, but it kept getting disrupted by my impulse to write scenes with some very intense melancholy about being stranded. Think one second theyre cuddling on a home made couch making out and the next Kathryn is somberly assessing what would happen when one of the died and how she would bury his body all alone by herself. really sad shit. kept breaking the romantic story i had envisioned.

That first draft stalled completely when the romantic fantasy plot peaked at an accidental pregnancy. I was watching Call the Midwife at the same time (hollar at all the ways pregnancy can go wrong for older women with limited resources and no medical care) and I just could not figure out how to move forward with the romantic fluff tone when i had just put my character in this situation of functionally mortal peril. I put the draft down and had a long re-think.

2020: The second draft was a Viidian organ farm horror fic. Mid pandemic. I was very isolated. dark thoughts abounded. and I like everyone else got a crash course in virus behavior from the wall to wall news coverage. So I rewatched resolutions again and this time rather than the lack of romance it was the bullshit virus that needled me. Why had a virus that affected spacefarers evolved on a planet with no space faring civilization? Why was it's only symptom triggered outside the atmosphere? Why did the Viidiians have the cure. I tried to anwer that in the second draft, while still satisfying my wishfullfillment need to get Kathryn a baby. In that second Draft the vidiians had engineered the planet to be a tempting venus fly trap and the virus to first trap victims on the planet and then entice them to have a lot of sex and babies that the vidiians could swoop in and kidnap later. I'd intended pregnant Kathryn to go full rambo on their facility and somehow bs she and chakotay a way off the planet and back to the ship. but i never got that far. that draft was just a little too dark for what I wanted and also the idea of the show's modern vidiians forcing their prisoners to breed new organ donors the natural way seemed dreadfully inefficient for a species that had figured out how to create a whole ass klingon adult in a lab in a day from just half a dna strand. but I did like the idea that the virus was somehow their fault. and I was intrigued by the speculation that their organ harvesting plans might have started out on a much more accessible population than kidnapped passing spacefarers. so i hung onto those tidbits and some of the smut scenes too (one of the smut scenes from this draft became Fever actually).

The final draft was written in 2021. In the US we had the looming threat of losing protections from Roe by then and that really put a damper on my own baby fever. That and I had by then watched like 7 seasons of call the midwife. So suffice to say I had come to see new earth baby was just a horror fic waiting to happen, and felt like Kathryn would just never go through with that while stranded or in the captain's chair. So I had Kathryn put a new earth baby in long term stasis for Parent Trap and I did away with the concept in Eden entirely.

Having also experienced two years of people trying to control a real pandemic by then the vidiians approach to the phage continued to facinate me. I don't think I would have come up with the idea of the New Earth virus as a quarentine measure otherwise. Creating a plot for Chakotay and his own skill set also helped bring the whole thing together. I let the potential of a maquis freedom fighter out to play to create a solution that was definitely the best option and definitely not starfleet sanctioned. He flies under the radar as a self-sacrificing maverick given how often it's Janeway pulling out the big guns. But he absolutely also is one. And that was really fun to explore.

Ultimately I think you see undercurrents of the first 2 drafts in the final story. The romantic yacht that they sail back to Voyager in certainly harkened back to the fluffier iteration. I really was very pleased with how it turned out. Rereading it two years later there isnt much that i would change. And that makes me really proud of it. I loved writing a mystery. I loved exploring a more mature and measured version of a romance. I loved bringing the science into it! (and I lucked out having someone with an anthropology/archeology background betaing it)

One thing I would change is the inclusion of some of Chakotays spiritual elements. It was kinda a trend at the time to have him say "Spirits" in lieu of saying "Oh, God" as a way to honor whatever indigenous beliefs he is supposed to have (as we all know theyre very mismashed/made up/etc.) and to show he wasnt from a judeo-christian background. I've realized that was quite foolish now. Saying "Spirits" doesn't come from the show or from any actual native american tradition that I can find. I'd just have him say "God" or swear or something completely different now. In the same vein I want to eventually go back and edit the vision quest scene. I've grappled for years with how much of his canon beliefs to include since theyre all appropriated from different nations or just made up whole cloth. Vision quests aren't something I have personal knowledge of and not something I can research or give the appropriate respect to. So I think that while I might still have him leave their campsite to do one, I'd change the vision/memory itself into a dream, similar to the way his flashbacks to the war worked in a later chapter.

[dominimoonbeam]

congratulations with how far you've gotten with your book, domini! this is a huge step! do you have any ideas for future books or are you just focusing on the one you're publishing right now?

Thank you, Anon!

Oh, I have so many ideas! I have another contemporary romance (Don't Touch My Stuff) that's also in its last stages of edits.

I have lists of ideas for more contemporary books and an outline for the next scifi romance (it's about the synthetic mercenary trio!) not to mention Bite to Bruise and Don't Run in the works.

Bite to Bruise is in my fantasy world and I have SO MANY plans for that world.

Don't Run is in the contemporary universe but the first of a series that will focus on the mobsters rather than the sweet normal people in town.

I have so many ideas! SO MANY. I just wish I could write/edit/format faster.

[leseigneurdufeu]

Webtoons ask game and don't mind the [] it's because some emojis don't work on some versions and I wanted everyone to have a reference:

Stories:

[knife emoji]🔪 Favorite thriller/mystery story

[burning heart]❤️‍🔥 Favorite romance story

[castle]🏰 Favorite historical story

[wizard]🧙‍♂️ Favorite fantasy story

[schoolbag]🎒 Favorite high school story

[zombie]🧟 Favorite horror story

[rocket]🚀 Favorite super hero/scifi/action story

[hug]🫂 Favorite slice of life/wholesome/comedy story

[thermometer]🌡️ Favorite drama story

[basket ball]🏀 Favorite sports story

[crown]👑 Top three favorite stories

[dog]🐕 Infodump about niche stories you love

[paintbrush]🖌️ favorite Canvas story/canvas story you hope to see featured some day

Characters:

[sparkling heart]💖 favorite canon ship

[blue heart]💙 favorite canon friendship

[yellow heart]💛 favorite non-canon ship

[purple heart]💜 favorite non-canon friendship

[black heart]🖤 favorite vilain

[wheelchair]🦽 favorite disabled representation

[superheroine]🦸‍♀️ favorite female lead

[superhero]🦸‍♂️ favorite male lead

[french fries]🍟 favorite large cast

[shrimp]🦐 favorite [insert what you want, plus size, glasses wearer, lgbt, left-handed, etc] representation

[baby bottle]🍼 cutest child

[game die]🎲 if you could bring one character back to life who would it be?

Meta

[bomb]💣 a story you hate with a burning passion but can't stop reading

[steam locomotive]🚂 the story that got you to download the webtoon app/get on the website for the first time

[moneybag]💰 the story you spend your free coins on rather than have them expire/the story you spend the most coins on

[firefighter truck]🚒 a hot take on a story submitted by the asker

[firefighter head]👨‍🚒 a hot take on a story you chose

[booksnstuff58]

Book review: Scifi

As I said in my last post, I finished two books fairly close together. This was the second one I read.

The book I'm talking about today is

Loch Ness Leap by Sandy Schofield

So, this one's a little different than the books I normally read and review. I will occasionally read scifi or dystopian, but most of the time I read romance and fantasy. I wanted to read this one because it is based off of one of my absolute favorite shows, Quantum Leap!

If you've never watched Quantum Leap, don't know what it's about, here's the intro:

“Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Doctor Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished... He awoke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own, and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better. His only guide on this journey is Al, an observer from his own time, who appears in the form of a hologram that only Sam can see and hear. And so Doctor Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home…”

Oh, I love it! The original one. I refuse to watch the remake. I refuse to let them ruin it.

Anyway, I HIGHLY recommend the show, it's beautiful and so much fun, and I've rewatched it like twelve times and it never gets old! The original one. The one with Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell, not the new mess they're making.

So because of my obsession with that gorgeous show, I found me a book. Really, if I'm remembering correctly, my sister found it at the Goodwill and handed it to me which I then obviously bought. And yes, I'm aware that's bad grammar, it's just fun to use bad grammar sometimes!

Here's the blurb:

Sam Beckett leaps into the body of Dr. Donald Harding, a theoretical physicist, who has come to Loch Ness where his son is trying to prove the existence of the fabled Nessie and where Sam encounters a strangely familiar young woman who holds the key to Sam's own future.

And here's what I think:

Ok, so first of all, I don't really care about the Loch Ness monster, so this would not have been my first choice of Quantum Leap books, but this was the one we found at the Goodwill, so this is the one I had.

It was... okay. I will admit, I was a little disappointed with it. I love Quantum Leap and have actually written a few flash fiction which I am really pleased with. I feel like the characters could have been written a little better. There were times I could hear Sam's voice in my head while I was reading, but I couldn't really hear Al saying anything he said in the book. Which made me sad.

Also, one of my favorite parts of the show is the interaction between Sam and Al, but there was very little of that in this book, which also disappointed me.

I couldn't find any triggers, other than a rocky relationship between a father and son, but I'm not sure that really qualifies. There were maybe a few mild swears, but I don't remember if there actually were any or not.

So, in short, I read it. Wasn't the biggest fan. I would rather watch the show. My recommendation would be to watch the show. Seriously. You should watch it. It's so good. I wouldn't necessarily recommend Loch Ness Leap. If I find more books based off the show, I'll let you know how they are, but based off of my experience with this one, I wouldn't expect much.

I'll be back with more book reviews soon! I think I said in my last post that I'm working on two books again, which is true. I'm not sure how I feel about them just yet, but I'll let you know!

[magic-is-something-we-create]

This or that: Writer's edition tag!

Thank you for the tag, @pens-swords-stuff!! i love these kinds of games so much :D

this post is long, so apologies in advance! that said, i'll tag @writeblrfantasy, @ettawritesnstudies, @ren-c-leyn, and @enchanted-lightning-aes, as well as anyone else who wants to play!! as always, absolutely 0 pressure to participate if you dont want <3

(explanations for choices are optional, i am just a wordy bitch and want to Speak At Length about many things)

- historical or futuristic

as much as i write fantasy, i LOVE a speculative tech-based setting way more than i love a historical or pseudo-historical setting - which is uh. why my main fantasy world does in fact have a cyberpunk corner and Heavily Implied To Be Aliens pantheon.

- opening or closing chapter

the closing chapter is ALWAYS one that ive been champing at the bit to write for the whole book, and its always so satisfying to finally get out on the page

- light+fluffy or dark+gritty

case in point: whispers and the copious amounts of various horror, gore, and downright gut-punch scenes in millennium saga

- animal companion or found family

bonus points for the found family if theres an animal companion of course, but as much as i love wrench, she is a) not the most important member of the party and b) also a robot so i dont think she counts as an animal anyway outside of andy's dubious claims to fitting under the "dragon" definition

- horror or romance

i will write 1000 instances of "what the FUCK" for every page i struggle through writing romance as someone who does not experience attraction

- hard or soft magic system

I LOVE MAKING PUZZLES OUT OF WORLDS AND MAGIC AND STORIES. THATS IT THATS THE POST

- standalone or series

surprise! TMS may be a series and my long-running main WIP, but uh. 90% of my concepts are standalones. and tbh i like writing standalones more because i dont have to struggle with multiple books of plot and characters fitting together

- one project at a time or always juggling multiple

while i have a bajillion ideas, i struggle to get any work done if im not 100% invested in the story at hand, so i work on one at a time (while allowing myself to switch if i need to of course; but if i do switch, it's never just a few days. its months, and often seeing something to completion)

- one award winner or one best seller

honestly? id rather be recognized for my hard work in creating the characters/story via an award than via a bajillion people reading it,,, though theoretically if its winning an award at least enough people have read it to a) nominate it and b) vote for it, so? best of both worlds kinda?

- fantasy or scifi

YOU THINK I, GENRE BLENDER GEORG, COULD CHOOSE--

- character or setting description

please god. my beta readers didnt know what color embers hair was until chapter 13 because i couldnt fuckin figure out how to put a description of it in naturally. ill take describing massive trees and open ocean and vast plains of ice and cluttered rooms and stained glass windows any day but dont make me describe the narrator or i swear to fuck

- first or final draft

its the puzzle box gremlin in me like "NYEHEHEHE THE PIECES. THEY ARE THERE. PEOPLE CAN SOLVE THEM. NEYHE" and that simply cannot happen in the first draft

- love triangle in everything or no romantic arcs

we write polyamory, one (1) enemies-to-lovers, or no romance at all in this house (it feels so alienating to write no matter what but if its for the story ill do just about anything)

- constant sandstorm or rainstorm

can i say blizzard? i want to say blizzard. same "dont go outside or you'll die" as sandstorm but less worrying about water and also more excuses for the characters to light a fire and Talk About The Horrors or just commit arson

[burningdarkfire]

books i read in july 2023

[these are all short + casual reviews - feel free to ask about individual ones if u want my full thoughts or ask for my goodreads!!] 

in hindsight i feel like i lived three different months in july so uhhh it makes sense i read a decent amount? maybe?

the first fifteen lives of harry august - claire north ★★★★★ (scifi)

i won’t tell you that this is objectively good literature but i will tell you that it is peak trope-y intellectual rivals “whatever these freaks have going on is definitely weirder than actually having sex” media and you should definitely read it if you’re into that

the last to vanish - megan miranda ★★★★☆  (thriller)

a slower thriller that read more like litfic at times. the “reveal” is definitely the weakest part of this book so YMMV on if that breaks a thriller or not!

the world keeps ending, and the world goes on - franny choi ★★★★☆ (poetry)

all the poems that were explicitly focused on the political movements du jour were rather trite but the poems that reached deeper into history were absolutely beautiful

fourth wing - rebecca yarros ★★★★☆ (fantasy romance)

this was great fantasy romance (but you must understand that it is fantasy romance before you read it). fun dragon bonds, half-baked fantasy war, star-crossed lovers, horny young adults ... what is there not to love?

everything is beautiful, and i’m not afraid - yao xiao ★★★★☆ (contemporary comic collection)

simple but powerful comic collection! each comic is meant to stand on its own, but there are still meaningful running threads

moonflower murders - anthony horowitz ★★★★☆ (mystery)

it’s not as good as magpie murders but that is a nearly impossible ask anyway! it’s messier, less satisfying, and generally too full of silly contrivances, but it’s still a lot of fun to read

burning in this midnight dream - louise bernice halfe ★★★★☆ (poetry)

great individual poems but repetitive as a collection

the mill house murders - yukito ayatsuji ★★★☆☆ (mystery)

the “whodunnit” is obvious and the “howdunnit” is uninteresting, but the way it’s written is still quite engaging

let’s make ramen! - hugh amano ★★★☆☆ (cookbook comic)

cute comic cookbook! i obviously didn’t read it page to page but it was gorgeous to flip through. i did wish it offered more cultural background

little fires everywhere - celeste ng ★★★☆☆ (contemporary)

the plot escalated beyond belief and needed a lot of crazy coincidences to tie together, but it was still a really enjoyable read

dear prudence - daniel m. lavery ★★★☆☆ (nonfiction essays)

this really was just like reading r/AITA to me

shutter island - dennis lehane ★★★☆☆ (thriller)

i’m not convinced it was worth reading the book, having previously watched the movie a couple of times, but there were a few turns of phrase that a movie couldn’t quite pull off (the inverse is definitely also true though!)

our missing hearts - celeste ng ★★☆☆☆ (dystopian)

the first part was very enjoyable and i’d even say better than celeste ng’s usual, but then it took a hard left and turned into a heavy-handed and clumsy pandemic book that i just didn’t care about at all

[kalyri]

suddenly reminded of my second creative writing class in college--i took it after taking intro to creative writing that spring semester.  and the professor for fiction writing 1 was the head of the creative writing department, i was like “cool, i can learn something from a teacher rather than just dealing with the grad students.  which i didn’t mind, i actually liked the grad student assigned to my group of like 10 students out of like the 150 or so that were there...

anyway.  the thing that i suddenly remembered because the professor was just... not good.  especially with the content of the story i was writing for the class.  and he started with the very typical “no genre writing” which confused the hell out of me, because then what the fuck was I supposed to write?  all writing, to me, is genre writing.  because you’re writing in a genre.  if it’s fiction without supernatural, scifi, fantasy, whatever, then it’s like historical or realistic or romance, etc.  there’s always a genre.  so that was the first thing i didn’t like.

but the content of the story i was writing specifically for this class was queer in nature.  at the time, i had a friend who’d solidified their gender as non-binary, and we’d decided to try dating, either before the summer started or just after the summer started.  and so i decided to write something about about a relationship between a lesbian and a non-binary person.  and i used they/them pronouns throughout the story and named the character Alexandre.  and that reverse -re is what brought the memory on, because i’m reading a book written by a NZ author who does that for words like kilometre.

anyway, the guy didn’t like this--and he tried so hard to frame it as grammatical.  but it was worse than that because he was so up in arms about how to pronounce Alexandre, without referencing the fact that words like kilometre are said like kilometer.  I’d only intended the Alexandre as like a cross between Alexandra and Alexander--this was the name the character had chosen.  And Alex as a nickname was no ambiguous, it worked.  And for most of the story, Alexandre went by just Alex.  The entire like summer semester that I was in this online class--and it was all online.  He recorded videos of himself reviewing these writing pieces--and we were also reviewed by classmates for like the pseudo-midterms or whatever, and the only issues some of them had were like my mention of what kind of car I decided to use for the part of the story in the mechanic shop where the lesbian worked, or things of that nature. Things that could improve the content.

This guy literally couldn’t hide his queerphobia enough behind his stink about grammatical ���mistakes”.  I literally fixed that one issue with changing Themself to Theirself, because theirself was in the dictionary at the time as an actual word, whereas Themself was not.  As if language isn’t changing and we can’t make up words for our *fictional* works.

Anyway, at the end of the class he asked us to write some sort of review of the whole thing, and I dragged him through the dirt.  Because the entire time he was ripping me apart for my choice in words and content but not actually helping me structure the story the way he was supposed to.  Tell me when I’m switching tenses, tell them i’m typing run on sentences without realizing; hell, tell me I’m using way too many damn commas.  but don’t tell me that my story doesn’t make sense because you don’t know how to say Alexandre, and themself isn’t a word. 

So i told him all of this in a 3rd person perspective, because he asked us to write it not to him, but to “the professor”.  Idk.  And he was apparently confused about why i was so angry...

just remembered all of that today and then immediately got pissed off because i went into fiction writing 2 that fall and used the same story as my last long form writing assignment.  and you wanna know what the class and the professor wanted me to change?  the shit that didn’t make sense, like a 13 year old living on her own with her two fathers living in new york and her mother living in a different part of the same city, and no one asking questions about it.  asking me to delve further into the lesbian’s background because it was all mentioned, but nothing was ever shown--only some of Alex’s background, due to the short length of the story at the time; and then add in more to the final scene of the story that rounded it out.  Shit that *actually* helped.

anyway... i hope he had a small rock--not much bigger than a grain of sand--stuck in his shoe during any classes he taught this week.  so he can be as annoyed as i was during that summer.

[charmquarkstrangequark]

This or That Tag Game

Thanks for the tag, Rachel. These are tough questions!

Opening or Closing Chapter

For me, both reading and writing, the opening chapter. While reading, I love the adventure that is starting. I get book hangovers really easily because I get so invested, so closing chapters can be melancholy. When I'm writing, I always worry that my closing chapters aren't final enough.

Light & Fluffy or Dark & Gritty

When reading, I prefer dark & gritty. I read a lot of dystopian novels. It's cathartic to watch the growth of the characters and to see them triumph. I do like them to triumph though. If I read a whole book and everyone just dies in the end, I'm not a fan of that. When I write, though, I write light & fluffy better. I always feel like a sham writing dark and gritty. I use too many adjectives or something.

Animal Companion or Found Family

Definitely found family. Animal companions make me anxious because I'm afraid something will happen to them. Plus I'm a big believer in the family you make rather than the one you're born into. Often they overlap, but the don't need to.

Horror or Romance?

I spent a lot of time in the zombie genre in my teens and 20s, and I love the suspense and drama of horror. The best horror novels are the ones where it's super tough to turn off the bedroom lamp at bedtime. But fanfics, I mostly read romance.

Hard Magic or Soft Magic?

So I didn't really understand this question...Is it like hard science and soft science? I'm using Rachel's answer as a guide.... I insist on hard magic. I hate when magic doesn't follow rules and at least attempt to align with how our world works, because I can't subsume myself in a world where I can't make at least a few logical predictions. If I understand the differentiation correctly, soft magic feels like cheating.

One Project at a Time or Juggling Two or More?

So, conditionally, I will say two or more, but it's not much more. Things that are unfinished are deeply anxiety-inducing to me. Sometimes I'll have another idea looping around my brain while I'm finishing the previous one up, but usually, I like to have my own stuff sorted. Like, my second novel is mostly complete now; I'm just waiting on my illustrator to get his stuff done. My first long fanfic is complete and releasing a few chaps at a time while I start on my next one.

One award winner or One bestseller?

I'm going to break from the trend here and say one bestseller, as long as it's still true to my style and concepts. I think having a bestseller helps people to connect to your lesser known words. But honestly, I'm a total junkie for anyone who reads my work and then interacts with me about it. I especially like when people quote sections of what I'm writing that struck them.

Fantasy or SciFi?

Oof, I do like them both. I started reading SciFi when I was very young, but I read more fantasy now. I really enjoy both of them. But I am one of those pedants who differentiates Science Fiction from Science Fantasy. I like Fantasy and Science Fiction, but not Science Fantasy.

First Draft or Final Draft

Final Draft by (as Ali Hadji-Hashmati would say) a country mile. I love, love, love the dopamine burst of finishing something. I do this manic phase of editing, editing, editing! once the story is on the page, so it's a relief to sit back and look at my finished product.

Love Triangle in Everything or No romantic arcs?

I love reading love triangles. Love them. As long as they're not too repetitive, and the conflict doesn't feel too manufactured. BUT, in my own children's novels, I specifically chose to leave out a romantic arc, because my two main characters are male and female. I hate the trope that male and female friends can't deeply love, nurture, and care for each other without there being romantic feelings or sexual tension. That's why I write Georcy as friends.

Constant sandstorm or rainstorm?

OK, who chooses sandstorm? Like, sand gets....EVERYWHERE. It'll be in your scalp, the corners of your eyes, inside your ears, inside your pants....For sure rainstorm. I love the rain. I love it's vibe, and the sound and smell of it. I love green and verdant spaces. BUT I am also very affected by a persistent lack of sunshine, so I'd need a UV light or something to keep my mood up. And when does one mow the lawn?

So many of my people are already tagged! Let's see who I can find. How about @wellgoslowly @hailqiqi @neewtmas @givemea-dam-break

No pressure to any of you; I know some of you are very busy with new jobs, etc, but I love feeling like I get to know more about you!

This or That Tag Game

Thanks for the tag @jerzwriter

Historical or futuristic?

- Historical fiction was one of my first (reading) loves!! But I do love sci-fi, so futuristic is also awesome! Can I choose both?

Opening or Closing Chapter?

- As a writer? Closing. I love the feeling or wrapping a series up! As a reader? Opening! I'm sad when I have to leave a book world.

Light and Fluffy or Dark and Gritty?

- You know what? I'm gong to steal Elsa's answer because I couldn't have said it better:

Dark and Gritty, I love light and fluffy, too, but I really like things that delve into human emotion. Stories that show people triumphing over trauma and hurt, learning, losing, growing - that doesn't happen in fluff.

I'm just going to add that, for me, happily ever after is better when the angst and darkness came first. Obstacles were overcome and/or they had to fight to be together, etc. makes the ending better.

Animal Companion or Found Family?

- Found family.

Horror or Romance?

- Again, I don't want to choose. I used to be a huge horror fan and have really only come around to romance when I started writing in here.

Hard Magic or Soft Magic?

- Hard, no question. I like things to make sense, even in fiction and especially when I'm being asked to suspend disbelief. Make it make sense within the framework of the fictional world.

One project at a time or Juggling 2 or more?

- So...I currently have 11 ongoing series, a round-robin I'm running, and a writer's group I'm about to launch. That's not counting any of the one-shots I'm currently working on or the trr visuals blog I recently launched. So I guess that answers the question. Although to be fair, it's just about too much. I strongly need to finish several of them and get back to something more reasonable.

One award winner or One bestseller?

- I guess out of those two choices, bestseller. But here I again agree with Elsa's answer about the best thing being when someone tells me that my writing helped them through a tough time. I've had a couple of different readers tell me something similar and it is the best feeling in the world to know that I helped someone like that in any kind of small way!

Fantasy or Sci-fi?

- BOTH and I refuse to choose!

First Draft or Final Draft?

- So....this is difficult. They both give dopamine hits in different ways.

Love triangle in everything or No romantic arcs?

- Love triangle Always!

Constant sandstorm or rainstorm?

- Rainstorm. In the words of Eddie Rabbitt, I love a rainy night!

Tagging the following people and pretty much anyone else who wants to play!! @karahalloway @harleybeaumont @alj4890 @aussiegurl1234 @nestledonthaveone @bebepac @dcbbw @walkerdrakewalker @tessa-liam @kristinamae093 @kingliam2019 @twinkleallnight @twinkle-320 @peonierose @lovingchoices14 @secretaryunpaid @queen-arabella-of-cordonia @indiacater @tinkie1973 @queenmiarys @amandablink @differenttyphoonwerewolf   @bascmve01 @aallotarenunelma @inlocusmads @hannahsrambles2  @little-mouse-gardens @brieflyinfatuated

[asleepinawell]

Book Recs

I was gonna do one of these at the end of the year, but I’ve somehow managed to read 26 books this year already (12 novellas, 14 novels), almost all featuring queer authors and/or characters so this is already a long list.

Note: There’s a few on here I was kind of meh about, but in most of those cases it was a ‘book might be good but it’s not for me so i’ll mention it to put it on people’s radar anyway’ type of thing. Insert the usual necessary tumblr disclaimer about all of this being only my opinion and your opinions are valid too etc etc.

In order of when I read them:

Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower by Tamsyn Muir - Fantasy novella from the author of gideon the ninth that’s a twist on the classic princess trapped in a tower waiting for a prince story. Quite fun. (novella)

The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht - Dark fantasy about revenge and magic. m/m couple but like I said it’s pretty dark and twisted all around so definitely not a happy queer romantic story. My opinion was interesting premise that could have been executed better and probably should have been a full novel to embellish on the world building potential. (novella)

A Memory Called Empire & A Desolation Called Peace - Arkady Martine - Probably tied with murderbot as the best things I read this year. Scifi, f/f couple, wonderfully done exploration of what it means to fall in love with a culture that is destroying your own. More of the many queer anti-imperialist books that have come out recently and certainly some of the best. The second one is a direct continuation of the first. (2 novels)

The Tyrant Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson - This is the third in the Baru Cormorant series (The Masquerade) and was my favorite so far. The second and third book were originally one book that got split I believe and the second book didn’t stand alone as well (though was still great), but the third book really made up for that. Dark fantasy world starring a queer woc whose country and culture is destroyed by the imperial forces of that world colonizing and assimilating them. She vows revenge and decides to work her way up within her enemy’s ranks to enact it from within and bring an empire to ruins. Really really fascinating study of so many different aspects of our own world and the systems which enable and allow bigotry and how bigoted and violent narratives are used to control minorities. This is definitely a darker series and I was particularly impressed with some of the commentary on the racism prevalent in non-intersectional feminism as depicted through a fantasy world. Can’t wait for the last one to come out! (3 novels, 1 forthcoming)

The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells - There’s six of them--5 novella and a novel--and the first is All Systems Red. Told from the point of view of a self-aware droid/android that is rented out by a corporation to provide protection in a dystopian capitalist hellhole future that isn’t that unlike our current capitalist dystopia but is in space. Muderbot hacked the chip that controlled it and instead of going rogue just wants to be left alone to watch its favorite tv shows. Murderbot is painfully relatable and the books are both funny and poignant. Highly recommended. (5 novellas and a novel).

Winter’s Orbit - Everina Maxwell - This was a m/m romance novel with a scifi backdrop of royal intrigue. Generally I’m more into scifi with a queer relationship in the background than vice versa, so it wasn’t my favorite, BUT I think it was still well written and someone looking for more of the romance angle would enjoy it. Has all your favorite romance tropes in it, especially the yearning. (novel)

The Divine Cities - Robert Jackson Bennett - Three book series. I’m very conflicted about this one. Set in a fantasy world where an enslaved nation overthrew the country enslaving them and now rules over them. It’s a story of what happens after the triumphant victory and within that it’s also a murder mystery tied into the dying magic of the conquered nation. It also has a six foot something naked oily viking man fist fight a cthulhu in a frozen river. The second book was by far my favorite, mostly due to the main character being brilliant. My conflict comes from the fact I don’t feel like the story treated its women and queer characters well. Like it had really great characters but it didn’t do great by them overall. That and the third book didn’t live up to the first two. But still definitely worth a read, can’t stress enough how cool some of the world building was. (3 novels)

Into the Drowning Deep - Mira Grant - This might be the only one on here I disliked. It’s got a doomed boat voyage and creepy underwater terror and monsters and a super diverse cast of characters, but I just didn’t enjoy the writing style. While having a diverse cast is great, there were a lot of moments where it felt like characters were pausing to explain things about themselves that felt like a tumblr post rather than a normal conversation you might have while actively being hunted by monsters. I also bounced off all the characters. But a lot of people seem to have liked it so if you’re into horror and want a book with a f/f main couple then maybe you’ll enjoy it. (novel)

Dead Djinn Universe - P. Djèlí Clark - Around the early 1900′s, a man in Egypt discovers a way to access another world and bring Djinn and mysterious clockwork beings called Angels through. As a result, Egypt tells the British to get fucked and Cairo becomes one of the most powerful cities in the world. So Egypt, magic, djinn, a steampunk-ish vibe, oh and the main character is a butch queer woman who enjoys wearing dapper suits and looking fabulous while she investigates supernatural events. Her girlfriend is also mysterious and badass. And she has a cat. There’s three novella (one of which technically might be considered a short story) and then the first novel. You should absolutely read the novellas first (A Dead Djinn in Cairo, The Angel of Khan el-Khalili, The Haunting of Tram Car 015). Super fun and imaginative series. (3 novellas and a novel, more forthcoming)

River of Teeth & Taste of Marrow - Sarah Gailey - From the book description

“In the early 20th Century, the United States government concocted a plan to import hippopotamuses into the marshlands of Louisiana to be bred and slaughtered as an alternative meat source. This is true. Other true things about hippos: they are savage, they are fast, and their jaws can snap a man in two. This was a terrible plan.”

Queer hippo riders!!!! Very much a western but with hippos. Main couple included a non-binary character. Loved the first one. The second one I was more meh about due to one of the characters I was supposed to like having obnoxious man pain that a woman had to take the brunt of the whole time. Also there were less hippos. But queer hippo riders! Definitely read the first one, and they’re both novellas so no reason not to read the second as well. (2 novellas)

A Psalm for the Wild-Built - Becky Chambers - I may be the only person who hasn’t read the long way to a small angry planet at this point, but I did grab her new novella and I loved it. It made me want to go sit out in the woods and feel peaceful. The world it’s set in feels like a peaceful post-apocalypse...or diverted apocalypse maybe. Humans built robots and robots gained sentience, but instead of rebelling they just up and left and went into the wilderness with a promise that the humans wouldn’t follow them.The remaining human society reshaped itself into something new and peaceful. It’s the story of a monk who leaves their habitual monking duties to go be a tea monk and then later wanders into the wilderness and becomes the first human in ages to meet a robot. Very sad there’s no fan art yet. (novella, more forthcoming)

The March North - Graydon Saunders - This was such a weird book that I’m not sure how to explain it. The prose style is hard to get used to and I suspect a lot of people will bounce off it in the first chapter. There’s no third person pronouns used at all and important events get mentioned once in passing and if you blink you’ll miss them. Set on a world where magic is extremely common to the point that rivers sometimes run with blood or fire and the local weeds are something out of a horror movie and most of the world is run by powerful sorcerer dictators, one country banded together (with the help of a few powerful sorcerers who were tired of all the bullshit) to form a free country where powerful sorcerers wouldn’t rule and the small magics of every day folks could be combined to work together. The story revolves around a Captain of the military force on the border who one day has three very powerful sorcerers sent to them by the main government with the hint that just maybe there’s about to be a big invasion (there is) with the implication of take these guys and go deal with this. The world building is extremely complex and very cool...when you can actually understand what the fuck is going on. There is also a murder sheep named Eustace who breathes fire and eats just about everything and is a Very Good Boy and belongs to the most terrifying sorcerer in the world who appears as a little old grandma with knitting. It had one of the most epic badass and wonderfully grotesque battles I’ve ever read. But yeah, it is not what I would call easy reading. Opinions may vary wildly. I did also read the second one (A Succession of Bad Days) in the series which was easier to follow and had a lot more details about the world, but overall I was more meh about it despite some cool aspects. The chapters and chapters of the extreme details of building a house that made up half the novel just weren’t my thing. (novels).

The Space Between Worlds - Micaiah Johnson - In this world parallels universes exist and we’ve discovered how to travel between them, but the catch is you can only go to worlds where the ‘you’ there is already dead. This turns into an uncomfortable look at who would be the people most likely to have died on many worlds and how things like class and race would fit into that and what we would actually use this ability for (if you guessed stealing resources and the stock market you’d be correct). The main character is a queer woc who travels between worlds with the assistance of her handler (another queer woc) who she has the hots for. She accidentally stumbles on a whole lot of mess and conspiracy and gets swept up in that. Really enjoyed it. (novel)

Witchmark - C.L. Polk - Fantasy world reminiscent of Victorian England (I think?) where a young man with magical gifts runs away from his powerful family to avoid being exploited by them. He joins the army and fights in a war and comes home to try and live a quiet life as a doctor, but a murder pulls him into a larger mystery that upturns his life. Also he’s extremely gay and there’s a prevalent m/m romance. This one was a fun-but-not-mind-blowing one for me. (novel, 2 more in the series I haven’t read)

The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon - This was one of those that everyone loved but I couldn’t get into for some reason. I tried twice and only got about halfway through the second time. It’s got dragons and queer ladies and fantasy world and all the things I like, but I wasn’t that invested in the main story (which included the f/f couple) and was more interested in the smaller story about a woman trying to become a dragon rider. There are few things that beat out a lady and her dragon friend story for me and that was the storyline that felt neglected and took a different turn right when we got to the part I’d been waiting for. But, I know a lot of people whose reading opinions I respect who loved it, and if you like epic fantasy with dragons and queens and treachery and pirates and queer characters then I’d say you should definitely give it a try. (novel)

Bonus: I didn’t read these series this year, but if you haven’t read them yet, you should.

Imperial Radch (Ancillary Justice) - Ann Leckie - Spaceship AI stuck in a human body out for revenge for their former captain, but that summary does not come close to doing it justice. Another one examining imperialism and also gender and race.(3 novels)

Kushiel's Legacy Series - Jacqueline Carey - This is two series, six books total, and starts with Kushiel's Dart. Alternate universe Renaissance-y Europe in a fantastical world where sex isn't shameful and sex workers are respected and prized. Lots of political intrigue and mystery. A lot of BDSM and kinky stuff too (the main character is a sexual masochist, oh and also bi!). I first read this series when I was fifteen or sixteen and it definitely made a big impression on me. Same author also wrote the Santa Olivia series which I’d also recommend. (6 novels)

The Locked Tomb (Gideon the Ninth) - Tamsyn Muir - I mean, if you follow me, you know. If you don’t follow me you still probably know. I’d have felt remiss to have left them off though. Lesbian Necormancers in Space. Memes! Skeletons! Biceps! Go read them. (2 novels, 2 forthcoming, 1 short story)

Books On My To Read List:

Fireheart Tiger - Aliette de Bodard

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water - Zen Cho

Black Sun - Rebecca Roanhorse

This Is How You Lose the TIme War - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Ninefox Gambit - Yoon Ha Lee

Also, if anyone has any recs for scifi/fantasy books starring queer men (not necessarily having to do with a queer relationship) and written by queer men I’d love them. There’s a lot written by women, and some of them are great, but I’d love to read a story about queer men from their own perspective.

[sometimesrosy]

what now? idk

TBH, I don’t really know what to do with this blog now that The 100 is over. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad it’s over, but I feel like just posting kitties and cool photo posts isn’t a good use of this spot. 

I really liked answering asks about the show and other stuff, and I kind of miss that, but not having the community makes it harder... even though I was unhappy with fandom for the last couple of years. 

What should I put on this blog? What would you guys like to see, if there’s still anyone out there? 

Let me tell you a bit of what I’m doing outside of tumblr or fandom or scifi.

Professionally, I’m ghostwriting contemporary romances. I’ve written about about 18 so far, in a couple of years. It’s hard work, it doesn’t pay real well. I can’t really suggest to other people, but it just manages to keep my head above water and I get to stay home and take care of myself and homeschool and write and be creative.

Reading wise, I’m leaning hard into the historical romances, and have been ever since I started ghostwriting. IDK why. I read one and write the other.

Writing wise, I am not getting very far on my science fiction books that I’m writing, nor am I getting far on querying for an agent for my finished novels. I’ve got Moonshine, which is based on a bellarke fic I wrote quite a few years ago, and then they’re Girl Of Freaks, which is a contemporary fantasy inspired by how annoyed twilight made me. Like. That’s not what vampires would be. Ugh. Whatever. That’s two finished novels I have that are ready for publication and me, having problems with querying and publication and staying on task. (sometimes I wonder if I too am ADHD after researching for my son’s ADHD. I have been doing a little poetry, too, although that kind of slowed down in the pandemic. It seems to be picking up now that we have a decent not terrifying president. I think I was too anxious to get my thoughts together to write poetry, which was disappointing because I was really getting into poetry.

I am ALSO homeschooling my two teens. One of whom is on the autism spectrum and has ADHD, etc, and one of whom wants to raise chickens. They’re 14 and 15.  He’s older. We’re reading greek mythology write now and writing essays. He writes about philosophy and psychology, and she writes persuasive essays about how we should have Disney+ and have chickens. 

That goes along with the gardening we’re doing. It’s a school project, but we’re also gardening for fun and health. so. We’re trying blueberries and green beans and spinach and herbs and tomatoes and ginger. 

Then I’m getting back into art, too. I took on a challenge on instagram to do 100 days of creativity. I don’t really know WHAT I’m going to do, but it’s essentially 100 days of art journaling as I rediscover what the hell I have to say as an artist. I’ve been doing so much writing that is where my energy goes. 

I am also working on an e-course about Writer’s Block. It’s specifically for writers, because I’ll be showing some writing hints, but a lot of it goes for general creativity. My main thesis is that writer’s block shouldn’t terrify us, but really if we pay attention and listen to what’s stopping us, we can actually learn about our own writing process and become better and happier writers. It’s turned out to be MUCH larger than I thought, a whole book, I suppose, rather than one e course, so I’ve broken it down into four courses, and I’m doing the first one on Overwhelm, which is self explanatory. The other three are; Fear (the internal demons that stop you,) The Narrative Itself (because your subconscious knows there’s a problem with the story itself,) and Not A Block, But a Fallow Period (in which you listen to yourself and DON’T write for a while.)

I suppose I’m also doing the health thing. I have hashimotos, which is basically why I was so sick for most of my time here and could barely get out of bed. Because of that, I’m eating gluten free and mostly natural, although ice cream and dark chocolate doesn’t seem to do any harm to me. So that means I’m also doing a lot of cooking, because processed food always seems to make me sick. Fun. On top of that I’m doing some easy going Yin yoga, or restorative IDK exactly what kind it is, but it’s mainly to manage pain and stay flexible after writing all day in a chair. 

So why post this? 

Because I guess I want to know if I should be posting stuff from my real life? Before, almost everything I posted was a response to an ask that someone sent me, so my entire blog was reader driven. Now I don’t really have that anymore, so it’s hard to know what anyone wants to hear, especially since I’m not doing that deep dive analysis into fandom or really any content. Any analysis I do is going to be impressions, or initial thoughts, not a dissertation like before. (It’s healthier for me that way.) 

So the question is, what do y’all want to hear about? Posts on homeschooling? Why? Most of you aren’t doing that? Do you want to talk to me about the historical romance books I’m reading? I could do that, but they can blur together, especially at the speed I read them. And because I reread the ones I really like a lot. I can’t really tell you about the books I’m ghostwriting since I signed a contract not to blab. They’re fun, I think. But you know. 

I could post my art work, idk. Not all of it is good. A lot of it is just about discovery. I could post poetry. I still haven’t figured out how to format poetry on this weird website. IDK maybe screenshots. I could post what’s happening in the garden. I could write about my ecourse and about writer’s block. Which I don’t have, obviously, since I am writing 3k words a day ghostwriting-- except I DO have it, every day. But I’ve managed coping strategies to work with it. I’m actually using it to deal with my struggles doing the e course. Listen this is how I get words on the page. 

I mean I post a lot of this stuff already on instagram instagram   https://www.instagram.com/rowenamurillo/ and on twitter   https://twitter.com/rosymamacita1 I’m mostly doing writer twitter, some romancelandia, some politics and feminism a touch of tv and movies.