Rachel Neumeier's Blog, page 368

Recent Reading: brief comments

STRANGE COUNTRY by Deb Coates

Hallie is settling into life in Taylor County, South Dakota. She’s survived a trip to the underworld and she has a ranch to run, and she’s waiting, not very patiently, for the other shoe to drop. Death will return. He always does. And Hallie knows that this time could be the final meeting she dreads.

Meanwhile, deputy Boyd Davies gets a late night call to investigate a prowler. An hour later, a woman is dead, shot and killed by a bullet from a high-powered rifle. It soon becomes clear that the killing is far from over, that ever small town has its secrets, and that Taylor County’s secrets are stranger than most.

Coming home isn’t easy. When you combine your home coming with harbingers, ghosts, strange magic and Death, it can be downright deadly.

Okay, yes, a nice conclusion to the trilogy. Not surprised! I trust Coates to write a good one.

Anyway: Things that made me happy –

I’m glad Maker is back. You remember Widow-Maker, the black dog from the second book? I re-read that one, too, and enjoyed the re-read very much. I had forgotten nearly everything about the plot; what had stuck in my head was lines of dialogue and things about the relationships. That’s unusual for me, but so it was. Of course I remembered Maker, though!

And I liked how it worked out between Boyd and Hallie. Also, glad to have the loose end with Beth tied up. That was a nice dilemma to pose: when it is okay to help someone (an adult) do what she desperately wants to do, when you think she might be making a big mistake? When is that not okay? Should it influence your decision if it would be thoroughly convenient for you personally if she would do this?

I continue to really enjoy Hallie’s father. Tough to write a guy like that, but Coates does a great job. Hallie knows that a pat on the shoulder from her dad is like a hug, that when he says “See you for dinner,” it’s like saying “I love you.” Yeah, Hallie’s father is still my favorite secondary character. He has been from the beginning.

Oh, yeah, of course I liked Laddie’s dogs. Naturally. Coates is a dog person, so naturally she gets the dogs right. I don’t think those dogs are really crucial to the plot, but I like them.

Things that didn’t bother me –

I did think it was rather obvious who the shooter was, not from the beginning, but from the middle.

I wondered why Hallie didn’t check out that spot in the Badlands earlier.

There were times when I was like: You left the gun in the truck?

But I enjoy the setting and the characters too much to be bothered by details like that. I get that we are probably done with the major overarching plotline, but I would be happy to read another book in this world, and no doubt another after that. I’ll have to ask Deb Coates what she’s working on now.

Okay, and:

“Gilded Ashes” by Rosamund Hodges

I don’t really like the back cover copy, so here’s my abbreviated and somewhat re-designed version: A romantic and fantastical reimagining of the classic Cinderella tale … Maia doesn’t see the point of love when it only brings pain: Her dying mother made a bargain with the king of demons that anyone who hurt her beloved daughter would be punished; Maia must always pretend to be happy, or else they’ll all be sent mad by the curse.

Wow, this was a beautiful and clever story! I love love love this idea of Cinderella! Always cheerful and smiling despite her not very enviable circumstances, and why? Because the ghost of her dead mother has to be persuaded she’s so happy.

I loved Maia’s relationship with the duke’s son, I love how her stepsisters are presented, and I was *very* relieved at the ending. No one escapes from the consequences of their choices, but it’s a happy ending, even so.

I initially got “Gilded Ashes” as a way to better guess whether I’d love CRUEL BEAUTY. After reading the novella, I did indeed immediately pick up the novel.

Which I will read, sigh, later. But I’m looking forward to it!

A good beginning to July, and I’m happy with the progress I’m making with KERI, too! But I’m starting to worry about thinking of a title for it, and so far I hate everything I’ve come up with. Ugh, titles.

Recent Reading: Dolly and the Bird of Paradise by Dorothy Dunnett

To most of my clients, bifocal glasses are asthma. All those words are spelled correctly. I looked them up.

All the Dolly mysteries (the Johnson Johnson series) feature bifocal glasses in the very first line. This is a sign, one of many in my opinion, that Dorothy Dunnett wrote them for fun and really enjoyed playing with them. I imagine the writing experience was very different for her compared to working on her massive historical series.

All of these mysteries are told in the first person, and all of them feature a (different) female pov character, who is always intelligent, young, pretty, and extremely competent in a particular field. Thus we have Dolly and the Cookie Bird (the pov character is, of course, a cook); Dolly and the Doctor Bird, and so on. As “bird” is no longer remotely the in slang for “girl,” all these books got new titles when they were re-issued. As it happened, I tracked them all down before they were re-issued (with some trouble, because this was before Amazon), so I have copies of them with their original titles. They were the very first out-of-print books I every deliberately set out to find.

So that’s one thing to know about these mysteries: I deliberately tracked them down when they were hard to find.

And another thing: they’re all first-person pov with female main characters.

Here’s one more: in a sense, the pov characters are not actually the protagonist.

Have you all read Dunnett’s Lymond series? The Game of Kings and all the others? Which I prefer to her even more massive Niccolo series, personally. Anyway: the Lymond series. Seven big historical novels set in the time of Mary Queen of Scots. I love them . . . most of them . . . at least, I love a lot of things about them. If you haven’t tried them, the first book is self-contained and probably the best. If you have read them, did you notice how we never, ever see anything from Lymond’s point of view? This is just about unique in my experience: Lymond is the protagonist, but never a point-of-view character. I was fascinated by this when I first read the series and tried to something of the same kind of thing with a big fantasy duology that sometimes, depending on my mood, I think is the best thing I’ve ever written. Someday it will find a home or else I will bring it out myself, but never mind, long story.

Anyway, these Dolly mysteries are a bit like that, because Johnson Johnson is in a sense the continuing protagonist through all of them, even though he is not the pov character. He’s also a bit like Lymond in some ways – incisive, sharp, ruthless. He’s a famous portrait-painter who owns the yacht Dolly. He’s also a senior intelligence agent for the British. He is the guy who knows what’s going on; he’s the one driving the action behind the scenes. Because he’s not the pov character, Dunnett is able to hide a lot from the reader. Which, as the reader, you know perfectly well. It makes for a unique style of writing and an unusual reading experience.

More than that, despite the first-person viewpoint, Dunnett frequently conceals a lot about the female leads from the reader as well. You should read them just for that – to see what you catch and what you miss and if you get what no one is saying out loud. I wish I remembered if I figured out myself that Rita, in Bird of Paradise, is dyslexic. It’s been too long since I first read it, but probably. Everyone knows about dyslexia these days.

In some ways, Dunnett’s mysteries remind me of Mary Stewart’s mysteries, because in Airs Above the Ground, for example, Stewart also has moments when she conceals something from the reader despite the pov first-person protagonist knowing it. It takes particularly good writing to pull that off without making it feel to the reader like you’re cheating.

I really enjoy the way Rita is presented. She’s one of my favorites from the whole Dolly series, and I like most of the pov characters from the whole series. When in doubt, attack, is her motto. She spikes her hair and dyes it orange and blue. She sometimes paints her face in stripes. She is smart and capable and brave and extremely loyal and the best makeup artist in the world – or near enough, anyway.

Bird of Paradise, like all the Dolly mysteries, is quick and cleverly plotted, with plenty of twists and turns. You might suspect these mysteries would have a strong romantic component because young/pretty/female pov characters, right? No. There’s one aspect where they differ dramatically from Mary Stewart’s mysteries, because Stewart’s could be read as romances-with-mystery as easily as the reverse. There is essentially zero romance in Dunnett’s series. So if that’s important to you, I’m just saying, don’t look for romance from these stories.

Clever plotting, yes. Clever writing, yes. Clever dialogue, yes. You have to be on your toes to catch some of Dunnett’s tricks with dialogue, in fact. But zero romance. In a way, in fact, they are more intellectual stories, and less emotional. But they have way more character depth than pure intellectual mysteries like the Sherlock Holmes stories or, say, the earlier Peter Whimsy stories by Dorothy Sayers. That’s important for me personally – I was always dead bored by Sherlock Holmes because I’m fundamentally a character reader. In contrast, I’ve really been enjoying re-reading Dorothy Dunnett and Mary Stewart lately.

If any of you have read these Dolly mysteries, chime in! What do you think of them?

Links from around and about

Forgot my flash drive, so I can’t post the review I had in mind. I’ll just mention briefly that KERI is moving along, that I’m liking where I am with it — I just shuffled things around and moved a chapter forward and need to backfill behind it, and I like that because it gives me a clear direction for the next twenty or thirty pages. This will make it easier to pick up again if I take a short break, so I am. I’m re-reading DEEP DOWN and the I will read STRANGE COUNTRY. And then I will go back to re-reading Mary Stewart and Dorothy Dunnett mysteries for a while. And cookbooks. I like THE NEW BOOK OF MIDDLE EASTERN FOOD by Roden. Very approachable recipes compared to the Thai cookbooks by Thompson. I made the Moroccan beef with snow peas and preserved lemon and cracked green olives last night. It was very good.

Anyway, I don’t have a real post for today, so this is a good day to tour the internets:

Check this out: Over at Random Musing, Brandy’s giving away her favorite reads for the past several months. Those include Castle Behind Thorns, The Homeward Bounders, Islands of Chaldea, and a bunch more I haven’t read. I like the look of Pointe, but if you read Brandy’s review, it sounds like a tough read.

Always nice when someone else loves the same books you do! Here’s Charlotte’s review of Castle Behind Thorns. I like this bit: “I find it very pleasant (especially when I am frazzled, as I was when I read this one) to curl up with a book about people puttering around, trying to get by and find solutions to problems without to much actual conflict. (And when I am too tired to clean my own house I like to read about other people cleaning their magical castles/English cottages/19th-century abandoned mansions, etc.).” Me, too!

Janet Reid on word-of-mouth. Yes, this is why I am so happy to tweet, not about my own books — I think it’s boring when authors do that — but about other books I’ve read that I really loved. Also, did I mention Brandy’s giveaway? Now that’s putting your money where your world-of-mouth is.

Harry Connelly on the worst possible advice on how to handle negative reviews. Bad advice aside, I thought this comment was hilarious: “It’s supposed to be advice about reviews and what an author should do about them, but it’s the worst advice you could ever find, short of kidnapping reviewers so you can hunt them on your private game reserve.”

Oh, did you all recall that Heidi of Bunbury in the Stacks is getting married very soon? I enjoyed this post of hers about love in the air. Also, Laura Florand! Plus, Heidi adds, “We’re getting married in my hometown and heading out more than a week early, which means lots of travel time and some much-needed moments of down time midst all the craziness. Of course, we’ll also have a (short but sweet) minimoon wherein we’ve booked a private cabin at the edge of Yellowstone for a few nights. I plan to kick back, relax, and hopefully read a little–I’m planning to take these three with me, but do let me know if there are any other must-reads!” — so if you DO have any other must-reads to suggest, of course you should drop over and comment on her post.

Okay, one more, I wanted to share this link to some short reviews by Liz Bourke, mostly because of this: “Well, folks: The City of Silk and Steel [update: I think she probably means The Steel Seraglio, which is the title that's coming up on Amazon.] is not at all the book I feared it would be. It is, instead, a brilliant story, a story about stories, about justice and hope, friendship and love between women. It is graceful and accomplished and in many ways one of the kinder novels I’ve read in the SFF genre. It’s a marvelous book, and I can now recommend it highly.” Okay, yeah, that’s the sort of comment that makes me sit up and take notice.

There you go!

Recent Acquisitions: Opening lines

I just noticed today that I’ve picked up a startling number of books this month, for someone who doesn’t have time or attention to read fiction. Fifteen fiction titles! That’s close to twice as many as any other month this year so far. I thought it would be interesting to take a little tour through them.

Which do you think presents the catchiest intro? Let’s have a little run-off for these books, just to see how they strike you: (a) Which opening most makes you want to read the rest of the page? (b) Any strike you as boring or unappealing?

Feel free to pick more than one for both (a) and (b). I’ll give my picks at the end.

By the way, I realize this is not quite fair, because a slower buildup may not bother you – it doesn’t bother me – but with the first sentence or first few sentences pulled out and read in isolation, I think a book that doesn’t start with a real hook is at a disadvantage. If you had the book in front of you, of course you could read a page or so, not just a few lines. Even so, what do you think of these beginnings?

Oh, also, a couple of these books have prologues, and in that case, I started with the first couple of lines from the first actual chapter.

1. Stolen Songbird (Jensen):

My voice rose an octave, resonating through the Goshawk’s Hollow marketplace, drowning out the bleating sheep and the hammer of the blacksmith down the way. Dozens of familiar faces abandoned their business, expressions uniform in their nervousness as they anticipated the note I had dreaded for the past month. She liked an audience for my failures.

2. Vessel (Durst):

On the day she was to die, Liyana walked out of her family’s tent to see the dawn. She buried her toes in the sand, cold from the night, and she wrapped her father’s goatskin cloak tight around her shoulders. She had only moments before everyone would wake.

3. Strange Country (Coates):

It was three o’clock in the morning and the car had been parked in the same spot since the night before, had been there long enough that it had iced over; the ice had half-melted and it iced over again so that it now looked permanent, like brittle armor. A Toyota, twenty years old, maybe a bit more, with nothing more than a little rust along the wheel wells. There was a web of spidering cracks in the back window on the passenger side, from a kicked-up stone or a hard stab with something pointed, not much yet, but as warm days and cold nights heated and cooled the glass, the cracks would spread.

4. Count to a Trillion (Wright):

Menalaus could not help but pause to inspect the bore of the bone-needle as he was raising it to a point slightly above and between his eyes. It was like looking down the muzzle of a loaded pistol.

He found that thought comforting.

5. Fragments (Wells)

“Raise a glass,” said Hector, “to the best officer in New America.”

The room came alive with the clink of glass and the roar of a hundred voices. “Cornwall! Cornwall!” The men tipped their mugs and bottles and drained them in gurgling unison, slamming them down or even throwing them at the floor when the booze within was gone. Samm watched in silence, adjusting his spotting scope almost imperceptibly.

6. The Night of the Miraj (Ferraris)

Before the sun set that evening, Nayir filled his canteen, tucked a prayer rug beneath his arm, and climbed the south-facing dune near the camp. Behind him came a burst of loud laughter from one of the tents, and he imagined that his men were playing cards, probably tarneeb, and passing the siddiqi around. Years of traveling in the desert had taught him that it was impossible to stop people from doing whatever they liked.

7. A Fatal Twist of Lemon (Greenwood):

The first day my tearoom opened was wonderful – mostly. Funny how life can go swimmingly one moment, and fall to pieces the next.

8. Child of Fire (Connolly):

It felt good to sit behind the wheel again, even the wheel of a battered Dodge Sprinter. Even with the passenger beside me.

The van rumbled like a garbage truck, handled like a refrigerator box, and needed a full minute to reach highway speeds. I’d driven better, but I’m a guy who has to take what I can get while I’m still alive to get it.

9. Curse the Moon (Jackson):

Cuba, December 1960

Atcho slouched against a wall, alone in a small plaza illuminated by the dim yellow light of a single streetlamp. His eyes probed the surrounding darkness. His fine, aristocratic features were hidden behind a week’s growth of unkempt beard, while his normally well-groomed hair fell in shaggy brown locks below his ears.

10. Emilie and the Sky World (Wells):

Emilie took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

Twilight had fallen, and the quiet street smelled strongly of dinner. Karthea’s house, like all the others, had a chunky stone façade and wood-framed windows with cheerful curtains and potted flowers on the stoop. The gas lamp on the corner had already been lit, glowing bright in the failing daylight.

11. The Whitefire Crossing (Schafer):

I knew right from the moment I opened Bren’s back room door this job was going to be trouble. See, here’s how it should go: Bren, waiting alone, with a package on the table and my advance payment in his hand. Simple and no surprises. So when I saw Bren, waiting, not alone and no package on the table, I got a little twitchy.

12. Sidekicked (Anderson):

It’s Tuesday.

It’s Tuesday, and I’m in costume, but just barely. That is to say that I have my mask and outfit on, so nobody knows who I am. Or almost nobody, at least. Which pretty much sums up my life as a whole.

It’s Tuesday, which means it was sloppy joe day in the cafeteria, which is bad enough, but that’s not the worst thing that can happen to you.

13. Steerswoman (Kirstein)

The steerswoman centered her chart on the tale and anchored the corners around. A candlesick, a worn leatherbound book, an empty mug, and her own left hand held the curling parchment flat. The lines on the paper seemed to be f varying ages, the ones toward the center drawn with cracked, browning ink, those nearer the edges sharp and black.

14. Catherine, Called Birdy (Cushman)

12th Day of September: I am commanded to write an account of my days: I am bit by fleas and plagued by family. That is all there is to say.

15. The Emperor’s Edge (Boruker):

Corporal Amaranthe Lokdon paced. Her short sword, night stick, and handcuffs bumped and clanked at her thighs with each impatient step. Enforcer Headquarters frowned down at her, an ominous gray cliff of a building that glowered at the neighborhood like a turkey vulture, except with less charisma.

Okay, my choices: I think there’s no contest for the catchiest openings. (12) and particularly (14) walk away with this category.

Oh, well, actually, I like a lot of these openings. I think five of these selections have very catchy hooks and almost all of them are appealing in one way or another. It’s true (12) made me laugh and I love (14), which was specifically recommended to me as an example of how to open a story, but I got almost every book on this list because of a recommendation from someone or because I had the first book in the series, so it’s only to be expected they would mostly appeal to me. To me, the voice in (11) is particularly engaging, for example. Martha Wells recommended that one, so there you go.

Now, (6) looks like it may be a little dark for me – the resignation, maybe fatalism, expressed in this opening makes me flinch a little. I may hesitate to pick this book up when I start looking for things to actually read. On the other hand, I think Liz Bourke is the one who recommended it. If so, that’s a plus and will make me reserve judgment.

I’ve seen a lot about (9) on Twitter this month, and so when I saw it was free on Amazon, I picked it up. But frankly this opening is the only one of the entire set above that does not appeal to me. I feel like I am being told too much about this character’s appearance, for no reason. No one else is in this scene, so who is thinking about this guy’s fine, aristocratic features or noting that his brown hair is usually better groomed? He would hardly be thinking about himself that way. Mind you, I’m the type of writer who sometimes barely describes a pov character at all – have you noticed? – but still, this doesn’t work for me. This could make put me off opening this book – or it could make me get to it faster, on the thought that I might dismiss it right away and get it off my TBR pile (the virtual pile, in this case, but still).

Okay, just for fun, here’s the opening of the second book I have in mind for my new Knopf contract. I believe I may have posted this here a little while ago, but it’s the one that springs to mind for me as possessing a catchy intro, so I’m tossing it back in here for comparison.

16. The White Road of the Moon (Neumeier):

There were more than twenty-four hundred people in the town of Tikiy-by-the-Water, but only one of them was alive.

Meridy Turiyn had been alive for just over fifteen years when she came down the mountain path to the town square of Tikiy-by-the-Water and found her favorite spot, by the crumbling base of the central fountain, already occupied. A ghost sat there, a boy, no one she knew. He was leaning back on his elbow, staring down into the depths of the dry fountain, one hand resting on the head of a big brindled hound. Where shadows fell across boy and dog, they were hard to see, even for Meridy, but the early sunlight glistened off dust motes in the air, delicately limning the place where they almost were.

Yep, I still like this opening.

Summertime! The easiest ice cream ever

The past few days have been warm but not terrible. I didn’t even close up my house and turn on the air conditioner until afternoon. Today is supposed to be hot, though, and then the weekend is supposed to be VERY hot. I’m sure the same is true for lots of you!

So!

If you have an ice cream maker, you should get it out and try this great recipe, based on one from THE PERFECT SCOOP by David Lebovitz. You don’t have to make a custard base or anything, no eggs, no cooking, you don’t have to heat anything up at all, so especially perfect for hot weather. Plus, very good ice cream! The only problem with this recipe is, it doesn’t make enough. Either get a BIG ice cream maker and double the recipe or plan on making it twice, because you are going to be sad when you finish this off.

Blackberry Swirl Cheesecake Ice Cream

Ice cream base:

8 oz cream cheese

Zest of 1 or 2 limes, washed with soap and dried

1 C sour cream

1/2 C half-and-half

2/3 C sugar

Pinch salt

Blackberry swirl:

1 C blackberries, fresh or frozen-and-thawed, slightly mashed

1/4 C or more sugar

1 Tbsp lime juice

1 Tbsp vodka (to prevent the blackberry mixture from freezing too hard)

Put all the ice cream ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Chill overnight. If you’re using an ice cream maker that has a cylinder you freeze (like mine), then don’t forget to put it in the freezer 24 hours before you are going to use the machine.

Combine the blackberries with sugar to taste and the lime juice. The amount of sugar really depends on you.

Freeze the ice cream according to the machine’s directions.

Dollop the ice cream into a container, adding spoonfuls and dribbles of blackberries as you go.

Freeze for a while before serving.

Homemade ice cream will freeze much harder than bought ice cream because there is less air in it. This is fine. I actually left the container on the counter for twenty minutes, cut the ice cream into slices with a big knife, pried them out, and re-packaged them in several smaller containers so I could share this with my parents. I like firm ice cream, so I didn’t soften it before actually eating my share.

Variants:

Blueberries! If you use blueberries, try the lime juice. Blueberries and lime are a great combination.

Raspberries! If you use raspberries, I would suggest the zest of one lemon in the ice cream and lemon juice in the raspberry mixture. I am not confident that raspberries would combine well with lime, but if you try it, let me know how it worked.

100% of spaniels were disappointed this wasn’t for them, but it didn’t make enough to share with six dogs.

Recent Reading: THAI FOOD by David Thompson

Wow. I knew this was considered The Book when it comes to Thai food, but . . . wow. Somehow I wasn’t expecting a 630 pp tome. Very handsome volume, but not one to hold in one hand while lounging on the beach. Not that I do much lounging on beaches here in landlocked Missouri, but trust me on this, you are not going to hold this book in one hand under any circumstances, unless your hands are much stronger than mine.

It’s a beautiful book, though, with heaps of beautiful pictures to accompany the recipes. But not only that! It also offers more than 100 pp on the history, culture, and geography of Thailand – not to forget the 30 pages or so devoted to rice – before we get even to ingredients, much less recipes.

For me, all this introductory material is a huge perk. This isn’t just a cookbook, it’s a resource for writing stories filled with the “flavor” of SE Asia. If I’d known all that stuff was in this book, I might have bought it sooner. Or not, since who knows when I will finally get around to writing a book with that kind of setting. Maybe as early as year after next, or maybe the year after that, hard to say, lots of projects coming along.

But this is not a book for anybody with a casual interest in making a few easy Thai-ish dishes from time to time. Not that there is anything wrong with that! I have been making easy Thai-ish dishes pretty often this year, like so:

1 can curry paste, any variety (there are at least eight kinds at Global Foods) but I liked the Kiang Kua curry paste I used recently and hated the Mussaman curry paste I tried before that (chemically taste to the latter).

One onion, sliced

6 oz or so sliced chicken breast or pork, thinly sliced beef, or shrimp

1 can coconut milk (I like the Chaokoh brand)

Generous double handful fresh green beans or snow peas, tipped

Good splash fish sauce (I like the Golden Boy brand, which is mild)

Small splash fresh lime juice, if you have a lime handy

Cooked rice, jasmine if you care, or whatever kind of rice you have around.

Heat a bit of oil in a deep skillet. Add half the can of curry paste (freeze the rest; it’s wise to label it so you don’t mistake it for tomato paste a month later) and stir briskly or a minute or two. Add the onion and stir for five minutes or so. Add the sliced meat and stir until partly cooked. Add the coconut milk and bring to a simmer. Simmer five minutes or until the meat is about done. Add the green beans or snow peas and the fish sauce. Simmer until the vegetables are as tender as you like them. Turn off the heat and add a splash of lime juice (I was adding lime juice to blackberries to swirl into ice cream, so I had a lime conveniently to hand). Serve over the rice.

This is the kind of thing you can throw together briskly when you’re busy, and yet feel like you have cooked something worth eating.

David Thompson would hate it in so many ways. I can’t even tell you.

THAI FOOD is all about authenticity, or as close as you can come with American ingredients. Or probably British, since he says “prawns” instead of “shrimp”. Anyway, you make your own spice pastes, which you do not freeze because that spoils the taste or texture or something, I can’t remember, maybe both. That’s fine, but I’m not going to use the whole can in one recipe. Half is about right for me. And I’m not going to throw the other half of the can away, so that means risking the freezer. Spice pastes seem fine to me after freezing, btw.

I don’t mind making my own curry pastes, though, especially if I have cilantro growing outside so I can find cilantro roots (one common ingredient). Cilantro self-sows madly all along my driveway, so that’s not a problem this year. But hey, not only does Thompson have you making your own spice pastes, he also has you make your own coconut milk! Which is fine, but has always seemed like a lot of trouble to me. No doubt the twentieth time you pry the white flesh out of the husk, you’re pretty efficient about it. I should make my own coconut milk one time and compare. I bet my less sensitive palate can’t readily detect a major difference between fresh and Chaokoh. (And I hope not, since canned is so much, much more convenient.)

Okay, so, what proportion of recipes in this book might I or other normal casual home cooks actually make? I knew you’d ask, so I did a rough count. Most sections (relishes, soups, salads, curries, street food, desserts) contain about 30 recipes. In each section, there are about five or six recipes that I think look both approachable and inviting, though many would have to be altered somewhat. Or a lot, sometimes. Like, check out this one, which I am presenting in slightly simplified form, but this is nearly as Thompson has it:

Yellow Curry of Clams with Pineapple

1 small half-ripe pineapple

2 C stock or water

Pinch sugar

2 Tbsp tamarind water

1 Tbsp fish sauce

6 oz clams

2 Tbsp lime juice

25 dried red bird’s eye chilies, soaked and drained

Pinch salt

1 Tbsp chopped galangal

2 Tbsp chopped turmeric

4 Tbsp chopped garlic

1 Tbsp chopped shallot

1 Tbsp shrimp paste

Put the paste ingredients in your handy Preethi wet/dry spice grinder (making Thai curry pastes is one big reason I bought this grinder and I love it very much). Zap to make a smooth paste, adding a little water if necessary.

Now, of course, authenticity aside, it is plumb crazy to use 25 bird’s eye chilies. I mean, seriously? How about five at most. Thompson does note this is just about the hottest recipe in all of Thailand, so, yeah, if it were me, I would sure tone it way, way down.

Don’t have galangal? Use fresh ginger. You probably don’t have fresh turmeric, but you know what, they do carry it at Global Foods, so if I wanted some, I could get it. But if you don’t have any, maybe a tsp of ordinary ground turmeric would work to make this curry “yellow.”

Anyway, peel and core the pineapple and chop the flesh. Bring the stock to a simmer and add the sugar, tamarind water – yes, you should probably get some, there really isn’t a good substitute. Thompson hates prepared tamarind paste, but I have used both that and made my own by soaking tamarind pulp in hot water and squishing it through a strainer, and if I were in a hurry, I would be fine with the prepared stuff. But it’s not hard to make your own tamarind water from the pulp, either.

Add the fish sauce. Add 2 Tbsp of the curry paste you just made. Add the pineapple and, when tender, the clams. Personally I am unlikely to have access to fresh clams, so I would probably use either frozen mussels (you can get them at Wal-mart, did you know that?) or shrimp. Simmer until the seafood is done. Turn off the heat and add the lime juice. Serve with assorted raw vegetables and lots of rice

You see what I mean about altering recipes.

Other recipes could be made without much fiddling. This one, for example, looks quite approachable as-is. It also looks like it would be really good, but then I’m a sucker for coconut milk.

Minced Shrimp Simmered in Coconut Milk

1 C thick coconut milk

½ C stock

1 tsp salt

2 Tbsp cleaned fresh tamarind, if available

1 Tbsp minced fatty pork, such as pork shoulder

1 Tbsp palm sugar

1 Tbsp fish sauce

1-2 Tbsp thick tamarind water

4 large uncooked shrimp, minced (I’m guessing this would be about 4 oz)

2 red shallots, sliced

1 long red chili, sliced into rounds

Handful coriander (cilantro) leaves

Extra 3 Tbsp coconut cream

Bring coconut milk to a simmer with stock and salt. Add fresh tamarind if using, and minced pork. Simmer for 1 minute. Season with palm sugar, fish sauce, and tamarind water. Add shrimp. Simmer 1 minute. Add shallots, chili, and coriander. Add remaining coconut cream. Serve with fresh vegetables, fish, or pork dishes.

See, doesn’t that sound easy?

One more recipe: everyone’s favorite super-easy Thai dessert:

Sweet Coconut Sticky Rice

2 C white sticky (glutinous) rice

2 C coconut cream (I would just use coconut milk)

2 C castor (superfine) sugar (I would not hesitate to use regular granulated sugar)

Large pinch salt

Ripe mango

Sticky (glutinous) rice is not the same as regular rice, so don’t try to substitute. Here’s how you cook it: Rinse the rice thoroughly in several changes of water. Soak overnight or for at least a couple of hours. Drain, rinse, bundle in cheesecloth, and steam in your handy bamboo (or other) steamer for 20 minutes, until tender. It won’t expand like ordinary rice, so don’t worry about that.

Dissolve the sugar and salt in the coconut cream. When the rice is cooked, place it in a bowl and pour the sweetened coconut cream over. Stir. Set aside 15 minutes. Serve warm, with slices of mango. You can use other soft, slightly tart fruits if you really want to, but really, the mango is great with this rice.

You may be asking yourself: Is there any recipe in this book that a normal person could make without special Thai ingredients? The answer is yes. There are a few Chinese-borrowed recipes (fried rice variants and things like that) that anybody could make. But basically, the answer is no. This is a beautiful book, and it’s one from which you can learn quite a bit about Thailand, but the recipes are meant for someone who wants to make real Thai food and is willing to go to some trouble. If you don’t have a place like Global Foods near you, though, you may be interested to know that you can order basically everything, including fresh produce, from Import Foods, an online Thai grocery.

Also, you may like to know that a lot of Thai ingredients store well. You can freeze kaffir lime leaves and cleaned, trimmed lengths of lemongrass. Tamarind pulp stores forever – so does tamarind paste, I think, except I used it up faster so I’m not sure. Usually I grow basil, including Thai basil, though I don’t have any this year. But it is easy to grow and loves hot, humid Missouri summers. It will even self-sow if the winter isn’t too cold.

Dried shrimp and shrimp paste store a long time in the fridge. Fish sauce keeps perfectly well at room temp. I’ve kept rice flour for ages without any noticeable change in quality (thankfully, since I don’t go through it very fast). (Maybe faster now, with this book on my coffee table.) Palm sugar keeps well and can be softened by microwaving for 30 seconds.

So: THAI FOOD is not for just anybody, but for someone who likes Thai food and would like to both expand their range in the kitchen and learn more about the history that gave rise to this cuisine, it’s a great choice. For me, it’s the next best thing to an actual trip to Thailand. I’m usually disappointed in books with titles like “Thai Food Made Easy” or “100 easy Thai recipes”, and this book is the antithesis of those. It’s going to take a long time for me to get bored with this book, either paging through it or cooking out of it.

A different kind of dog show

So, this past weekend was a very busy one for me! I went to something called an International Dog Show, which is run by an organization completely outside the AKC. Some of the judges are AKC judges and some are European or from the UK. They all judge your dogs against the standard for its breed (the perfect Cavalier), and give it a thumb’s-up or thumb’s-down on that basis. I think they judge according to the FCI (European) standard, but I’m not sure — the English, American, and FCI standards for Cavaliers are very similar, so it doesn’t make much difference.

Every judge who thinks your dog deserves to be a champion gives you an “orange card”. When you have three cards, you can send them off with a pedigree and a copy of your AKC registration and poof! Your dog is an International Champion. Doesn’t that sound impressive?

The judges also write out critiques right there at the show and give them to you, so there’s no question what they think about your dog.

Lots of people show in both AKC and the International system. This is Dodger:

Dodger is a Welsh Terrier who has is AKC Grand Championship plus lots of International-system titles. I think he also shows in Agility. He’s eight years old and a real gentleman with enthusiastic puppies like my Ish.

This is a sable poodle — a color not allowed by the AKC. I think it is very attractive! Mind you, I don’t know whether this dog would be competitive in the AKC no matter what color it was. Poodles are very, very competitive. This young bitch’s neck looks short to me, so that she lacks a degree of elegance. If she does have a short neck, probably her shoulder is straight. On the other hand, grooming can be very misleading, so this poodle’s structure might actually be fine. And her color is really snazzy!

This is a miniature bull terrier. I just thought it was cute! Like a piglet is cute. Lots of pizzazz. Too much dog for me, really, I expect, even though you could tuck it under your arm. All the bull breeds tackle life like enthusiastic cannonballs.

Okay, and look at these “white Goldens”.

I must admit, I was not impressed by the thirty or so “white” Golden retrievers I saw at this show. Someone around here must be breeding them and they can’t show in the AKC so they are showing at this International show. But . . . it’s not the color, though I expect that isn’t allowed. But any decent judge would have to find a kind way of saying something like this:

“This is a charming dog, and it’s a shame the color is not allowed in the AKC. But I’m afraid that she lacks breed character. She is about half the size of a typical Golden and she has neither a typical head nor a typical coat. A normal person acquainted with the breed would believe at first glance that she is a mixed breed dog. Besides lacking type, she is poor in structure. Her topline is soft and she lacks angulation; she could not be expected to do the work of a hunting dog. I don’t think she could lead any active physical life without eventually breaking down.”

It would be hard to say anything of that kind to people who love their dogs. But all but four or five of the “white Goldens” should have gotten that kind of critique. If the International judges can’t bring themselves to grade a dog as poor, they should not agree to judge in a venue that requires critiques and awards titles. I know one judge, Steve Keating, was a well-known structure and movement judge. I wish I knew how he handled those animals.

Maybe if I get the chance in the future, I’ll deliberately enter a dog that I don’t think should be a champion and see how she is ranked by the judges.

It’s impossible to tell from my experience this weekend, though, because Kenya, Honey, and Ish all DO deserve to be champions! (Ish showed in the Baby class since he is not even five months old!). All three received the highest possible rating from all four judges — I thought possibly Ish wouldn’t, because his bite is a little bit under, but many judges do forgive that in a very young puppy.

I liked the critiques!

Ish’s movement: “moments of brilliance” — hah, yes, he was all over the place; puppies, you know!

Honey’s head: “pretty, feminine” — none of the judges minded the bit of white showing in one eye.

Kenya’s front: “great layback and return — I wish I could consistently put fronts like this on my Great Danes.” — Yes, Kenya and both her daughters and Ish all have excellent fronts.

I really appreciated having four judges take the time to write out what they saw in my three dogs. And it will be nice to have International championships on them while I whittle away those last few single points in the AKC shows.

This thing with Strange Chemistry –

One thing that has become obvious in the past few days is that the writing / blogging community can be very supportive! I would particularly like to mention the blog Fantasy Faction, which is run by Marc Aplin. Marc has kindly offered his blog as a venue for former Strange Chem authors who pursue self-publishing:

I can’t help you with getting the book written, edited or produced (sorry!), but I do feel that I can help with what is often seen as one of the more difficult aspects of self-publishing: marketing. I know how hard it can be, letting people know your next title is coming; especially when it is a year or two since the last.

So, I know it is a rather small gesture and unlikely to fix all your problems, but for any Strange Chemistry authors writing fantasy who do choose to go the self-published or small press route I’d like to offer Fantasy-Faction to you whenever you need to promote yourself and your work. Just e-mail me any time: Marc@Fantasy-Faction.com . Whether this is to set up Guest Blogs, Reviews, Interviews, announce your latest book is underway – or whatever else you need – I and the community are at your disposal.

That is so thoughtful and practical, and I’m sure I won’t be alone in remembering this offer in a few months or a year.

Kaye at Watercolor Moods is arranging a Blog Hop:

What would the blog hop entail? It depends on you.

Personally, I’d like the idea of a post highlighting what you’ve enjoyed about Strange Chemistry, and possibly focusing on a particular title you’ve enjoyed. If you’d like to host a giveaway, that would also be a wonderful way of these authors continuing to bring in new readers.

For inspiration, I’m adding a link to the list of Strange Chemistry’s authors here. I hope that we can do something to bring them comfort in this hard time. I know publishing has its ups and downs, but this has been a real sucker punch to all of us today, and it is going to be difficult to find a new normal after this – particularly if you were directly affected.

If you’d like to join in on this, I’m adding a link widget below. I am planning to post on Monday, the 23rd, so keep that date in mind and get your post ready.

Another thoughtful and practical suggestion, and I hope more bloggers are kind enough to join in.

Also, there’s been a lot of email and Twitter activity, as various Strange Chem authors offer to share their experiences with self-publishing, or suggest we form a cooperative imprint under which to self-pub our orphaned titles, or get together and bring out an anthology of short fiction set in our various worlds . . . this is all just in the past couple of days! I’m all in favor of every suggestion. I particularly like Kim Curren’s suggestion of Strange Phoenix for a cooperative imprint.

Also, here’s this list of Strange Chemistry authors, with titles, which I’m seeing around the Internet. I want to emphasize this is not a complete list.

Rosie Best

Skulk (October 2013)

I haven’t read this — here is a review from Fantasy Book Review: “As far as debut novels go, Skulk is very solid, providing a stable platform that will allow Best to jump from strength to strength.”

Gwenda Bond

Blackwood (September 2012)

The Woken Gods (September 2013)

I confess that I haven’t read these either, though I’ve come close! As it is, I will probably wait and pick up the forthcoming title, Girl on a Wire, which Gwenda says is her favorite work of her own so far. That right there makes me want to read it — plus, circuses. Quick quiz question: ARE clowns creepy?

M. G. Buehrlen

The Fifty-Seven Lives of Alex Wayfare (March 2014)

Haven’t read this one either, but here’s a review from Bibliotrophic. “M G Buehrlen’s YA novel of time travel with a twist is the start of a series that I’m definitely keeping my eye on. It impressed me in multiple ways, from characters struggling with debilitating illness, to trying to wrap one’s mind around the classic time travel paradox, to simple things like good realistic dialogue and character development.”

Cassandra Rose Clarke

The Assassin’s Curse (October 2012)

The Pirate’s Wish (June 2013)

I have read these, and I liked them quite a bit. Great use of slang and differing speech patterns for the two protagonists, great descriptive passages. I see Cassandra has a couple of short stories set in this world available from Amazon at .99c each.

T. L. Costa

Playing Tyler (July 2013)

Haven’t read this one. I’m going to stop saying that — just assume I haven’t read a title unless I say otherwise, right? I did actually read a snippet of it that Amanda sent around — maybe I have the full thing in a word document somewhere, but I didn’t have time to actually read it, I guess (story of my life). Unique voice, though, with an ADHD protagonist, which was interesting. Here’s a review from Buried In Books.

Eliza Crewe

Cracked (November 2013)

Here’s a review from Books, Bones, and Buffy. “In a word: A hysterically funny main character, whose voice is smart and perfectly written, some unexpected relationships, but with a few minor plot holes.”

Sean Cummings

Poltergeeks (October 2012)

Student Bodies (September 2013)

I have these on my Kindle. I like the opening scene from Poltergeeks. My feeling is that it may “read young”, at least for me, but I was still interested enough to pick them up. Here’s Fantasy Book Review: “The characters have been well crafted here, and they aren’t over the top geeks like I have seen recently in a lot of YA stories. Being a geek is just one element of their overall character, and they all have plenty of little nuances and ticks that get revealed over the course of the story. I really liked Julie, she plays the role of a strong female protagonist with a lot of poise, modesty, and some random ingenuity.”

Kim Curran

Shift (September 2012)

Control (August 2013)

I have both of these on my Kindle. The first book got a nice review from Kirkus: “Curran’s debut is a fast and funny mind-bending trip. The potentially confusing concept of shifting is nicely handled, and the mystery’s reveal is tantalizing.” I bet you can see this coming, but yes, there was supposed to be a sequel, called, of course, Delete. Kim has all but declared that she’ll bring that one out on her own if necessary.

Amalie Howard

The Almost Girl (January 2014)

Here’s a review from Popcorn Reads. For some reason I’m not able to grab a snippet, but hey, you can click through. This is one where I know there was supposed to be a sequel.

Jonathan L Howard

Katya’s World (November 2012)

Katya’s War (November 2013)

I have both of these on my Kindle. Here’s a review from tor.com: “The climax, finally, is fantastic. It may boil down to “one long round of jumping out of frying pans into successively larger fires,” yet the last act’s successive set-pieces unfold so spectacularly that they’re a joy to behold, albeit in one’s imagination. Even then, Howard’s prose is so pure that at this stage I don’t even need to see the movie—and if Hollywood doesn’t come a-calling shortly, filmmakers are missing a trick.”

Danielle Jensen

Stolen Songbird (April 2014)

You all know how much I want to get to this one.

Ingrid Jonach

When the World Was Flat (and we were in love) (September 2013)

Here’s the review from tor.com. Michael Jones says: “There’s something inexplicably fascinating about this book, which exists somewhere in the murky area between paranormal romance and high concept science fiction. The basic conceit—people sliding from one world to the next, essentially replacing their counterparts in a never-ending journey—has its roots in a number of other works, reminiscent of television’s Sliders and E.C. Myer’s Fair Coin/Quantum Coin duology for instance, but with some additional twists that take it in provocative and tragic directions.” Hmm. High concept sounds good. Not sure I’m into “tragic directions.”

Laura Lam

Pantomime (February 2013)

Shadowplay (January 2014)

I liked the first novel, which read on the “older side” of YA to me. I must admit I haven’t read the sequel, though. A third book was planned and I expect Laura will bring it out one way or another. When that one’s out, I will probably back up and re-read the full trilogy.

Rachel Neumeier

Black Dog (February 2014)

Obviously it would be tragic for any of you to miss this one.

Lisa O’Kane

Essence (June 2014)

Here’s a review from Giant Squid Books: “In Essence, the familiar skeleton of the ever-present dystopia is transformed into something that was, to me, far more believable and enjoyable. Rather than imposing an insane value structure on an entire government, Autumn struggles with two opposing cults. Reading dystopias is often hard for me because I just want to be like, WHAT HAPPENED TO SEPARATION OF POWERS! But cults? Much more believable.”

Bryony Pearce

The Weight of Souls (August 2013)

Here’s a review from In Bed With Books: “THE WEIGHT OF SOULS combines two common plots: the murder mystery involving a secret club (a la THE LIAR SOCIETY) and paranormal girl meets boy and further discovers her powers (a la ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD). It’s a lot for a relatively slim novel, but Bryony Pearce makes it work. It helps that both plots work together to move each other along.”

Sarah Raughley

Feather Bound (May 2014)

Here’s a review at Jet Black Ink: “Sometimes a book surprises me; mostly it’s always in a bad way. But Feather Bound, by Sarah Raughley, surprised the hell out of me by being not only a brave novel in so many ways, but also by being utterly stunning and completely honest to life. It’s rare that I read something as truly dark and honest as Feather Bound…” That whole dark and honest thing, I’m not sure that makes this book sound like my cup of tea. But that bit about utterly stunning sounds good.

A E Rought

Broken (January 2013)

Tainted (October 2013)

Here’s a review of Broken over at Functional Nerds: “The beautifully written novel, Broken by A.E. Rought takes the reader through a modern retelling of Franknstein with a twist of Romeo and Juliet.” Really? Huh.

Christian Schoon

Zenn Scarlett (May 2013)

Under Nameless Stars (April 2014)

I read the first of these — a veterinarian! Alien animals! To me, I’m afraid this read as young-young-young YA. I would have called it MG — and on the young side even there. If you have a ten-year-old kid handy who would like to be a vet, this might be just right.

Julianna Scott

The Holders (March 2013)

The Seers (February 2014)

Here’s a review of The Holders from Fantasy Book Review: “What really worked for me in this story were the characters, and the intertwining relationships between them all. The back of this book might say it’s about a school for people with powers, but really this book is about people, relationships, and watching them evolve. There is angst when a young daughter is forced to reconnect with the father who abandoned her, there is joy when a young boy meets his father for the very first time, and the contrasting reactions create immediate friction between a pair of siblings who up until that point had been completely inseparable. These are just a couple of the many relationships that are forged in this story, and all together they make a compelling argument to keep picking up the book and reading it to its conclusion. Oh and all the Irish stuff is really, really cool.”

Martha Wells

Emilie and the Hollow World (April 2013)

Emilie and the Sky World (March 2014)

Well, Martha Wells, right? Though Hollow World wasn’t my favorite book by Wells, I certainly didn’t hesitate to pick up the sequel. She says, btw, that Sky World ends smoothly, so there is no need to worry about cliffhangers that might not get resolved.

And I just want to end my mentioning: I know Strange Chemistry signed a bunch of new debut authors this year, many of whom are not on this list. Here’s hoping they find homes for their orphaned books and wind up on some other publisher’s list before the end of this year!

Sad news in YA publishing

I, of course, heard about this yesterday, as Strange Chemistry quite properly informed its authors first. But the actual news hit today: Angry Robot is closing down Strange Chemistry (its YA imprint) and its new Exhibit A imprint (mysteries), effective immediately. No more books will come out with those imprints, period. Angry Robot says, and my agent said this too, that YA is just a supersaturated field right now, very hard for the mid- and small-sized presses to compete in.

This is not a big problem for me personally, I want to say that up front! What matters most is that Strange Chemistry is being very correct and honorable about how they handle things, so there is no issue with reverting rights to unpublished titles or anything of that kind. Therefore, I see three possibilities, all of which are acceptable to me:

a) Angry Robot, which remains in good shape, will fold some of the Strange Chemistry titles into its own lineup. I could most easily see them doing this for the titles that they think will sell the best (practical) or for second and third books where the first books are already out (compassionate). Or both. I don’t know about the former, but the latter would apply to Jensen’s STOLEN SONGBIRD, Lam’s Micah Gray trilogy, I believe Horward’s Katya series, Karen Curren’s DELETE (third book for her trilogy), and no doubt others. This would be ideal for me personally, since not only would it mean nothing changes for my own PURE MAGIC, but also I would get to finish all four of the above series. I already own one or two books of each.

b) Angry Robot is most likely negotiating with other publishers who may pick up the Strange Chemistry / Exhibit A titles. This might not be quite as good for authors as (a), because there’s no telling whether a new publisher would actually get behind the titles they pick up that way, but it would be acceptable.

c) I, and probably others with a Book II or Book III stranded, could simply self-publish. In that case, PURE MAGIC will come out basically on schedule, though I might aim for March or even April rather than February to give myself a little more time to get my ducks in a row, since all of the ducks will be in my hands at that point. I always intended to write a BLACK DOG III and quite possibly a BLACK DOG IV and V as well, even if Strange Chemistry did not pick up additional books in the series. Wanting to write a longer series is especially practical for self-publishing, in fact, so if this happens, it will only shift me from one publication method to the other a bit sooner than otherwise.

UPDATE: I meant to add, this does suck most for anyone whose first debut novel was in the pipeline. I sure hope they all get their books picked up by a new publisher! I would HATE to try self-publishing without building a readership first via traditional publishing. And, it also sucks for the Strange Chem and Exhibit A staff, who are going to be scrambling to tie up the loose ends in a very unhappy situation. I sure hope people get through this with the least amount of wear-and-tear possible and that everyone lands on their feet!

If option (c) is the way it works out, I will personally be particularly glad to have experimented with self-publishing other works this year. I have an update about that, in fact: I will definitely be self-publishing THE MOUNTAIN OF KEPT MEMORY this year. Caitlin likes KEHERA and wants to try to put it out with a traditional publisher, and that’s fine with me, so MOUNTAIN is the title I’ve settled on for my first foray into self-publishing. I’ve just finished talking to the artist and look forward to showing you the cover when I get to see it — the contract just got signed, so nothing to show yet.

I will also definitely be publishing a short story collection set in the BLACK DOG world (ebook-only this year, probably expanded to include more stories and then put out as a print-and-ebook release at the end of 2015). I may have mentioned this already, but the stories I’ve written for it so far:

a) Natividad and Keziah go Christmas shopping.

b) Miguel tries to manipulate Grayson into doing something; complications ensue.

c) Thaddeus begins to work out his place in Dimilioc, plus we get flashbacks of his earlier life.

d) A prequel story involving Ezekiel.

e) and maybe another story or even two, plus the essay about black dog genetics because why not. The total length right now is about 150 pages. I definitely plan to bring this out before PURE MAGIC and use it as a promotion, so unless things go dramatically wrong somehow, you can expect that to happen.

Now, as far as self-publishing goes this year, in my case, though I am interested in trying Kickstarter sometime and seeing how that works, I simply don’t have time to invest in a Kickstarter campaign this year. Nor do I have either the time or the interest to invest in learning how to deal with ebook conversion etc etc etc — all the nuts-and-bolts that go into translating a word document into a book and getting it distributed to all the ebook outlets plus a print version made up and so on. My eyes glaze over just thinking about it. Not my thing. So I am currently pursuing the very simplest model for self-publishing, a tried-and-true method called “I’ll pay you money and you do it for me.”

After I’ve worked through the first couple of self-published titles, I may try Kickstarter. If any other traditionally published writers want to know details about the services I used and what I thought of them, and how much various things cost, and what I did to promote, and how satisfied I am with the results — I will be happy to discuss all of that as things go forward. Every author and every book is different, I know that, but I also I believe it would be very helpful to us all to compile a running and constantly updated list of self-publishing methods and results.

Top Ten Want-to-read-at-the-moment: Print edition

I’m sure you don’t imagine that just because I have a lot of books on my Kindle, that my print TBR pile is shrinking? No!

Some books I buy in paper even if that is significantly more expensive because I have others in the series already and don’t want to switch formats (like Deb Coates’ STRANGE COUNTRY).

Others I buy in paper because the price is not too different and I love the cover, such as with Jensen’s STOLEN SONGBIRD. One thing where the Kindle really falls down: cover art. Black and white images, phooey. Plus I turn some books face-out on my shelves because I really like to look at them.

Every now and then I buy books from the SFBC and of course those are paper.

Library sales! Paper.

And so on. So, yes, my TBR shelves are overflowing again. There are books stacked on the floor. Again. When I start reading, I will probably start with paper books because I would like to whittle the numbers down there in order to clear off the floor.

Here are ten print books that are physically in my library that I would love to read:

1. Tropic of Serpents, by Brennen. I enjoyed the first book very much.

2. Vessel, by Durst. A lovely cover. This review at the Book Smugglers was not the only great review I’ve seen.

3. Stolen Songbird, by Jensen. Another lovely cover, and that crystalline rose! It’s apparently got that beauty-and-the-beast thing going, which I almost always love. I’ve heard good things about this one, especially this review at Books Without Any Pictures.

4. Strange Country, by Coates. I have read the other two, but I would need to re-read the second book before reading this one, which means it’s a tiny bit more of a commitment of time than I would prefer.

5. Crown of Embers, by Carson. Even more of a commitment of time, because I have the whole trilogy now, but would need to read the first book again before going on. Which I would not object to, I loved the first book! But these are not short books. Plus, I’m a little nervous about where Carson might have taken certain aspects of the plot, which makes me a tiny bit reluctant to pick it up. But I still would like to get to this trilogy this year. Or, shoot, at least sometime next year.

6. Railsea, by Mieville. Mieville is a bit intimidating, I don’t expect to be able to just read one of his books without paying much attention to it, but I loved The City and The City. I have Un Lun Dun on my shelves, too. Not sure which one I’ll wind up reading first.

7. Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Taylor. I’ve heard lots about how beautiful this book is.

8. The Thousand Names, by Wexler. This one hits a lot of tropes that appeal to me — military fantasy, woman-disguised-as-man. I hear it’s good, but without checking I believe it’s the first of a series, so not sure I’ll get too it very soon.

9. The Demon King, by Chima. I’ve had this on my shelves for waaay too long.

10. This is Shyness, by Hall. A YA that I picked up quite a long time ago because of Ana’s review at The Book Smugglers, which made it sound seriously intriguing. “It is hard to describe This is Shyness because parts of it are so surreal, it would be like describing a Dali painting to someone who has never seen one. … It is like walking into a dream that belongs to someone else, someone you never met and whose subconscious works in completely different ways than yours.” Hmm, I said, really? And it’s been on my shelves ever since.

I believe I have about fifty or sixty books on my physical TBR shelves (and the floor). That’s after whittling it down last year. I am actually MOST likely to try some of the titles I am LEAST interested in first and see if I can sock them onto the DNF/Giveaway pile and clear some room. (These are mostly the ones from library sales and such, which I pick up because why not. Sometimes I find a real gem that way, though, and get unexpectedly distracted from things I ought to be doing, so it’s a risk to open one and read the first page.)

I bet some of you have read some of these titles already. Any I should definitely move to the no-kidding-you-must-get-to-it-this-year shelf?