#garry kilworth

[one-with-the-tree]

#114 Athaba

Book name: Midnight's Sun

Author: Garry Kilworth

Wanted to design this guy but gosh he's such a boring nothingburger of a character. I kept checking out mentally during the reading of this book because the main character is an absolute snorefest and large sections of the book are just him, alone or with his human buddy, walking.

[godzilla-reads]

🌙 The Gargoyle by Garry Kilworth and illustrated by Dan Williams

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

An ugly stone gargoyle, which comes to life whenever there is a full moon, and a lonely boy, become the best of friends. Together they travel far away through the darkness to find the boy’s mother, but can they get home again before the gargoyle turns to stone.

Something inside of me loves gargoyles and grotesques. I love books about them. I love architecture with them. I just love them, so I was kinda excited to find this book secondhand at Dreamhaven. As soon as I got home I opened it up and started reading.

This story is heartwarming and sweet, showcasing how you don’t have to be conventionaly beautiful to be loved. Alex and the Gargoyle’s friendship was tried and true and I hope they share many stories together.

‘…They’re gross.’

‘Is that short for grotesque? I believe I’m grotesque. I rather like being grotesque. It has dignity, that word. I could be absurd but I’m not. I’m grotesque. What are you?’

[arcticsart]

"I've been looking for you."

A-sac vs. Sabre.

Hunter's Moon is a great book.

On Deviantart:

[reviews-sky-1]

New book review!

Midnight's Sun by Garry Kilworth

[apas-95]

I believe fundamentally that, regardless of precise timelines of technological development, class society could not ever exist on a significantly interplanetary scale, due to the sheer distances involved leading to an instantly-occuring Roman Generals problem. That is to say, should any large interstellar society ever exist, it would necessarily have to be post-class in character. This both provides a neat solution for the Dark Forest problem, as well as a deranged fascination (perhaps, even, obsession) in myself for the notion of communist aliens. Truly, I would like to come to know them. Maybe kiss a little.

[neil-gaiman]

This was Rachel Pollack (fourth from left) when I first knew her in 1985. The Milford SF Writers Workshop. Photo by Lisa Tuttle who thus isn’t in the photo. There are SF luminaries here, like Colin Greenland and Gwyneth Jones, Richard Cowper, Garry Kilworth and John Clute.

And then there’s me in a Dalek t shirt, wearing grey.

[wc-confessions]

Hello, it’s xenofic recs anon again! Please check this link for the previous list; there’s a lot of books here: https://www.tumblr.com/wc-confessions/753648281346801664/heres-a-rapid-fire-list-of-non-warriors?source=share.

I made an error with The Secret of NIMH, it’s a trilogy, not a single book! I learned that Silverwing has a TV show, too. I’m also changing my method to save time. If a novel interests you, I suggest searching it up.

In exchange, I’ll clarify my goal in sending these recommendations. I do it because I want xenofiction to grow. I want people to realize there are plenty of series out there. If you end up liking a series more than Warriors, good for you! If you end up disliking a series more than Warriors, good for you! I want to invite constructive discussions surrounding xenofiction as a whole. You aren’t better for not reading Warriors just like how you aren’t better for reading only Warriors. These asks come from a love of xenofiction and wanting to spread the word. I am in no way attempting to show malice towards Warriors or uncritical favoritism towards the series I list. 

The Guardian Herd series by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez.

The Gryphon Insurrection series by K. Vale Nagle.

The Council of Cats by R. J. F.

Swordbird series by Nancy Yi Fan.

Strong Hearts are Mandatory series by Teelia Pelletier. Hey, did you know the song Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles? Throw some cats in there!

Hunter’s Moon: A Story of Foxes by Garry Kilworth.

Darkeye series by Lydia West.

Prehistoria: The Raptor’s Tail by Jack Blackburn. One book but seemingly a future series.

Raven Quest by Sharon Stewart.

The Tales from Veynekan series by Fiona Jade Thornburg.

The Dogs of the Spires series by Ethan Summers.

Skytalons series, The Wolves of Elementia series, and Griffin Quest series by Sophie Torro. Fun fact: the author used to be Warriors Unlimited, and she published her first book, Cornelius’ Curse, at 16!

The Wildings series by Nilanjana Roy.

War Bunny Chronicles series by Christopher St. John. 

Hunters Universe series, more commonly known as Hunters Unlucky, by Abigail Hilton.

This is all I have for now. To cap this off, I want to give a shout-out to @/drive-pdfs-and-stuff. They have resources for those who are unable to pay for novels. I’ll appear again when I have more to show!

‎

[book--brackets]

Author Stats for BFB

When putting together the Best Fantasy Book polls, I noticed that a lot of authors were popular choices, so I thought I'd do a little post about our most popular authors from ones that are in the list only twice to the most common author we have!

The preliminary round for BFB starts tomorrow!

2 Times

J. R. R. Tolkien

Erin Morgenstern

Cassandra Clare

Eoin Colfer

Terry Pratchett

Laini Taylor

Jim Butcher

Robin Hobb

R. F. Kuang

Samantha Shannon

Shannon Hale

Jonathan Stroud

Seanan McGuire

Enid Blyton

Clive Barker

Alix E. Harrow

Scott Westerfeld

Raymond E. Feist

Wayne Thomas Batson

Xiran Jay Zhao

Lloyd Alexander

Meagan Spooner

Katherine Addison

Christina Henry

Gene Wolfe

N. D. Wilson

Emily Rodda

Jude Watson

Ellen Kushner

Cliff McNish

C. J. Cherryh

Garry Kilworth

3 Times

Rick Riordan

Roald Dahl

Brandon Sanderson

Cornelia Funke

Gail Carson Levine

Garth Nix

T. Kingfisher

Patricia C. Wrede

Robin McKinley

Kieron Gillen

Francis Hardinge

4 Times

Holly Black

V. E. Schwab

Naomi Novik

5 Times

Diana Wynne Jones

6 Times

Tamora Pierce

9 Times

Neil Gaiman

Mercedes Lackey

[canmom]

Wait is ratfic not fiction about rats???

I can talk about fiction about rats too! Let's talk about some British childrens' book series! And one American comic book.

The four relevant works for our discussion would be the Redwall series by Brian Jacques, the Welkin Weasels series by Garry Kilworth, the Deptford Mice series by Robin Jarvis, and the Mouse Guard series by David Petersen. All these works portray a world inhabited by semi-anthropomorphic animals that are at the scale of real world animals. And indeed all of them include rats, albeit mostly as antagonists.

Redwall is perhaps the one that has most penetrated internet pop culture, thanks to articles like this one on SomethingAwful which mocked some of the series's recurring elements while painting Brian Jacques as a bit of a nazi. I ate those books up as a kid, but in retrospect I truthfully can remember only snatches: the shrews' battle cry of 'logalogalogalog!', the pages of elaborate descriptions of feasts.

Redwall is a big sufferer from the 'evil races' problem. A certain arbitrary set of species (e.g. rats, stoats, weasels, ferrets) are ontologically evil, and various other species are standins for various stereotypical British social classes (e.g. iirc moles are always working class). As unfortunately tends to be the case, it even makes the strange decision to double down on this - I believe in one of the books, a member of one of the evil species is raised in the Abbey, but inevitably his evil nature comes out when the good rodents and mustelids are once again threatened by an army of bad rodents and mustelids.

Nevertheless, as repetitive and ethically dubious as these books are, they do conjour a very specific flavour which makes them memorable. The author's enthusiasm for food as child of the Blitz shines through, as does his evident love for the idyllic Redwall Abbey. There's a lot of really charming elements like the 'logalogalog' thing. Having these read out to me as kid was great, it had a bit of a panto feel, where I could join in with the expected beats.

The first Redwall book implies that humans exist in this world, but this is subsequently quietly retconned to an only-animals fantasy world.

The Welkin Weasels series is a lot shorter at six books, and you may well bounce off the author's enthusiasm to insert puns and references all over the place (I recall one book managing to set up "badgers? we don't need no stinkin' badgers"), but from what I remember of them they benefit from having more explicit horror elements which makes the stakes much more engaging. I recall the weasels trying to weasel their way into a crypt full of horrible pitfalls and finding it very tense as a kid.

There is once again a sympathetic-unsympathetic species divide - weasels are our plucky heroes, while stoats tend to be aristocratic and cruel. However, it does play out a little differently: the first three books are in a medieval fantasy setting with explicit magic, but over the course of the novels, the mustelids manage to rediscover humans, leading to a timeskip forward into a more steampunk setting where the animals and humans have built a joint society together.

Honestly, I would quite like to reread these books! They may well not hold up today, but it would be fun to revisit them.

The Deptford Mice series by Robin Jarvis - author of Deathscent, a highly memorable novel in which Elizabethans have been transported by aliens into a space archipelago where all the animals are robots which run on the four humours - is a pretty fun one, although my memory is very foggy. It's set in our world, in London, and as I recall the first book involves an evil cat wizard attempting to resurrect the Bubonic Plague from the plague pits. I recall a scene in which rats dig up the plague pit and have their paws melted by the lime coating it. Beyond that I can recall very little but I definitely think it merits inclusion in this list of rat fic.

Once again we have the good rodent/evil rodent problem. Mice and rats are almost identical creatures, so it's weird that the sympathetic/unsympathetic divide falls so consistently.

Mouse Guard is an American comic series about mice with little cloaks and swords. Making it be a comic is kind of a great idea because you get to see how cute they are at every turn. The mouse guard are responsible for defending the other mice from threats such as snakes. They have a pretty high mortality rate.

I'm... actually not super familiar with the comics, but they inspired a roleplaying game by the creators of Burning Wheel, using similar mechanics - e.g. its beliefs system, the simultaneous-resolution combat system. That got a lot of buzz around the late 2010s. So if you want a game to play as an rat at the tabletop, it's probably a good one to check out!

We might also at this juncture mention the wildly popular novel Watership Down, which imagines an elaborate rabbit society complete with a substantially fleshed out rabbit religion. I wrote about the animated film for Animation Night a couple years back - it's quite a memorable one.

Sadly, this is mostly mousefic (with a bit of weaselfic). I don't know of any true ratfic - centred on rats as protagonists. Perhaps this is an opportunity for someone out there to write ratfic ratfic to correct this imbalance.

edit: omfg i forgot the rats of NIMH. thanks to both the people who reminded me of that one

[one-with-the-tree]

#111 A-lobo

Book name: Hunter’s Moon

Author: Garry Kilworth

He's just a side character but I like this guy.

[godzilla-reads]

Happy Last 🐸 Day of February 🥳

This month I read 17 books, bringing my yearly total to 31 books so far! My Top 3 Books were hard to choose because I had so many 5-star reads this month, but I did indeed choose three which are starred below in the official list:

⭐️ Earth Keeper: Reflections on the American Land by N. Scott Momaday

🎨 The Art of Faery by David Riché

🧧 Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham

🧡 Blood Orange by Yaffa As

🔭 Saga Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

🍄 The Mushroom Garden by Adam Oehlers

⭐️ Dealing With Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede

🍃 Leaf Litter by Jarod K. Anderson

🏔️ Think Like a Mountain by Aldo Leopold

⭐️ What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher

🌏 All Art is Ecological by Timothy Morton

🎲 The Last Session Vol. 1: Roll for Initiative by Jasmine Walls, Dozerdraws, and Micha Myers

🧚 The Door in the Hedge by Robin McKinley

🐸 Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

💤 The Gargoyle by Garry Kilworth and Dan Williams

☀️ Little Witch Hazel: A Year in the Forest by Phoebe Wahl

💟 The Death of Sitting Bear: New and Selected Poems by N. Scott Momaday

[juliapawshine]

Book Hunter Moon (1989) author book Garry Kilworth.

Characters Kamio,O-ha,A-Kam,O Mitz,A-Sak

Song Dango Daikazoku

Our children were a great success, Camio,” the fox remarked one evening.

The kids were playing on the ground near the car. They began to grow up, their faces became longer, their round ears became sharper, and their thin tails became fluffy and bushy.

“Yes,” Kamio responded. “It’s just a pity that they grow so fast, isn’t it?”

Oha shook her head.

- There's nothing you can do about it. That is life. I would also like them to stay small longer, but this is impossible.

[reviews-sky-1]

New book review!

Hunter's Moon by Garry Kilworth

[lordoffireandflame]

Hello, I hope you're having a wonderful day (or night)!

So, let's get down to business. I complain, a lot. A professional complainer if you will. To the point where it seems I never enjoy anything. And I post terrible dad jokes. If that's not your cup of tea, feel free click off!

Yeah this is just going to be straight up terrible dad jokes

This is a work in progress. Many changes are (hopefully) coming soon. Will probably reblog a lot more than I actually complain.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This list is always growing.

STUFF I WILL RAVE ABOUT

Welkin Weasels by Garry Kilworth

Hunter's Moon (aka Foxes of Firstdark) by Garry Kilworth. Camio my beloved.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

All of Andy Frazer's work (he created the Dragons of Wales series, Dragons of Deep Time, Dragons of the Dark Woods, Novosaurs, and Project: Tepui).

I love good people and I love seeing good people do good things. Favorite trope. Gimme my heroes >:V

The aesthetic of giant walls, abandoned cities, ghost towns, etc.

The aesthetic of knights.

Brutalism (I LOVE POST MODERN BOMB SHELTER ARCHITECTURE, I WANT TO SEE IT EVERYWHERE).

Dragons.

Griffins.

Falconry.

Dinotopia.

Rain World (not the DLC, though I did have fun with it).

WolfQuest.

Saurian (whenever it actually updates :/).

Niche: Genetics Survival Evolved.

TBA

STUFF I WILL COMPLAIN ABOUT

A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones (where are the farms, George?).

Rain World: Downpour (I love butchering the old game's main themes/s).

The Dragon Prince (Justice for Humanity, Death to Avizandum, Glory to Aaravos).

Romance (no hate for romance authors and books, but when I read a fantasy book about defeating evil armies, I expect to see people defeating evil armies, what I don't expect is reading about how our hero(ine) is falling in love with the dark, brooding (abusive) man who killed her entire family).

Vampires (another personal taste thing. I only like them if I'm the one writing them).

Any kind of torture apologism (sorry gals, torture is never justified and it certainly isn't some hot 'morally gray' decision, it's just evil! People in real life will take this shit literally! <3)

I'm pretty critical of Fandom in general.

Fascism (should be self explanatory)

Ableism (same as above)

Amisia (same as above)

Transmisia/Transphobia (same as above)

Misogyny (same as above)

Racism (includes colonialism, cultural appropriation, cultural mockery, you get the idea. Same as above)

Honestly, really just any kind of harmful rhetoric?

TBA

[vtgbooks]

GARRY KILWORTHS The Rain Ghost HAUNTINGS 9 Paperbacks From Hell HORRO Book

[book--brackets]

Codebearers by The Miller Brothers (2008-2010)

After one of his infamous pranks backfires, Hunter unexpectedly finds himself in possession of an ancient book and key. Little does he know the mysterious book is a gateway to Solandria, a supernatural realm held captive by the Shadow. In Solandria, Hunter joins forces with the Codebearers, a band of highly trained warriors who form the Resistance to the Shadow. But before he can complete his training in the ways of the Code of Life, Hunter is sent on a mission far more dangerous than he ever bargained for. Now with his life in peril and the future of Solandria hanging in the balance, Hunter is headed for a showdown with the Shadow and a battle to save his soul from a fate worse than death! Is Hunters knowledge of the Code deep enough to uncover the secret of the Shadow, or will the truth be more than he can bear?

Merovingen Nights by C. J. Cherryh (1985-1991)

Merovin, the world the C. J. Cherryh built, a low-tech, inhospitable planet where the human survivors of a colony nearly destroyed by an enigmatic alien menace still dwell, salvaging what they can, while awaiting the return of the alien menace or rediscovery by the Terrans who abandoned them in that long-ago terror.

And in Merovingen, the fantastic canal city, where the wealthy and powerful reside in the highest towers, and beggars, spies, thieves and boaters like Altair Jones ply the highly polluted interlacing waterways below, intrigue, thievery and revolution are the very breath of life. And now with the Festival of Scouring approaching, C. J. Cherryh has invited some of today's finest writers into Merovignen, to weave together this tale of Festival Moon, a time of mystery and murder, of power games both high and low, a Festival after which this world will never be quite the same again...

Dragonlance: The New Adventures by Tim Waggoner (2004-2008)

Nearra does not know who she is or where she lives, but she does know one thing: someone wants her dead. Her only hope lies leagues away, in an ancient temple, where healing clerics may be able to restore her memory.

A helpful young ranger, a failed warrior, a sneaky elf, and a kender wizard offer to accompany Nearra on her journey. She soon learns her newfound friends have secrets of their own. As goblins, an angry minotaur, and a vicious green dragon attempt to stop them at every turn, friendships are tested and all of if may come to ruin from the one Nearra trusts the most.

Creature Court by Tansy Rayner Roberts (2010-2018)

A war is being fought in the skies over the city of Aufleur. No one sees the battles. No one knows how close they come to destruction every time the sun sets.

During daylight, all is well, but when nox falls and the sky turns bright, someone has to step up and lead the Creature Court into battle.

Twelve years ago, Garnet kissed Velody and stole her magic. Five years ago, he betrayed Ashiol, and took his powers by force. But now the Creature Court is at a crossroads … they need a Power and Majesty who won’t give up or lose themselves in madness …

Spellbound by Vivian Vande Velde (1997-1998)

Welland was less than a slave. Slaves are human, and he was wolf, allowed to assume human form only when it suited the sorceress Daria.

Daria kept an army of changelings — mostly wolf but some lynx or weasel, a bear or two, and at least one rat. She used them to hunt and kill. And sometimes to pretend to be human, so she could pretend to be a lady.

Weiland hated the lie almost as much as he hated the truth. Then he met a burglar, a thief named Shile, who offered to help him steal what he had never owned. His own troubled soul...

Welkin Weasels by Garry Kilworth (1997-2003)

Long ago, long before Sylver the weasel was born, the humans all left Welkin. Now life for a weasel—under the heavy paw of the vicious stoat rulers—is pretty miserable (unless you happen to be a weasel who likes living in a hovel and toiling all hours for the benefit of the stoats).

It's certainly not enough for Sylver. Or for his small band of outlaws, both jacks and jills. but slingshots and darts can only do so much against heavily-armed stoats and life as an outlaw has a fairly limited future (probably a painful one, too). That's when Sylver comes up with his plan—a heroic plan that could destroy the stoats' reign of power for ever. He will find the humans, and bring them back to Welkin! And the first step is to follow up a clue from the past—a clue that lies in a place known as Thunder Oak...

Evergreen by Devin Greenlee (2024)

All seventeen-year-old Quill wants is a break from the family business. Flowers, plants, the generations-old garden. What he wouldn’t give for a taste of the outside world. Normalcy. But his mom won’t let him out of the house, telling him he’s just not ready…

All because he’s a dryad. Well, not just any dryad, but a male dryad—the first ever. And unlike everyone else in his family, he hasn’t a lick of magic. Just a shock of green hair, matching green eyes, and a growing frustration that there’s an entire world out there waiting to be discovered. Until the night when the outside world—specifically his new neighbor—discovers him.

Liam Watson lives in a culture filled with electronics, mobile devices, and social media—where there is no magic or even the belief in it. And as much as Quill finds Liam irritating (he’s so cute it’s annoying), he can’t help himself.

Now Quill’s getting a taste of the outside world and of Liam…and he wants more. But all is not well in this magical, urban garden, and someone—or something—is changing the very essence of it.

And wherever Quill goes, the danger grows…

Unicorns of the Mist by R. R. Russell (2013-2014)

Deep in the heart of a mist-shrouded island, an impossible secret is about to be discovered.

Twig is used to feeling unwanted. Sent to live on a pony ranch for "troubled" girls on a misty, haunted island, Twig is about to discover the impossible — someone who needs her. Jolted awake from a bad dream, Twig follows the desperate whinny of a terrified horse out to the stables. There in the straw is a bleating little scrap of moonbeam. A silver-white filly with cloven hooves and a tiny, spiraling horn.

A baby unicorn.

Now Twig knows what secret is hiding in the island's mist: the last free unicorn herd. And a mysterious boy named Ben who insists that this impossible creature is now Twig's to care for. That she needs Twig's love and protection. Because there's something out there in the deep, dense shadows that's hunting for them...

Chronicles of Avilesor by Sara A. Noe (2020-2021)

Cato is the only true half-human, half-ghost hybrid in existence. He's powerful and unique with two divine powers instead of one.

The United States government believes he is the key to developing a devastating weapon that will give humankind an advantage when war inevitably erupts between the Human Realm and Avilésor, the Ghost Realm.

After being an unwilling test subject in Project Alpha for two years, Cato and the rest of his "lab-family" survive a transport accident to find themselves stranded and powerless in the middle of the wilderness. Hunted every step of the way by ghostly Shadow Guards with supernatural abilities and human Agents desperate to recapture their prisoners, the eight young fugitives are drawn to Cato's hometown where the Rip between Realms connects the worlds.

Cato wants nothing to do with his past, but as his enemies close in, he realizes he's willing to do anything to protect his lab-family . . .

. . . even kidnap the daughter of a ghost hunter and make a dangerous deal to become a mercenary.

Knights of Liofwende by Garry Kilworth (2002-2004)

Faerieland. It's like a reflection of your world... a warped reflection. And Jack has just stumbled right into it - with a whole lot of trouble on his tail. Trolls, goblins, ogres and giants ... all after one thing. But Jack's got no clue what. He needs some allies, like now. A wizard maybe. Or a High Fairy. Someone who can do serious magic. Someone who can help him get home. Anyone. Just not a dreamy young boggart named Spiggot...