Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 12
March 16, 2022
#TBRChallenge – Grumpy: Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki blends: a detailed portrayal of a particular mostly-Asian neighborhood in California; the competitive world of classical music, including performers and luthiers; a transgender queer violinist; lots of lovingly described food; and Faustian bargains condemning souls to the underworld. I know it sounds like a lot, but it’s a gripping story and I loved it.
Content warnings: mentions of death by suicide; racism; the unexpected murder of two people; and dom...
March 7, 2022
Embracing Refuge launches today!
Embracing Refuge, third in A Place of Refuge, launches today!
Is it too late for a cynical super soldier to right the wrongs in her past?
Enhanced soldier Faigin Balfour defected from a fascist military to the revolution. Once the deadliest of warriors, now she fights to settle into a peaceful life on the utopian planet Refuge. Her two closest friends, Talia and Miki, are there to help, and have invited Faigin to join their loving bond for a peace they can all share. Faigin’s not a romanti...
March 4, 2022
My February Reading Log
Fiction:
To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers is a novella about crowdsourced interstellar exploration, astronauts sent off from a world suffering the ravages of climate change, with the twist that they do plan to come back, after interfering with the places they find as little as possible. Content warning for a distressing animal death. The four astronauts of varying gender expressions and ethnicities leave their families behind and go into torpor for interstellar travel. Their som...
March 1, 2022
Welcome to my website!
This is the official website of writer Victoria Janssen, author of A Place of Refuge, three science fiction hopepunk novellas following three former guerillas who’ve escaped to a utopian planet after losing their fight against a fascist empire. They’re figuring out how to live a life that’s not focused on the constant fear of death, with the aid of pastries, therapy, and other people.
You can also find these novellas at Goodreads, StoryGraph, and LibraryThing.
Email: victoriajanssen [at] yahoo ...
February 16, 2022
#TBRChallenge – Fairy Tale: Wendy, Darling by A.C. Wise
Wendy, Darling by A.C. Wise is in conversation with Peter Pan, a story so familiar and entrenched in general English-speaking cultural consciousness that I’m counting it as fitting the fairy tale theme. Peter Pan is easily read as extremely creepy, and Wise runs with that as she explores Wendy’s experiences after returning from Neverland, and on her return. The book is speculative fiction on the dark side, with social commentary; it could also be classified as psychological horror.
This pos...
February 15, 2022
Updates on My Kalikoi Novellas
Finding Refuge has a lovely review at Phoebe’s Randoms.
Embracing Refuge: A Place of Refuge, part three, will be released in less than one month! The cover, seen in this post, is by Augusta Scarlett, who also made the previous two covers.
I’m currently working on supplemental materials to include in an eventual omnibus of all three novellas. I’m writing at least two additional short stories as well as preparing an extensive character list and a small glossary.
February 11, 2022
My January Reading Log
Fiction:
The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton is a bitingly satirical alternate Victorian England in which women have learned to make their houses fly, and of course have used this ability to become pirates, and also spend a lot of time trying to assassinate each other. It’s also a romance, though the satirical tone is maintained throughout, with the heroine gradually becoming aware of what her feelings mean. Plump Queen Victoria, who talks to a portrait of the deceased P...
January 19, 2022
#TBRChallenge – Quickie: Instead of Three Wishes by Megan Whalen Turner
Instead of Three Wishes: Magical Short Stories by Megan Whalen Turner was the slenderest volume on my TBR shelves. I dearly love Turner’s “Queen’s Thief” series, marketed as Young Adult, that begins with The Thief. In my opinion this short story collection, like that series, doesn’t necessarily have to be considered as being for any particular age of reader, though it’s published as Children’s.
The seven stories all have a mythological or fairy tale feel, but none follows a staid, expected ...
January 16, 2022
My December Reading Log
Fiction:
Plus-One by Barbara Hambly is a novelette in her Windrose series; I had been hoarding a couple of it for a while, as it’s from my favorite of her various fantasy series. Joanna and Antryg are attending a martial arts conference in Las Vegas at a hotel which has had a number of mysterious deaths, which Antryg suspects have a magical cause. This turns out to be the case, surprising me not at all. Aside from the fantasy element, the plot is essentially a mystery, even including the mo...
January 7, 2022
IHeartLesfic Reading Challenge
I Heart Lesfic‘s 2022 reading challenge features a themed list of books each week, which seems like a great way to encounter some new-to-me authors; it starts the week of January 10, 2022.
My speculative fiction erotica collection Erotic Exploits is listed for the week of July 4, “Hot and Steamy,” and Finding Refuge is one of the books for “Science Fiction,” the week of November 28.
