Tehani Croft Wessely's Blog, page 7

Some new reviews

A couple of new snippet reviews around the ridges:

Over on Amazon, reader Ladi8ug loved The Aware, saying: This was a fantastic read! Lots of twists and turns and just a few easy to see plots to make you feel like you know what’s going on, then you are back to wondering what will happen next. I rarely give 5 stars, but this book deserved it.

And still on Glenda Larke, Goodreads reviewer Siavahda wrote a wonderfully detailed review of Havenstar which ends with: …this has gone straight onto my favourites shelf, and is going to get recced to everyone I know. 

At Goodreads, reader Liz gave Cranky Ladies of History five stars and said: Thoroughly enjoyed it! Many of the stories had me looking for more information on these fascinating women. A great introduction to women in history.

We missed this lovely review of Pratchett’s Women on Amazon, courtesy of reader Syntia, when it written earlier this year: …not afraid to point out and analyze glaring problems with portrayal of female characters…

And this great line from a review of Guardian by Jo Anderton on Goodreads: …included many really visceral moments that I loved…

As always, thank you to all the wonderful readers who take the time to rate and review our books on Amazon, Goodreads and other forums – we appreciate each and every one!

The post Some new reviews appeared first on FableCroft.

Revisiting Pern, the great McCaffrey reread: THE WHITE DRAGON

Tehani and Marisol bonded over Pern (and Doctor Who) at a science fiction convention, decided that it was time for a reread of the series, and really, they should blog about that. They are reading in Anne McCaffrey’s preferred way, which is basically publication order.  

Pern Series – The White Dragon

T: So this has always been, in my memory, my favourite Pern book. Reading it again was interesting, because I realised that some of the bits I thought were in it are actually in other books, which was weird, but also, there is so much I forgot! It was like coming at it for the first time, which was fantastic.

M: I had the exact same experience! It’s really again proof of her storytelling power, that that many bits from a character stay with you despite multiple books, usually over multiple years for readers.

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T: I love the fact that so much of the story of this book comes about due to the intellectual curiosity of the characters, not just the harpers, but others too, both young and old. The way learning and cross-crafting is so important. And the idea that sometimes, you just have to take a leap to reach the next level!

M: The first few books were very Big Hero out to save the day, but this and the Harper Hall books are broader. It’s the ‘little’ important people making significant changes that aren’t big and flashy, but integral to the entire world becoming a better place. I love the little heroes in any story, and much of Pern is made up of them.

And of course, Ruth and Jaxom being such a unique pairing. Unisex, white runt dragon who, while being a full dragon, is completely different from every other dragon we know of. He’s so smart, and seems to have more awareness than the bigger dragons do. I’ve always thought Mnementh and Ramoth,  obviously intelligent, were more like wise beings a bit lost in their thoughts. Ramoth less so, smartie pants queen. But Ruth has a very good cause and effect thinking, and picks up on social things almost immediately. I’ve wondered if that’s because of his unusual situation as a dragon for a rider/lord holder, or because of the fire lizards adding a level of social nuance the other dragons don’t get.

T: Or any combination of those things, plus the fact he’s just unique?

I know the reason I love these books so dearly is the characters, and The White Dragon is an excellent example of how fabulous they are. The interactions between Jaxom and Lytol, he who has been Dragonrider, Craftmaster and Lord Holder in his lifetime, are beautiful in this. Jaxom growing in his maturity (and honestly, from the time we meet him as a child through to the end of this book, there is so much change, even in the way McCaffrey writes his “voice” – she’s amazing!) and figuring out Lytol on a grownup level, that’s lovely. And then the way Lytol sucks it up and offers advice about fighting Thread to Jaxom when he’s teaching Ruth, and is such an upright and responsible person but smart enough to know when he needs to loosen the reins on his young ward, oh my, so good! But the bit when Lytol comes to the cove, having been so very worried about Jaxom when he was ill with firehead – yep, there’s the sobbing again…

I know think I mentioned at some point to you, Marisol, that The White Dragon has been retrospectively designated as a young adult book. I actually think it’s a pretty valid classification. Jaxom’s journey is a classic YA story, and very well done.

M: Yes, and when I finished, I remember thinking if I had to class it, I think I’d initially be tempted to put it as New Adult, because of his age and the awareness he has about his situation. I feel like a lot of YA is very juvenile nowadays, as opposed to encompassing stories like this which now are VERY much coming to adulthood stories. However, since New Adult still seems to be some weird split from YA to help people avoid the juvenileish stories, I decided YA is way better. It needs more stories like this. Especially from a male perspective. And without a love triangle!

(Note: my perspective is from US genre splitting, and may not make sense in Australia/the rest of the world.)

T: I found the Jaxom’s interactions with Corana fascinating. On one level, Jaxom’s worry about the whole thing is an interesting exploration of the idea of a young man coming to terms with his sexuality. On the other, I’m a bit conflicted, because while the sex-positivity and acceptance of his “friendship” with Corana is nice, it’s sort of a bit off in terms of the world-building. Corana’s family is happy for her to be involved with Jaxom on a sexual level, with no potential long-term outcome, even to the point of possibly bearing him a child. There doesn’t really seem to be any taboo about pre-marital relations or hang ups about virginity (to a point). But this doesn’t really work with the way women are generally portrayed, for me. It’s a small glitch, and one I’m happy for because it’s better than the usual “feudal society” elements about sex and women that we see, but it still grated a little.

M: I found it refreshing. I think it’s a change in generation. The previously rapey character attitudes shown are now middle-aged at this point in time, and along with cross-Crafting there’s an exchange of social ideas. A more relaxed attitude towards sex, and more importantly, a positive one, was a real highlight to those changes.

To be fair to the whole child bit, this is the first time we’ve had a chance to really see how sex and children matter in the realm of Lord Holders, and they’ve mentioned before there were some quite different opinions about sexual inhibitions in that part of Pern. Jaxom as someone who crosses multiple boundaries may very well be welcomed for the more opportunities for a potential child.

As a colder alternative, they might also feel like they can’t tell him no and Jaxom is too naive to realize it, although the relationship between him and his holders seems quite good.

T: Yeek, that IS a cold alternative…

And I also twigged that there is no religion on Pern. I think I’ve read an article about this before, but I’d forgotten…

M: Anne once wrote a bit about how a fan had argued with her that religion is required, and she’d firmly put no religion in the series for a reason. Given their scientific origins, I can see why none would be really ‘required’, emotionally speaking.

T: MASTERHARPER! In my notes, I wrote “I can NOT read these books in public!” because I was weeping when Robinton had his heart attack and the dragons were talking to him, keeping him alive. TEARS GALORE!

M: That was one of the things I thought happened in another book until I got about  a third of the way through, then got the pit in my stomach feeling. The ways the dragons adore Robinton, just…

I’m not crying. You’re crying.

T: I’m totally crying…

M: And now that we’re going on to Moreta’s story, I’m wondering if I’ll be interested because I’m so sucked into this current timeline that going into the past makes me scream a little. Especially knowing what they discover on the Southern Continent. Argh!

T: It’s so hard to leave the “present”, knowing what is coming, for a wander back in time, because no matter how good the next couple of books we’ll be reading are, they are kind of filler… But they ARE good, so let’s go!

Previously, in the Great Pern Reread of 2015:

Dragonflight

Dragonquest

The Harper Hall trilogy (Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, Dragondrums)

The post Revisiting Pern, the great McCaffrey reread: THE WHITE DRAGON appeared first on FableCroft.

Revisiting Pern, the great McCaffrey reread: The Harper Hall trilogy

Tehani and Marisol bonded over Pern (and Doctor Who) at a science fiction convention, decided that it was time for a reread of the series, and really, they should blog about that. They are reading in Anne McCaffrey’s preferred way, which is basically publication order.  

Pern Series – The Harper Hall Trilogy ( Dragonsong, Dragonsinger and Dragondrums )

M: First, I think I should point out this is the only time Tehani and I decided to read out of publication order, because this trilogy has so much to do with the White Dragon and the landscape there-in. It just seemed right. And having read it in this order, I stand by this.

T: To be fair, Wikipedia says Anne recommended reading the Harper Hall books before The White Dragon, so I’m comfortable with our decision!

M: Out of all the books, this set is my absolute favourite (can’t wait to see if that still stands come the end of this).

T: They really are very very good. And the first true time (at least in Dragonsong and Dragonsinger) that we have a female protagonist, which is nice.  And I recently remembered that I did a university assignment to design a unit of work around the first book! It definitely made an impact…

M: Menolly is a fifteen year old girl who is a musical prodigy. She writes catchy songs and is a deeply compassionate, kind person.

So to see the juxtaposition of her being in the abusive, ignorant, and hypocritical family (and hold, which follows the family as they’re the Holders) hurts. I mean, she gets threatened with a beating for asking a question. She gets beaten for having a four second mistake. And her family never has a kind word, or pauses enough in their selfish endeavors to realize their narcissistic reactions to every tiny thing she does.

One good example is when she was banished to take care of Old Uncle by the fire during the new harper’s arrival. It’s clearly outlined that tradition and manners dictate the entire family be there to welcome the harper, and yet, Yanus and Mavi have no qualms ignoring tradition where it suits their selfish whims. Their blind eye to their hypocrisy is maddening.

I have a loving, wonderful family that would never treat me like this, and seeing the void she has in her life because of that gave me a particular ache for for her. Not just on the understanding the need to create, because it’s far more than a want, but this giant hole in her life. She has never had a normal, healthy relationship.

T: It’s so awful. And the worst part of it, for me, was that it was how normalised it all was. It’s a good way through the book before you as the reader truly realise how little Menolly is valued and how very badly she is treated. For me, I think, it wasn’t until she herself figured out her mother had deliberately let Menolly’s hand heal badly to stop her from Harpering that I really got it.

M: Her going Holdless was an almost palpable release in the book, and then, to have her rise to choosing a family of nine(!) fire lizards, and being herself, where she apologized to no one, is just incredible. It’s not like she’d have any technological help to get along while Holdless.

T: That being Holdless (the analogy to being homeless to escape an abusive home life doesn’t escape me) was a better option for her is just awful, particularly given the holders are so conditioned to being indoors during Threadfall. And yet not only does she survive, she damn well thrives, and keeps nine hungry fire lizard babies fed and happy too!

 

 

 

 

 

M: Me either. The whole trilogy is a great analogy for being homeless and finding your own personal home.

Also, if I have to hear “No girl can–” one more time in this series, I will scream. Seriously, you’re in a world where it’s all able hands on deck. When did the reproductive bits become so important?!

T: But it’s SO GOOD when she finally gets to Robinton and he’s just, well of COURSE you’re a Harper, what else would you be?

M: Agreed. The unabashed, no holds welcome she receives from Robinton and those who’re at the the forefront of Harper Hall is the part where I always find myself cheering. Aloud, while my cats judge me for shouting.

Getting to watch her grow from this person who is terrified of everything into standing up for herself, to the point where she cries insult on Pona (and oh, how satisfying that is, what a horrible person), to being confident in herself when we transition to Piemur’s story. It is one of the best character growth arcs I’ve ever read, and completely in step with the rest of the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

T: Oh yes. And I love that when you look at the arc, you see that it’s always there, waiting to come out. Who she becomes is partly because of what she goes through, but she’s strong and smart and capable in herself.

McCaffrey is so damn good at characters. I sobbed – again – at Jaxom’s Impression of Ruth, even though I just read it in Dragonquest. And then oh my gosh, when the Masterharper and Oharan trick her into singing at Benden when she’s found, it’s just brought on floods of tears – it’s so lovely!

M: There’s a small but significant character I want to mention: Camo. Camo was my first introduction to a special needs person in print that wasn’t talked about as malformed, like every other one I’d found at an early age. Camo is treated as a nice person, which he is, and while he doesn’t get much stage time, I really enjoy that he’s part of the team without any fuss.

His story makes me cry in the Masterharper book.

T: McCaffrey was again ahead of her time with Camo.

M: Oh, and Petiron! Man my opinion of him changed greatly after reading that book. It’s interesting going back and reading these books now that I know his entire story. Although it hints at it in these books, Petiron in his own way tries to make up to his son, Robinton, but teaching Menolly and encouraging her gift and to get her to the Crafthall. Bumbling, to be sure, but given how he was before going to Half-Circle, it’s a big concession.

T: It’s been a long time since I read that one so I’m looking forward to rediscovering it!

M: Which leads us to Piemur. Now, I really like Piemur, both as a person and his story, but I still wonder sometimes why we had his story instead of a third Menolly book. The first two were so focused and dense, to move to him feels weird. Like it was tacked on to the trilogy rather than a smooth transition. His story is more like a tie-in back to the rest of the Pern series, so perhaps that was intentional.

T: I agree. In fact, now that I’m almost done with The White Dragon, I think really, the Harper Hall trilogy is in fact a duology (the Menolly books) and Dragondrums (Piemur’s story) is a prequel to The White Dragon.

M: You’re right – that makes far more sense than calling it a trilogy.

Having said all that, I do enjoy seeing Piemur realize he has more skills than he realized, and learning to self-rely on himself. Getting to see another dimension of harpers and far more than singing and creating, they’re influencing, and this sort of secret intelligence work they do is REALLY interesting! I don’t know exactly what you’d call them. They’re not spies, nor thieves, but their effect is far-reaching.

T: I think Piemur’s story really shows us the role the harpers play on Pern, and he’s such a great character – he’s so quick witted but intelligently so! It’s also interesting to see how he changes throughout Dragondrums, just as Menolly does in her books. I particularly liked how he was so leery of groups of people after being on his own with just the critters for so long. And it’s where we meet Sharra – I forgot how important she becomes (until I read The White Dragon, which is not what we’re talking about so we probably should move on…).

M: I am in danger of gushing, so I’m going to stop now. Seriously, read this trilogy! It’s great!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Previously, in the Great Pern Reread of 2015:

Dragonflight

Dragonquest

The post Revisiting Pern, the great McCaffrey reread: The Harper Hall trilogy appeared first on FableCroft.

Revisiting Pern, the great McCaffrey reread: DRAGONQUEST

Tehani and Marisol bonded over Pern (and Doctor Who) at a science fiction convention, decided that it was time for a reread of the series, and really, they should blog about that. They are reading in Anne McCaffrey’s preferred way, which is basically publication order.  

Pern Series – Book 2 Dragonquest

T: Another story starting out from the male point-of-view. Dearie me, here we go again… Oh, but it’s Robinton, and you know what? I’m okay with that. I love the Masterharper

I really like the way McCaffrey gives us a quick recap in the shape of Robinton’s musings here – in fact, I might suggest that people planning to read the series for the first time might like to skip the very problematic Dragonflight and perhaps start here instead? Although this book is not itself problem-free…

In this one, the rampant misogyny is toned down a fair bit, giving over to the occasional off-putting line or two. Robinton’s thoughts in the first pages, for example, include this gem: “Larad, Lord of Telgar, was giving his half-sister, Famira, to Asgenar, Lord of Lemos Hold.” Giving? Is she a plant, to be given? And when the numbweed is being made, a significant event in the Weyr, it is of course “the women” boiling it and doing the awful work to make the salve. Little lines like “This was a matter for men to settle” grate on the modern reader, but again, in the context of the year of publication (1971), and in relation to some of the horrors of Dragonflight, I could deal with it.

Less easy to handle are some other aspects. Lessa’s subservience to F’lar irritated me. She stands up to him, she holds her own in a righteous argument, then suddenly caves, pressing up against him with: “I’ve no right to say such things to you,” Lessa was whispering in soft remorse. WHY? You certainly DO have the right, Lessa! You were making him see the truth of a situation!

M: Biiiig pet peeve of mine here, too. She’s such a strong woman in the first book (writer gods help me, I HATE that phrase because of the connotations, but you know what I mean), and she’s so capitulating now! WHAT DID YOU DO TO LESSA?

T: But even this apparent sideslip of Lessa’s fierce personality pales in the face of the outrageously troublesome thoughts about beating women had by F’lar’s half-brother and bestie, F’nor. Oh F’nor… He has so much going for him, character-wise, and yes, the Weyrwoman Kylara IS a difficult, self-centred personality (actually, can I note that one of the awesome things I love about these books is that the women are all different? And it’s awesome that some of them are painful and horrible, and others are clever or hard-working, and all sorts of different types? You know, like REAL PEOPLE!), but I was very uncomfortable with these little gems: It was too bad you couldn’t beat a Weyrwoman with impunity. He’s not the only one – it must run in the family as later F’lar thinks First he’d better get over the urge to beat Kylara… Really, not cool.

M: Although to be fair, I wanted to punch her in the face. So I’m not sure that makes me any better than F’nor.

T: He’s supposed to be GOOD though! We can’t claim that…

Revisiting Pern, the great McCaffrey reread: DRAGONFLIGHT

Tehani and Marisol bonded over Pern (and Doctor Who) at a science fiction convention, decided that it was time for a reread of the series, and really, they should blog about that. They are reading in Anne McCaffrey’s preferred way, which is basically publication order.

Pern Series – Book 1 Dragonflight

M: As a quick aside, can I say how surprised I was that this book had a prologue, and how incredibly info-dumpy it was? I’ve read Dragonflight probably a dozen times since I was 10, and I never once remembered the prologue, which seems to be a point in the “Prologues are useless or should be a chapter” box I always see espoused.

T: Yes! And the prologue sets it up as explicitly science fictional – do you suppose that’s the point, given how many readers think of it as fantasy because dragons? What’s even more interesting though is how that prologue CHANGED! I started reading an early edition of Dragonflight and then switched to a new (omnibus) version and the whole thing was different, reflecting the evolving world-building that had grown (and superceded) the early details as the series went on.

Genre Bender

M: Pern always gets marked as a fantasy, but I’ve always read it as a sci-fi with fantasy elements due to technology loss, and the way this story goes, I felt this was reinforced the whole time. It’s clear through sense of loss, not only with the dragons and the decay in weyrs/life/etc, but in the struggle to fight Thread on the ground with what they had on hand.

And considering this book was written in 1968, I’m amazed how well it stands the genre test of time. Still a great story.

T: It certainly holds up in terms of genre, handwavy time-travel aside (I read it as fantasy for several volumes, even though I originally first read The White Dragon…), but the same can’t be said for gender – some of the gender stereotypes are, hmmm, problematic, to say the least!

Lessa

M: Speaking of “cranky ladies of history”, Lessa is one of my fictional heroes. She stands on her own two feet, and pushes forward while the others try to either leave her out or push her aside/make her into a pet weyrleader, and there she goes, charging off with a screw you to everyone.

T: Despite my concerns with some of the gender stuff, this actually works really well for me, agreed! Lessa is treated poorly by many of the men in the book – she’s condescended to, mansplained to and kept in the dark. It’s absolutely right and just she goes off half-cocked to figure stuff out for herself (successfully!).

False Memories

T: You want to know what’s really interesting? In my mind, this book was about Lessa – her fight against Fax, her life as Weyrwoman, her journey back in time to collect the missing Weyrs. I’ve read it several times in the past twenty years. And yet it’s absolutely not Lessa’s book, it’s F’lar’s. It starts out from F’lar’s point of view and it ends with F’lar’s point of view (and that macho line on the last page: “…he, F’lar, rider of bronze Mnementh, was a dragonman of Pern!”). Lessa is a prize for F’lar, a reward for his perseverance. What the heck, suck fairy?!

To be fair, I still enjoyed reading the book, and some parts genuinely worked well. The first Impression, for example, is just as tear-jerky as the one in “The Smallest Dragonboy”, which is my absolute favourite Impression ever. But I’m fascinated by things I never noticed on ANY of my earlier readings. Such as, in the early pages, Lessa basically names herself murderer as she thinks about how she regretted the death of the first of Ruatha’s Warders (and either directly or indirectly responsible for the death of the rest of them, too). Yet this is NEVER discussed at all!

M: You know, I had the same problem. This story is so ingrained in my mind as her story that I was caught off-guard when the book started and ended with him. I thought for sure it started with Lessa and Ruatha hold. I’m so glad it wasn’t just me!

After mulling it over (because it really peeved me off, the rampant sexism and very BOYS BOYS BOYS attitude), I bet the reason this happened was to get men to read the stories. There was such a hardcore “this genre doesn’t interest women” attitude in the early 90’s, let alone 1968 when I know it was worse. Much like how Harry Potter was swapped from a female to a male, I think Lessa’s story was couched because they found it ‘salable’ this way

T: Wait, Harry Potter was swapped from female to male? What??!

Further, the (presumably unconscious) sexism is quite remarkable. Mansplaining abounds from R’gul and F’lar, both of whom are obnoxious bullies in their own way. F’lar’s character does mellow as the book goes on, but in the first half at least he’s a complete pig, to the point of ongoing sexual assault. The most uncomfortable example of this was when F’lar was reflecting on the nature of his sexual relationship with Lessa, from the “violent” first time when their dragons mated through – the wording is as follows: “He had been a considerate and gentle bedmate ever since, but, unless Ramoth and Mnemeth were involved, he might as well call it rape.” It actually gets worse. The next line is: “Yet he knew someday, somehow, he would coax her into responding wholeheartedly to his lovemaking. He had a certain pride in his skill, and he was in a position to persevere.” A POSITION TO PERSEVERE! What, because she couldn’t say no? Yes, that’s RAPE. How did I never notice this before! And all the carry on about her being jealous of Kylara, and the way it is played up as uncalled for female jealousy – what a prick!

The dilution of the nastier side of his character could be in part to the fact this book was originally separate novellas – and I’m glad he changes somewhat, but still, from a vantage point nearly 50 years on (FIFTY!!!), the ingrained assumptions about the roles of men and women are a bit much.

Other than the explicit sexual assault disguised as the natural relationship between Weyrleader and Weyrwoman (ugh, even the titles they hold…), one of the worst, for me, was the way Lessa was relegated to traditionally female roles, sometimes very explicitly, as in the scene where, in conversation with Manora, it says, “‘…We had no young dragons to feed. They do eat, as you know.’ The glances of the two women locked in a timeless feminine amusement over the vagaries of the young under their care.” Lessa has no children and hasn’t ever been responsible for them, but it’s written as expected and understood? Why?! I suppose it could be argued that McCaffrey only means Lessa to be thinking about Ramoth, here, but it just seems odd – probably it’s the “timeless feminine” phrase that gets me!

M: Well don’t you know that men don’t know how much they eat. /sarcasm

T: Another quote, when F’lar is considering the reasons time travel F’nor is so stressed out. “Lessa regarded him with such awe…” Really? She came up with the damn idea to send F’nor back in time. His thought wasn’t that brilliant!

There are lots of problems with the text, when looking back at it nearly half a century on, socially, that’s certain. For all that, this is still a bloody interesting book, and one I’ve loved for twenty years. I’m hoping the suck fairy hasn’t visited the rest of the series quite so much!

M: After reading this story, I was surprised at how many subtle jabs there are about women; they really bothered me. The fact that a boy is celebrated with an honorific shortened name, but never the Weyrwomen – why? I don’t think female riders got a shortened version, either. What is up with that?

T: I KNOW! I’m not sure we ever get an explanation for that either. Odd.



M: The bigger one was how they couched Lessa’s manipulations as just that, but F’lar’s manipulations get either a handwave or barely tacit acknowledgement because they’re framed as acceptable as a leader. He’s NOT the only leader here, and probably the only reason I don’t hate him is he finally realizes that by the end.

T: SO MANY JABS! And yes, they are really awful a lot of the time. But things get a lot better in the next book (well, mostly…). Shall we?

The post Revisiting Pern, the great McCaffrey reread: DRAGONFLIGHT appeared first on FableCroft.

First in a series FREE!

For less than 24 hours, we still have SPLASHDANCE SILVER by Tansy Rayner Roberts and THE AWARE by Glenda Larke absolutely free on all ebook platforms – don’t miss out!

Splashdance Silver

Amazon

Kobo

Smashwords

The Aware

Amazon

Kobo

Smashwords

And don’t forget, there are only a few days left to enter to win a FREE copy (one of two) of CRANKY LADIES OF HISTORY on Goodreads – just in time to be a fabulous Christmas gift!

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Coming soon: Revisiting Pern, the great McCaffrey reread

A few weeks ago, at Conflux, I happened into a conversation with the delightful Marisol and we discovered a mutual passion for Pern (among other things, like Doctor Who — Marisol is good people… ). When she mentioned she really thought it was time she reread the series, I realised that although McCaffrey and Pern were definitely formative in my early years of reading speculative fiction (I talk about that in the SF Signal post on “The books that made us love science fiction and fantasy”), I hadn’t revisited the world for a really long time. So I suggested that not only should we both reread the books, but we totally needed to blog about that!

In the weeks ahead, Marisol and I will be chatting about our discoveries in the world of Pern as we work our way through the series once more. We’ve chosen to read only the novels (although we may have to take a look at one or two of the short stories, just because…), only the books written by Anne herself, and we’re going basically in publication order (as opposed to internal chronological order), as Anne preferred them to be read.

First up will be Dragonflight — join us so that you, like me, can be stunned by the fact this book was published almost fifty years ago…

 

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We need your help to choose a title!

It’s very quick and anonymous, one question only. We’d love to hear your thoughts (if you do a write in response, please let me know who you are in case we use it!).

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New bits and bobs

Author of the new short story collection Striking Fire, Dirk Flinthart, has been diving into his archives and posting some free fiction on his website. Highly recommended if you would like a taste of his work!

The Fading Memory of Music
Vigil
Keys

Dirk has also been posting some musings on the dimensions of storytelling:

Part 1: Telling Stories

Part 2: The Nifty Idea

Part 3: Make It Bleed

He says some pretty interesting things about writing and stories, and I recommend the posts highly!

Also around the traps, Matthew Morrison has reviewed Insert Title Here, saying: “There are some amazing, even must read, short stories within.”

Thanks to everyone who takes the time to review our books — it’s hugely appreciated!

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Looking for the perfect gift? Cranky Ladies in hardcover!

Just in time for the forthcoming gift-giving season (if that’s your thing), we have now released the hardcover of Cranky Ladies of History for general purchase! Gorgeous art by Kathleen Jennings, complemented by the stunning design from Amanda Rainey, encloses the very excellent selection of astonishing stories. The book has received rave reviews and is being read by people all over the world. 

Whether it is for yourself or for someone special (or, you know, that fond acquaintance you buy gifts for… or your child’s teacher… or the delivery guy you like…), the hardcover book makes a fantastic present.

Available to order from the FableCroft website, your favourite bookstore, or grab it at Amazon, Booktopia, Book Depository and more. (Paperback also available)

We recommend shopping around, because prices vary at different sites and unfortunately we can’t control that. US folks might be best at Amazon, but for Aussies, our shop may be cheapest for you!

The ebook is also available from your preferred etailer.

The post Looking for the perfect gift? Cranky Ladies in hardcover! appeared first on FableCroft.