Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 9
March 10, 2023
My February Reading Log
Fiction:
The Iron Children by Rebecca Fraimow will be out in early April; I read an ARC via Netgalley. In this novella, two countries are at war. The larger and more powerful Levastani want to take back the smaller country, which split off long ago due to their Celesti religious faith. The Celesti faith includes a strong belief in service, and in true speculative fiction fashion, some of their nuns gave up their bodies to become armored warriors who can telepathically control the bodies of ...
February 15, 2023
#TBRChallenge – Getaway: A Song for Summer by Eva Ibbotson
A Song for Summer by Eva Ibbotson is, I believe, the last of her adult novels that I had left to read. My profound thanks for this journey go to Kelly Link, who recommended the author to me roughly two decades ago.
A Song for Summer by Eva Ibbotson was a delight from end to end, even the sad parts, which given it’s set just before and during World War Two, with a glimpse afterwards, is a mighty accomplishment. It’s set primarily in England and in Austria.
The book opens this way: In a way t...
February 11, 2023
My January Reading Log
Fiction:
Aftermath: Tides Turning (Clorinda Cathcart’s Circle Book 18) by L. A. Hall started my year off right with a check-in on old friends. I loved how the younger generation was taking up the slack to subtly change things for the better.
#TBRChallenge – Starting Over: A Paradigm of Earth by Candas Jane Dorsey.
Fanfiction:
Strange-Eyed Constellations by kaydeefalls was the sort of unexpected crossover I love: The Old Guard, movie version, with Star Trek, reboot movie version. By this poi...
January 31, 2023
Welcome to Refuge!
This is the official website of writer Victoria Janssen, author of A Place of Refuge, three science fiction hopepunk novellas following three former guerillas who’ve escaped to a utopian planet after losing their fight against a fascist empire. They’re figuring out how to live a life that’s not focused on the constant fear of death, with the aid of pastries, therapy, and other people.
You can also find these novellas at Goodreads, StoryGraph, and LibraryThing.
Welcome to my website!
This is the official website of writer Victoria Janssen, author of A Place of Refuge, three science fiction hopepunk novellas following three former guerillas who’ve escaped to a utopian planet after losing their fight against a fascist empire. They’re figuring out how to live a life that’s not focused on the constant fear of death, with the aid of pastries, therapy, and other people.
You can also find these novellas at Goodreads, StoryGraph, and LibraryThing.
Social Media:
Twitter.
Romanceland...
January 30, 2023
I Heart SapphFic Reading Challenge Week 4: Spaceship / Space Station
Finding Refuge is featured this week in the I Heart SapphFic Reading Challenge Week 4: Spaceship / Space Station!
I’ll be visiting the I Heart SapphFic Reader Group on Facebook on and off all week, and will be giving away a free ebook.
Details of the Reading Challenge.
January 18, 2023
#TBRChallenge – Starting Over: A Paradigm of Earth by Candas Jane Dorsey
A Paradigm of Earth by Candas Jane Dorsey is a 2001 book which begins with several traumatic events told in a lowkey voice of depression. Morgan Shelby works with children who have severely disfiguring birth defects. Despite the first sentence of the novel referring to “living gargoyles,” she is compassionate and empathetic to the child Asam, who’s about to undergo massive surgery, which we soon learn he does not survive. Morgan’s partner leaves her, and Morgan has to leave the home they ma...
January 13, 2023
My December Reading Log
Fiction:
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson is a charming romance with older characters set in a contemporary small English village. Major Ernest Pettigrew, a widower of six years, has just been told his brother unexpectedly died, when he re-encounters the owner of their local grocery shop, Mrs. Jasmina Ali. Jasmina is a widow as well, and they make a swift and unexpected emotional connection. Their romance is mingled with family issues stemming from the major’s brother’s will a...
January 1, 2023
#TBRChallenge 2023
This year, I’ll again be participating in the TBR Challenge hosted by Wendy the Super Librarian. My goal is to post reviews of a themed book on the third Wednesday of every month. Feel free to join me! Tag your social media posts with #TBRChallenge. The monthly themes, and my choices to fit those themes, are listed below. All of the books are from my To Be Read shelves (physical and virtual) as of December, 2022. I’ve tried to stick to the suggested themes, even though it’s not required.
Be...
December 21, 2022
#TBRChallenge – Festive: Silent Night by Stanley Weintraub
Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce by Stanley Weintraub has been on my TBR for quite a while, along with a lot of other World War One reference books; some of them, I don’t read end to end, just dig into as needed. But this one was written for a general audience, and is not terribly long. To me, it’s meant to be festive but ultimately does not feel that way to me.
Please note that this post includes some unpleasant description of the realities of war.
The 1914 unoffi...
