Allison's comments (member since Jan 19, 2008)

Allison's comments from the Building a SciFi/Fantasy Library group.

Kernos,

Mercedes Lackey also wrote "Magic's Pawn", "Magic's Promise" and Magic's Price". It has been years since I read them, but I did enjoy them as fantasy with a strong gay romance element.

There are lots of other sci-fi/fantasy books that hint at the possibility of a same-sex relationship or include secondary characters who are openly gay (for example Elizabeth Moon's "Serrano Legacy" series and PC Cast & Kristin Cast's "House of Night" series). I wouldn't recommend them if you're specifically looking for gay romance in your sci-fi/fantasy, but they're good reads anyway :)

Allison

Lots of good suggestions here. I'll a few that haven't been mentioned yet in this thread (and though I mention romance, they all have the action element that kept me from wanting to put the books down!):

I haven't read it in a few years, but what about Julie E. Czerneda's "Thousand Words for Stranger"? I remember that as being a romance/sci-fi ...

Kelley Armstrong's "Bitten" is werewolf/romance - I liked this best of all her books.

Ilona Andrews' "Magic Bites" series is very crossover sci-fi/fantasy/romance.

Robin McKinley's "Sunshine" is vampire/romance - I don't know why this one worked so well for me, but it's one of my favorites.

Anne Bishop usually has some good romance in her books - I'd say her "Black Jewels" trilogy is where to start for fantasy/romance factor, though her other series are also very engaging.

And I've recently been reading Rachel Caine's "Morganville Vampires" series - young adult oriented in terms of outright sex, but still very good for the romantic emotion factor.

For Sci-Fi that isn't too technical, but really explores cultural and psycological impacts of encountering and interacting with other sentient life forms, I'd recommend Julie Czerneda. Her characters have depth and the action keeps the pages turning, too.

I've now read both Deerskin and Spindle's End by McKinley - I heartily agree that Deerskin is dark. It is also told in a more traditional fairytale "voice" than many other modern retellings. I enjoyed Spindle's End better ... partly because it wasn't as dark, and partly because I didn't feel as distanced by it and the way the story was told.

Another suggestion I'd like to make is Sharon Shinn's The Shapechanger's Wife. I honestly don't have much background in fairytales - I don't know if it is a retelling of a true fairytale or not, but I think you'll agree that it has much the same feel. Definitely worth a quick read, either way.

I've only read Alien Blood (which is a hardcover combination of Psion and Catspaw) - and I think I even read it twice, although that was more than 10 yrs ago. I don't think I'd put it on my best-book-ever-everyone-must-read-it list, but it was good. I can't imagine it broken up, though ... I would almost recommend reading Catspaw just to finish the story, if you're even half inclined to seek more by the same author.

I'm currently reading Deerskin by McKinley ... I probably wouldn't have picked it up if it wasn't for this discussion thread - despite the fact I've thoroughly enjoyed everything else I read by McKinley! Thanks!

I'm with Megan and Chris on the enjoyment factor of being a youthful (female) Pern reader for maximum enjoyment! I began reading the Pern books (Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, Dragondrums) when I was around 12 or 14, if memory serves ... and I was enthralled! I still find many of the concepts intriguing and heartily recommend them to younger readers, but am not convinced I would enjoy them as much if I had first read them at an older age.

First of all, Congrats!

I'm not in the industry, myself, so I don't know what the official promotion steps typically are. However, as a reader, there are a few things that typically cause me to chose a book:

a) I like the cover. I know, you're not supposed to pick books by their covers, but I typically do - at least when I'm in a bookstore, browsing the shelves. The cover art has to appeal, the info on the back has to catch my attention ... I've probably missed out on lots of great books simply because the covers didn't call out to me.

b) A recommendation by a trusted friend. Not the critics, or any random person, but someone who I know has tastes similar to my own and has read it. Sometimes, if I'm already on the fence about a book I'll try it if another author I've enjoyed recommends it.

c) I'm familiar with the author, having enjoyed other books written by the same. (I know, this one really isn't going to help you out since we're talking about your first novel ... but if I like your first book, I'm definitely going to look for more from you in the future!)

So, are we talking about books like Sharon Shinn's Archangel series? (a Fantasy setting complete with angels and oracles and song that brings weather patterns and medicines, all of which is explained later as genetic mutations of humans who colonized the planet centuries before)

Or, perhaps Ilona Andrews' Magic Bites? (a modern day Fantasy with magic and vampires and were-creatures, which are explained in medical terms similar to "virus" and whose exact types of magic can be quantified by a scanner similar to a DNA test)

With books like these, it's easy to see where the line between Sci-Fi and Fantasy would get blurry!

Allison

I'm just wondering what the consensus is on re-reading books for pleasure ...

I used to re-read books occasionally. Mostly I found myself picking a book up again because in the I-can't-put-this-down rush to find out what happens next, I felt I had missed something essential in the storytelling. Occasionally, I simply wanted to enjoy the book again, or I didn't have anything new at hand but still needed to read (I typically read as a tension release).

I recently had the urge to re-read a book I simply couldn't get out of my head, and realized I hadn't re-read any books in over 10 years. The book just kept nagging at the back of my mind - I never even put it on a shelf - for 3 months until I read it again. The sensation made me wonder about others' re-reading habits, or not.

How many of you re-read books? Do you re-read almost everything, or only a select few? When you do re-read a book, is it for academic purposes, or because you can't remember enough from the first go-round, or because the characters seem like old friends you want to reconnect with ... ?

Honestly, I rarely wander into the YA sections of bookstores - and when I have read SciFi/Fantasy that was marketed for Young Adults (even when I was young enough to have qualified as being a Young Adult), I often found myself wanting more.

Allow me to clarify "more" ... yes, I want the harder edged stories. I want sex and death and scientific concepts and fear and big multi-syllable words and deep depression and anger and and the-world-as-we-know-it-might-actually-end plotlines. Much of this is filtered out of the YA shelves, because adults (possibly erroneously) believe that those readers who are still in their more formative years aren't ready for it. But, for me, "more" also means more pages. The books in the Young Adult sections typically are under 200 pages or so. I generally seek out longer books because, if the story is good enough, I know I won't want it to end.

Jeffrey, I'm glad you mentioned Elizabeth Moon and Julie Czerneda - they're two of my favorites.

I read a few of Gaiman's books - I like his mind-bending concepts, but I agree that his endings leave a lot to be desired. It's as if he enjoys getting all worked up with the plot and the setting ... and then gets bored and doesn't put the same energy into the last 1/8th or so of the book.

(Mercedes Lackey in the Fantasy genre always seemed to do the same thing - the endings feel tacked on like a disappointing afterthought. She does it in the last 3-5 pages, though!)

I always seem to have a book with me, and I'll read pretty much anywhere. In airports and on planes, in the cafeteria during my 1/2 hour lunches (sometimes the book takes precedence over the food), in my car if I'm waiting for someone or for the train to go by, in waiting rooms at dr's offices and car repair shops, in bed before sleep, in the family room (if it's quiet enough) or the living room if the tv starts to be too interruptive. It rarely seems to matter where I am - if the book is good enough it takes me somewhere else, anyway!

I don't usually think of "goals" and "books" in the same sentence. I typically read about a page a minute - I know this because I prefer not to be interrupted during the last 100 pages or so of a book and try to schedule a block of time to finish it. I usually only read one book at a time - I find it challenging to pick up the thread of one book while my mind is still aching to know what's going to happen next in another. And it can take me a day or several months to read a book. That partially depends on how engaging I find the book, and partially on whatever else is going on in my life at the time.

As to reading with others: I live quite a distance from my family (parents, brother, sister-in-law), so when we visit it's usually for a long weekend at least. My husband (not so much of a reader himself) has told me that he doesn't understand how we can not see my family for months, but when we do get time together we all seem to congregate in the common room and read instead of talking to each other! But it's one of my favorite things - to be close to those I love and also be in the world of a good book.

You know, I remember clearly being enthralled with Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay, and read it more than once before reading a few of his other books. However, in retrospect (10 yrs or so), I don't remember much about them at all. I don't believe this is an issue with my ability to retain information (because I can remember details of books I read earlier), but it makes me put the books further down on my list of greatest ever ...

I do, however, remember details of Daughter of the Empire (Feist and Janny Wurts, I believe was the co-author). I read that one when I was ... well, we won't talk about how old I was then. But, yes, I also enjoyed the court intrigue.

My top fantasy would be the first 3 (or even 6) of the Dragonlance series, and the Farseer and Liveship Traders trilogies. Both Hobb and Weis/Hickman have a knack for creating memorable plotlines, entirely believable characters and worlds that are seamless.

Hollie,

I, too, was reading regular sci-fi as a young adult. (I distinctly remember reading the first 6 of the Dragonlance series when I was 12.) However, I would recommend the following sci-fi for the typical young adult:

A Swiftly Tilting Planet, A Foot in the Door and A Wrinkle in Time - all by Madeline L'Ender

Enjoy!
Allison