Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 26
July 24, 2015
February 2015 Reading Log
Fiction: Partner by Lia Silver, the sequel to Prisoner; I know this author, though mostly online. I got an advance copy and read it all in one evening, and my only complaint was that it was not longer (it didn’t really need to be, I just wanted). Adventure! Angst! Music, some of which I suggested (in particular, Filipino artist Gloc-9)! I am especially happy that there are so many interesting secondary characters who could get their own books, because I am enjoying this series.
While I was wa...
July 17, 2015
January 2015 Reading Log
Fiction: Bone Rider by J. Fally features a romance between a human and alien symbiotic sentient armor…well, actually the male human’s romance is with another male human, and there is a plot involving the U.S. Army and the Russian mafia, but I was more into it for the sentient armor, which was totally cool. Really, do you need any more recommendation than that?
Nonfiction: The Regency Underworld by Donald Low – if you’re looking for a fairly short overview of this topic, this seems to be a goo...
July 1, 2015
Readercon 2015
I’ll be at Readercon in Burlington, MA next weekend.
Guests of Honor: Nicola Griffith and Gary K. Wolfe.
Memorial Guest of Honor: Joanna Russ.
Friday, July 11, 11:00 AM. G
Drift-Compatibile Fictional Characters.
Amal El-Mohtar, Victoria Janssen, Nicole Kornher-Stace (leader), A. J. Odasso, Navah Wolfe.
The film Pacific Rim created the idea of two people who are “drift-compatible,” able to live inside each other’s minds and memories without sustaining massive psychic damage. Let’s use this a...
June 26, 2015
December 2014 Reading Log
I was on vacation for part of December, so I got to read more than usual!
Fiction: Love Waltzes In by Alana Albertson – Contemporary romance in which the description of life as a dancer on a celebrity ballroom dance show, and the associated soap opera plot, was much more compelling than the romance, which totally failed to grab me. Heroine is a professional dancer who wants to have a family; hero was her partner and first love when they were teenagers, before he left the sport to become a mar...
June 19, 2015
November 2014 Reading Log
Fiction: Still Life With Murder by P.B. Ryan – First in the Nell Sweeney series, it’s a historical mystery set in Gilded Age Boston. The heroine has a terrible past and so does the man accused of murder, whom it isn’t a huge spoiler to say isn’t guilty, because he turns up in all the rest of the books in the series (I checked). Also, he is Strangely Attractive, so it’s clear he’s a potential unwise romantic interest for the heroine. It was fairly entertaining.
Nonfiction: I read a whole arra...
June 12, 2015
September/October 2014 Reading Log
I didn’t read very much beyond nonfiction in progress in September.
Fanfiction: London Orbital by merripestin (Sherlock) features Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, Sally Donovan, and Greg Lestrade trapped together in a car all night, for a case. Snappy dialogue ensues.
October:
Fiction: The Duke of Snow and Apples by Elizabeth Vail is set in an alternate England that has magic, and felt roughly Regency to me in its social mores. It engages with a lot of things people complain about when they read...
June 5, 2015
Daredevil 1:3 – 1:4 – Spoilers
Episode Three:
1. I’m still impressed by how this show is showing the moral complications of vigilantism, even when it’s against organized crime, without offering any easy solutions. Matt even makes a speech about morality in court. This episode goes along well with 1.2 in its thematic depth.
2. I think they might be trying to have at least one or two gross-out moments per episode. Because it’s Netflix, and they can? You could tell the same stories with less brutality and gore. The violence...
May 29, 2015
Daredevil 1:1 – 1:2 – Spoilers
This post and those that follow will include spoilers.
I was a big Daredevil fan for a while in the 1980s, picking it up at the Elektra issues somewhere in the 160s and reading on to some point in the 250s. A big part of that time period was dominated by Frank Miller, if that helps you to orient. Packed away somewhere, I have a copy of issue 200 with the cover autographed by Frank Miller, though his pen didn’t work all that well. A sharpie would have been better.
I chose the comic because I w...
May 25, 2015
“And Death Shall Have No Dominion,” Dylan Thomas
And death shall have no dominion.
Dead men naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.
And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on rac...
May 22, 2015
August 2014 Reading Log
Fiction: A Case of Possession by K.J. Charles is second in the A Charm of Magpies series, a historical paranormal with an ongoing male/male romance. I love the way the magic is done in this series, and as usual, I am a sucker for historical fantasy.
Razor Wire by Lauren Gallagher – I read this for preview on Heroes and Heartbreakers. It’s a dark, gripping lesbian romance about military police on Okinawa, one of whom is pregnant from having been raped. It was a page-turner, and did a great job...
