Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 14

#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,

[Virtual] Readercon 2021 Schedule

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Readercon 2021 is taking place virtually and delayed this year, August 13–15, 2021. I’m proud to participate in the 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’ Workshop in 1970,...

My June Reading Log

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Fiction:
The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal is third in the “Lady Astronaut” series, happening somewhat concurrently with the second book. The plot fills in some details about what happened on Earth and on the Moon while the journey to Mars was happening; the characters journeying to Mars had gaps in their knowledge which this story helps to fill. Aside from that, there’s page-turning suspense as new first person narrator Nicole Wargin tries to uncover a saboteur in a dangerous env...

Kalikoi: Advance Review Copies PSA

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If you’re interested in advance copies of new F/F books, please join the Kalikoi ARC team.

Kalikoi publishes in genres including paranormal, fantasy, historical, and contemporary. This page is updated with each release.

If you join this team, you will get free copies of all Kalikoi books in the hope that you will write honest reviews. ARCs will be sent as ebooks. You don’t have to read every book, just the ones you’re interested in. Reviews must state that you received an ARC of the book fo...

#TBRChallenge – Book with One Word Title: Distances by Vandana Singh

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The novella Distances by Vandana Singh is Volume 23 in the “Conversation Pieces” series from Aqueduct Press. It won the 2008 Carl Brandon Society Parallax Award and was on the Honor List for the 2009 James Tiptree, Jr. Award, now renamed The Otherwise Award. I’d read and liked other fiction by Singh, and always enjoyed listening to her on panels, so that plus the awards got me to pick up the book.

“Distances, a story of science, art, and deception, is fascinating far-future science fiction...

My May Reading Log

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Fiction:
Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell mashes up space opera with a Marriage of Convenience, with the added level of this being one partner’s second marriage of convenience after his husband is killed in what appeared to be an accident. I read the original version of this story on AO3, but long enough ago that I wasn’t sure how much had changed or been added for this new version. (Note that its previous iteration was not fanfiction.) The political plot involves their small, out-of-the-w...

#TBRChallenge – Fairytale: The Serial Garden by Joan Aiken

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The Serial Garden: The Complete Armitage Family Stories by Joan Aiken “is the first complete collection of Joan Aiken’s beloved Armitage stories — and it includes four new, unpublished stories.”

The world of the Armitage Stories has explicit magic, with wizards who write popular nonfiction books and witches who teach school, but it’s always treated as very mundane. I love the matter-of-fact responses of the characters to everything from a unicorn appearing in their garden to being summarily...