Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 14

#TBRChallenge – Gothic: Doll Bones by Holly Black

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Doll Bones by Holly Black is Middle Grade, but more than spooky enough for my tender sensibilities.

What I love most about this book is that it’s really about making stories, and the power of making stories.

Narrator Zach and his friends Poppy and Alice play complex imaginative games together with coherent fantasy worldbuilding, self-made props, and an array of dolls (Zach’s are “action figures”), including a terrifying, valuable antique Poppy’s mother keeps locked in a cabinet. Zach is twe...

Smashwords Interview

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I recently interviewed myself via Smashwords, which was sort of fun!

My September Reading Log

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Fiction:
The Factory Witches of Lowell by C.S. Malerich is historical fantasy set in nineteenth century Lowell, Massachusetts, which at the time was a factory town full of textile mills. Many of the workers in those mills were young, single women. Mill workers Judith and Hannah are using magic to help them lead a strike for better conditions, using methods that absolutely strengthen the novella’s representations of solidarity, female relationships, and the evils of capitalism. I give bonus ...

Finding Refuge available this week!

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My new novella, Finding Refuge, is now available! It’s science fiction with lesbian romance, telepathy, found family, and trauma recovery.

Kindle US.
Kindle UK. ​
Kindle Canada.
Kindle Australia.
Kindle Germany.
Nook, Kobo, Apple, Scribd, Indigo, etc.

They lost the revolution. But then, they found sanctuary—and hope.

After the fascistic Federated Colonies crushes their interstellar revolt, freedom fighters Talia and Miki have only each other.

Telepathic warrior Talia Avi lost her hom...

#TBRChallenge – Unusual Profession: Set This House in Order by Matt Ruff

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Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls by Matt Ruff won the 2003 James Tiptree, Jr. Award, now renamed the Otherwise Award, which “celebrates science fiction, fantasy, and other forms of speculative narrative that expand and explore our understanding of gender.” I would also consider this novel to be a mystery or puzzle novel, on top of all the rest. I was glad to have the opportunity of the TBR Challenge, and a long weekend, to finally read it, the first work I’ve read by this author....

My August Reading Log

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Fiction:
The Enigma Game by Elizabeth Wein, set mostly in Scotland during World War II, is a prequel to Code Name Verity. The main characters are Louisa Adair, a half-English/half-Jamaican teenaged girl; an elderly German immigrant woman who adopts the name Jane Warner; Ellen McEwen, a young woman who works as a volunteer driver for the airfield and hides that her family are Travelers; and a young pilot named Jamie Beaufort-Stuart, brother to one of the Code Name Verity narrators, who also ...

#TBRChallenge – Author with More Than One Book in TBR: The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages

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Coincidentally, like last month’s TBR Challenge book, The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages is set during World War Two and revolves around a friendship forged between two girls. However, these girls are ten years old, and the story is set almost entirely at Los Alamos in New Mexico, where a cadre of scientists created the first nuclear bomb.

The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages, and its sequel, White Sands, Red Menace, have been patiently waiting on the TBR shelf for quite some time. As Klage...

My July Reading Log

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Fiction:
Demon Fighter Sucks by Katherine Crighton is short fiction at Apex Magazine. It’s speculative fiction about YouTube and grief.

After the Gold: A Twin Cities Ice Book by Erin McRae and Racheline Maltese is a contemporary romance whose protagonists are a pairs figure skating team. They’ve known each other since they were children, but their brief romantic fling ten years ago was followed by a messy loss in a big competition, so they skate with other partners for a time. When the book...

Virtual Readercon 2021 starts tomorrow!

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Readercon 2021 is taking place virtually on August 13–15, 2021. I’m proud to participate in the Sunday Memorial Guest of Honor panel described below.

“The Works and Life of Vonda N. McIntyre”
Sunday, August 15, 12:00 PM
Described by the Guardian as “foremost among a legion of new female science-fiction authors in the early 1970s,” MGOH Vonda N. McIntyre sold her first short story in 1969 and was one of the first successful graduates of the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Worksh...

#TBRChallenge – Secrets and Lies: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

I know, I know, I should have read Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein back in 2012 when it came out because I had pre-ordered it, but I never felt quite ready. By exerting a magnificently huge effort, I managed to remain unspoiled for anything but the fact that there was something to be spoiled about.

There are many, many things to be spoiled about, my friends. I am not going to reveal major spoilers in this post. If you need or prefer to know ahead of time what you’re getting into,