Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 17
December 18, 2020
My July and August Reading Log
Fiction:
I reread Wild Horses and then The Danger by Dick Francis. A friend recommended the author to me in high school; I’d read and re-read all of them over the years, but boxed them up about five years ago, only unpacking them in June. I love reading about horses, and I love neepery of all kinds, so as bestsellers go, they are a good fit for me. Francis, a former jockey, started out writing jockeys and other characters related to horse racing such as trainers, a bloodstock agent, etc., but...
December 11, 2020
My May and June Reading Log
Fiction:
Torches: Acquaintance Old and New (Clorinda Cathcarts Circle Book 8) by L. A. Hall went down like a series of bonbons; as usual, the Circle installments are intended for those whove already read the main Comfortable Courtesan series.
Unjust Cause (Alex Connor Series Book 2) by Tate Hallaway, while raising some intriguing moral questions about having an intelligent creature as a familiar, was easily digestible as well, and suited to my present somewhat scattered state of mind. The...
December 4, 2020
Return of the Reading Log: March and April, 2020
Fiction:
The Rat-Catchers Daughter by K.J. Charles is a short romance between an ace trans music hall singer and an ace man who works as a fence for the notorious Lilywhite Boys. Both are in danger from an upstart criminal, but it ends happily, before you have time to get really worried. I also didnt have enough time to get really invested in the characters, but I think they are side characters in a series, so presumably there is more of them there.
March 13, 2020
My February Reading Log
Fiction:
The Jade Temptress by Jeannie Lin is the second of her historical romance mysteries set in Tang Dynasty China. The heroine Mingyu, a highly trained courtesan, discovers one of her highest-ranking clients spectacularly dead and must work with big, rough-hewn Constable Kaifeng to solve the mystery and maintain her reputation. She always has to walk a very narrow path socially, and in addition was accused of murder by him in the previous novel, so their relationship is somewhat fraught...
February 7, 2020
My January Reading Log
Fiction:
Somewhere in France by Jennifer Robson is a lowkey romance that takes place just before and during World War One. The hero is a surgeon of working-class Scottish origins, the heroine is an aristocratic-class woman who becomes an ambulance driver against her parents’ wishes. Spoiler: her brother is not killed, he is the hero of a sequel. This author knows her stuff up down and sideways, and if you want to see how to write about World War One, read it, OMG. There are details of a...
January 17, 2020
My December Reading Log
Fiction:
Favours Exchanged (Clorinda Cathcart’s Circle Book 5) by L.A. Hall continues to add to the original series, but in a way that is more for continuing readers than for new ones. I loved getting more about Maurice, and more Clorinda.
An Unacceptable Offer by Mary Balogh is an early Regency by one of my favorite romance authors. What I found interesting was the initial scene, which involved two men discussing the Season and the Marriage Mart in a way that was clearly an infodump for...
January 13, 2020
My 2020 Arisia Schedule
I will be attending Arisia 2020 January 17-20, 2019, in Boston, Massachusetts.
My schedule is as follows:
Saturday, 5:30 pm, Marina 3
“Diversity in History”
A.J. Odasso [moderator], Sol Eidan Houser, Diana Hsu, Victoria Janssen, Sioban Krzywicki
The perennial refrain: “but having gay people/women/people of color in this fantasy story would be historically inaccurate!” Panelists will challenge whitewashed assumptions about American and European history, and what kinds of people did and did not...
December 13, 2019
My November Reading Log
Fiction:
Connections in Death by J.D. Robb is 48th in the Eve Dallas series of futuristic mysteries, and yet I bought it and read it and enjoyed it. Formulaic books are great for when I only have tiny bits of time over the course of a few days in which I can read, so I don’t lose track of the story. Familiar plot progression, familiar characters, and a certain outcome are satisfying. This one had gang violence as one of the crimes that needed to be addressed, and great progress has been made...
November 15, 2019
My October Reading Log
Fiction:
The Forbidden Stars by Tim Pratt is third in the Axiom space opera series. Like the previous books, it is banter-tastic, and has a lot of clever solutions to life-threatening problems as Our Heroes try to rescue colonists who’ve been lost for a hundred years without dooming the rest of humanity in the process. I didn’t like it as much as the first book, when everything was delightfully new, but I did think it was a satisfying end to the trilogy. CW: major character death.
November 4, 2019
My 2019 Philcon Schedule
I’ll be attending Philcon this weekend, November 8-10, in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Here’s my program schedule.
Saturday, November 9, 11:00 AM, Plaza 4
“AUs You Didn’t Know You Needed”
Chris Bell, Aaron Feldman, Victoria Janssen, Robert C. Roman [moderator]
Obi-Wan as a serial killer? A roundtable discussion of fandom’s best—or at least, most entertaining–fusions, crossovers, and world remixes.
Saturday, November 9, 12:00 PM, Crystal Ballroom Three
“Ending Literary Snobbery”
Ellen Asher, Marilyn ‘Mattie’ Brahen, Victoria J...
