Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 15
July 16, 2021
[Virtual] Readercon 2021 Schedule
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,...
July 10, 2021
My June Reading Log
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...
June 30, 2021
Kalikoi: Advance Review Copies PSA
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...
June 16, 2021
#TBRChallenge – Book with One Word Title: Distances by Vandana Singh
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...
June 4, 2021
My May Reading Log
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...
May 19, 2021
#TBRChallenge – Fairytale: The Serial Garden by Joan Aiken
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...
May 8, 2021
My April Reading Log
Fiction:
A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine follows A Memory Called Empire, in which Mahit Dzmare travels from her home space station to the center of the mighty Teixcalaanli Empire. In this installment, Mahit is back on Lsel Station and facing danger from her own government. Meanwhile, a threat from the last book reunites Mahit with Three Seagrass, in a plot running parallel with imperial heir Eight Antidote’s lessons in government and the decisions facing a newly-promoted militar...
April 29, 2021
Kalikoi!
Kalikoi, a new F/F publishing house, will launch on May 3.
Kalikoi brings you the best fiction about women in love with women. Our diverse authors know how to stir your imagination, speed up your heart, and make you laugh or cry. But by the end of a book, your only tears will be happy ones: Kalikoi books guarantee happily-ever-after or happy-for-now endings!
Our heroines all identify as women, but beyond that, the sky’s the limit. They may be trans or cis; they may be lesbian, bisexual, pa...
April 21, 2021
#TBRChallenge – Old School: Magic Flutes by Eva Ibbotson
Given that Magic Flutes by Eva Ibbotson was published in 1982, I decided it could safely fit this month’s challenge theme. Plus, I’ve been looking forward to reading it for a long time, as one of the few by this author I have not already read. Plus it combines a 1920s setting with musician characters, which is catnip for me.
Magic Flutes is set in Vienna shortly after the First World War. English foundling Guy Farne has become a millionaire through his innate intelligence and knowledge of m...
April 10, 2021
My March Reading Log
Fiction:
Battle Hill Bolero by Daniel José Older is third in the Bone Street Rumba trilogy, one of the best urban fantasy series I’ve ever read because of its superb, deep grounding in contemporary Brooklyn. I’d been hoarding it for a while; I bought this series as it came out, but enjoyed it so much I didn’t want to devour it all in one swoop. Compared to the previous two books in the trilogy, the conclusion is epic, as in, there is a literal epic battle between forces of freedom and burea...
