July 21, 2017
Six down, four to go. I have to admit, while I’m generally a fan of shorter television seasons, I’m starting to feel like we just don’t have enough time to get everything in that we need. Don’t get me wrong: Orphan Black has always played fast with its plot, and each season moves at a breakneck pace. This season is…
July 21, 2017
Editing! I’ve lost count of the number of writers who have said they loathe the editing process. I have a feeling a lot of this dislike for editing comes from our Inner Saboteur who continually ridicules us for not having perfect first drafts, convincing us that real writers don’t edit. Well, I hate to break it to you, but every…
July 20, 2017
Fortune’s Pawn (2013) Written by: Rachel Bach Genre: Science Fiction Pages: 341 (Kindle) Series: Paradox Book 1 Publisher: Orbit Why I Chose It: A friend recommended this to me, saying if I liked The Vorkosigan Saga, I would like this. And we all know how much I liked The Vorkosigan Saga… The Premise: Devi Morris isn’t your average mercenary. She…
July 20, 2017
Penric and the Shaman (2016) Written by: Lois McMaster Bujold Pages: 160 (Kindle) Publisher: Spectrum Literary Agency, Inc Why I chose it: I’ve read (and adored) Bujold’s Sharing Knife series and have been wanting to read more of her work. When this Penric novella was offered as a Hugo reading, I took the opportunity to expand my Bujold repertoire. The…
July 19, 2017
On Monday’s My Favorite Things, we learned that Sound Off editor J.L. Gribble spends her time writing novels when she’s not watching movies to review them for Speculative Chic. Today, we’re happy to share the news of her book release! Steel Blood is the latest in the Steel Empires series, urban fantasy novels set in a very alternate history. When J.L.…
July 19, 2017
The Dragon’s Playlist (2017) Written by: Laura Bickle Genre: YA Fantasy Pages: 219 (Kindle) Publisher: Pronoun Why I Chose It: 100% truthfully? It was free. I’ve been enjoying Bickle’s Petra Dee books, but I wasn’t so sure about this one. Part of it is that after 30 plus years of fantasy reading, I have dragon fatigue. But in the end,…
July 19, 2017
Novelettes are tricky little beasts. They are story tidbits, and it takes a particularly skilled writer to create one that offers a full story within the limited constraints of standard word count for the form. I am challenging myself to read more short fiction this year, so when our editor approached me to ask if I would be willing to…
July 18, 2017
Death Has Come Up Into Our Windows (2015) Written By: Stant Litore Genre: Alternate History/Historical Fantasy Pages: 137 (Trade Paperback) Series: The Zombie Bible (Book 1) Publisher: Westmarch Publishing Why I Chose It: I like both zombies and Bible stories, and I thought “how could you possibly combine those two?” Naturally I had to read it and find out. Premise:…
July 18, 2017
My recipe for success has always been: take something you’re interested in and add dragons. It started back at the age of 13 when I first read Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern and it continued straight through 2006, when I picked up His Majesty’s Dragon, the first in the Temeraire series. And I don’t just mean any dragon. There has to be something…
July 17, 2017
They might not be raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens, but that doesn’t mean that we love them any less. Welcome to the new and improved version of My Favorite Things, the weekly column where we grab someone in speculative circles to gab about the greatest in geek. This week, we sit down with author and Sound Off! editor…