Elizabeth Fitzgerald's Blog: Earl Grey Editing, page 10

How to Fracture a Fairy Tale by Jane Yolen

Published: November 2018 by Tachyon Publications

Format reviewed: E-book (mobi)

Genres: Fairy tale, fantasy, contemporary, historical

Source: NetGalley

Available: Publisher (print and electronic) ~ Abbey’s ~ Amazon (AU, CA, UK, US) ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Book Depository ~ Booktopia ~ Dymocks ~ Indiebound ~ Kobo

Disclaimer: I was provided with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Fantasy legend Jane Yolen presents a wide-ranging offering of fractured fairy tales. Yolen fractures the classics to reveal their crystalline secrets, holding them to the light and presenting them entirely transformed; where a spinner of straw into gold becomes a money-changer and the big bad wolf retires to a nursing home. Rediscover the tales you once knew, rewritten and refined for the world we now live in―or a much better version of it.

How to Fracture A Fairy Tale collects stories and poems from across Jane Yolen’s long career and adds in a significant amount of new material. It covers not only fairy tales, but also myths and legends–such as Icarus, or Arthur and Guinevere.

The bulk of the book is given over to the stories, while the final 15% or so contains explanations of how Yolen put her own spin on each story and pairs it with a poem. I personally would have preferred each explanation and poem to immediately follow the story, in part because I have a terrible memory. However, it does allow readers to move easily from one story to the next. One could easily skip the poems and explanations if one wanted to… though I wouldn’t recommend it. I often found the poems to be punchier than the stories and many contained lovely imagery.

As with any collection or anthology, the material was a bit hit and miss for me. I felt many of the stories were more focused on ideas than emotions, making the fractured fairy tale an intellectual exercise. This is another reason I would have liked to see the explanations immediately follow the story.

Yolen has had a long and successful career. Many of the stories date back decades and I found myself noticing the ways they didn’t meet the standards of today in terms of representation. Although there are a few self-rescuing princesses, a lot of the gender roles remain traditional, with the women taking care of domestic chores, while the men are the hunters, bread-winners or rulers. I only noted two stories where a prominent character had been gender-flipped and both involved turning an avatar of death into a woman. By and large, people of colour appear only in stories where the entire story is set in a non-white culture. There were a handful of such stories.One Ox, Two Ox, Three Ox and the Dragon King rather rubbed me the wrong way, substituting a dragon with a Western temperament for the calmer Eastern one. But by and large, the remainder of these stories seemed okay–with the caveat that I’m not of the cultures represented and am therefore not the best judge. Unsurprisingly, the Jewish stories fared best and seemed to have the most heart, tapping into Yolen’s own background.

Being fairy tales, there was a lot of dark material. Stories come with trigger warnings for sexual assault, incest, concentration camps, and physical and emotional abuse. There was also some body shaming and sex shaming. Readers are advised to tread with caution.

Some favourites of mine included One Old Man, With Seals, which takes the Greek shapeshifting sea god Proteus and introduces him to a modern, retired librarian; Great-Grandfather Dragon’s Tale in which an elderly dragon tells his grandchildren the tale of Saint George and the split between dragons and men; and Mama Gone, yet another story about a dead mother… but one who returns as a vampire. Of the poems, I liked Warning from the Undine, a nicely sinister poem with a more traditional rhyming scheme than most of the other poems in the collection; To Be Paid, a satisfying and rather political poem about writers taking vengeance through their art; and When I was a Selchie, a poignant meditation written after the death of her husband.

All in all, How to Fracture a Fairy Tale shows the span of an impressive career, but it’s a collection that needs more inclusivity for a modern audience.

Loose-leaf Links #70

Loose-leaf Links is a feature where I gather together the interesting bits and pieces on sci-fi, fantasy and romance I’ve come across and share them with you over tea. Today’s tea is Sir Earl from Tea Garden Co. It’s a delightful Earl Grey blend which is not too harsh with its bergamot. One of the better blends I’ve tried.

Announcements

The Skiffy and Fanty Show now have a YouTube channel! You can see me alongside my S&F colleagues in our introduction video.

Follow Up

File 770 continue to cover the fallout from Crystal Huff’s report of her harassment and the subsequent lacklustre response from Arisia. After stepping down as the President of Arisia, Noel Rosenberg has been banned from the con… although for how long is unclear. The original statement says the ban is permanent, while the statement from the 2019 Chairperson only mentions the 2019 con. There have been four resignations from the eboard of Arisia and apologies from two former officers.

Awards News

The winners of the 2018 World Fantasy Awards have been announced.

The results of the 2018 BookNest Fantasy Awards have also been released.

The inaugural Kanga Awards were presented at PAX Australia. These awards were started to recognise excellence in tabletop gaming. The results were:

Game of the Year 2018 winner: Barenpark by Phil Walker-Harding.

Best Visuals 2018 winner: Crystal Clans illustrated by Martin Abel.

Best Gameplay 2018 winner: Lisboa published by Eagle-Gryphon Games.

There’s a video available of the full presentation.

The final round of the 2018 Goodreads Choice Awards opens on 13 November and voting closes 26 November, with winners to be announced on 4 December.

Amazon have released their list of the best science fiction and fantasy of 2018 (despite the year not yet being over).

The 2018 Aurealis Awards will be presented in Melbourne on Saturday, 4 May 2019.

Community and Conventions

Applications are open for Writing NSW’s Speculative Fiction Festival 2019. Taking place on 29 June 2019, the festival will be run by Keith Stevenson, the force behind coeur de lion publishing. The festival is currently looking for speakers and panel ideas. Applications close 9 December.

World Fantasy Con have announced their 2020 Guests of Honour.

Founder and publisher Marc Gascoigne will be leaving Angry Robot Books at the end of the year. The search is currently on for a commissioning editor.

The Book Smugglers have announced they are closing their publishing arm. I’ve been a big fan of their work, so I’m sad to see the change.

On Equity

Vicky Who Reads offers a teenage perspective on the ways in which the current YA market alienates teenagers.

For Writers

Galli Books is currently taking submissions for Rosalind’s Siblings, an anthology of speculative fiction about scientists of marginalised genders. Submissions close 1 December.

Shifters United are looking for writers with novellas that fit into the categories of paranormal romance or shifter mix-ups. Deadlines are 15 November and 15 January respectively.

World Weaver Press will be taking submissions for Gardens and Glass: Solarpunk Winters from 1 January. Stories up to 8K.

Kat Clay shares some tips on how to get a literary agent.

Over at the SFWA blog, John Walters writes about how to grapple with discouragement in a writing career.

And if you’re looking for inspiration, try this guest post at The Fantasy Inn from Jeannette Ng on 5 things that medieval bestiary writers almost got right.

For Readers

Next year Erin Morgenstern will have a new book coming called The Starless Sea. It is apparently unrelated to perennial BookTube favourite The Night Circus (but I suspect I need to bump that book higher up my Mt TBR anyway).

Speaking of BookTube, Sam from Thoughts on Tomes is running Round 7 of the Tome Topple reading challenge, aimed at books of 500 pages or more. It will run 16-29 November.

Icefall by Stephanie Gunn

Published: October 2018 by Twelfth Planet Press

Format reviewed: E-book (epub)

Genres: Science fiction

Source: Publisher

Reading Challenges: Australian Women Writers Challenge 2018, SciFiMonth

Available: Publisher (electronic only) ~ Amazon (AU, CA, UK, US) ~ Kobo

Disclaimer: I was provided with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The author is a friend. I have done my best to give an unbiased review.

The Mountain on the planet of Icefall holds the mystery to a lost colony and an irresistible, fatal allure to the climbers of the universe. Maggie is determined to be the first to make the summit. Aisha, injured in a climbing incident herself, has always supported her wife, trusting Maggie would always return from her adventures. But no one ever returns from the Mountain.

I’ve read some fantastic books this year. Icefall is up there with the best of them. It blends hard science fiction with spirituality, then packs the cast full of diverse women and puts some compelling relationships at the heart of it all.

The story is told in first person from Aisha’s point of view. She is the descendent of Tibetan Sherpas and a former priestess of the Order of New Earth, trained to revere the mountains of the galaxy. When the story starts, she’s not in a good way. Having lost her hand in a climbing accident means not only can she never climb solo again, but she was cast out of the order for no longer being able-bodied. She suffers from cerebral storms due to a failed operation and she’s unable to connect to the virtual world that has now become commonplace for society. She’s shut out from so much, left with her wife Maggie as her sole lifeline.

Maggie claims to be descended from George Mallory, the first person to ever climb Mount Everest. She’s one of the universe’s most respected climbers, having conquered mountains which have killed many other climbers. Now, she’s driven to be the first person to reach the summit of The Mountain. Maggie felt like a bit of an enigma to me for much of the story, remaining as inscrutable as the mountain she seeks to climb. Communication isn’t her strong suit, and she makes changes to the spaceship she shares with Aisha without consultation–even going so far as to tinker with Aisha’s own bot. While this had me feeling some outrage on Aisha’s part, Aisha herself doesn’t seem to feel much resentment. Instead, she sees Maggie more like a force of nature, knowing that to try and change or tame her would be to destroy an essential part of who she is. Aisha might be the priestess and the descendent of Sherpas, but the story inverts the trope of the mystical Native guide, with Maggie as the one who is always leading the way, knowing what to do and keeping the faith.

This could leave Aisha feeling like a very passive character. And indeed, she spends a lot of time watching Maggie prepare and make her climb. However, I was never left with the sense of passivity. Aisha has her own battle to fight, albeit a much more internal battle. She must come to terms with her losses and forge her own way forward.

Respect for nature is a primary theme of the novella and The Mountain has a strong presence throughout, functioning as its own character. It moves in its own mysterious ways, claiming lives under strange circumstances. There are some hints towards scientific explanations–indeed, I’d consider the novella as tending towards hard science fiction–but there’s a sense these are as much the will of The Mountain as rational, impersonal physics. It blends the scientific and the spiritual in a way that I adored.

I also very much appreciated the feminist underpinnings of the book. It not only gives a lot of information about the process of mountain climbing, but also delves into key historical figures. The ship’s AI is programmed to look like George Mallory and is thus the only major male-presenting character in the book. The ship itself is named after Wanda Rutkiewicz, the first woman ever to summit K2. There’s also a significant mountain named after Alison Hargreaves, and the story touches on her climb of the Eiger while heavily pregnant.

Icefall was one of the most compelling stories I’ve read this year, hooking me in and not letting me go. Already, it’s calling me to return and reread.

Mt TBR Report: October 2018

October was my birthday month and one of my gifts was a Kobo e-reader (to help me break free of Amazon’s evil clutches). So, I might have got a little excited with purchases. I also borrowed a pile of books on journaling from a friend. Even my voracious reading this month wasn’t enough to help me keep up with all the acquisitions.

Mt TBR Status

Mt TBR @ 1 January 2018: 351

Mt TBR @ 30 September 2018: 401

Mt TBR @ 31 October 2018: 415

Books Read

116. City of Miracles by Robert Jackson Bennett. Last of The Divine Cities trilogy. Sigrud, a former spy and thug, comes out of hiding after thirteen years when he hears a good friend has been assassinated. A brilliant conclusion to the series, though it has a little more of an actiony, James Bond feel than the others. I enjoyed the reincorporation of a previously minor character and the way the story showed the impact of previous events on her. Right to the end, the series has been thoughtful in its worldbuilding and exploration of themes. Highly recommended.

117. Deadly Passion by Amanda Pillar. First of the Heaven’s Heart series. Paranormal romance. A part-demon assassin is forced to team up with a fallen angel to assassinate an old god and retrieve a rare artefact. Fast-paced fun (especially if you like sassy heroines), but I ultimately found it forgettable. That said, the sentient cabin was rather amusing.

118. How to Suppress Women’s Writing by Joanna Russ. Non-fiction, pretty much what it says on the label. Still depressingly relevant.

119. A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole. First of the Reluctant Royals. Naledi is juggling study, two jobs and an alcoholic best friend. She doesn’t have time for ridiculous emails claiming she’s a prince’s long-lost betrothed. However, Thabiso is determined not to be ignored. I do love me a capable heroine and Naledi has that in spades. I found it very relatable the way she learns to lean on others for help… even if her best friend has made that difficult.

120. A Duke by Default by Alyssa Cole. Second of the Reluctant Royals. Portia is trying to get her life together after almost losing her best friend. She takes on an apprenticeship with a Scottish swordsmaker and the sparks between them fly. It was nice to see a heroine portrayed with ADHD. I loved the characters, especially Cheryl. However, I felt the story was trying to do too many things and I found the climax veering a bit towards the silly for my taste.

121. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. Review forthcoming.

122. Snowspelled by Stephanie Burgis. The first of The Harwood Spellbook series. Alternate-history-infused fantasy. Four months after losing her magic, Cassandra finds herself at a house party with her ex-fiance. The pair are thrown together when they’re called upon to rescue some fellow house guests. Charming and exactly what I needed. It had a nice balance between the fantasy and romance elements, as well as doing some interesting things with gender and worldbuilding.

123. A Curse of Ash and Embers by Jo Spurrier. Read for the 2018 Aurealis Awards. A Gothic-influenced YA fantasy about a young woman summoned to work in a cottage in the mountains. When she arrives, she discovers her employer is a witch.

124. Halloween is Not A Verb by Tansy Rayner Roberts. Fourth book in the Belladonna University series. A fantasy novella in which witches Hebe and Holly bring their friends home for an Australian Halloween. A fun story totally appropriate for the season.

125. Death Most Definite by Trent Jamieson. First of the Death Works Trilogy. Urban fantasy set in Brisbane. Someone is killing off Australia’s Pomps–the people responsible for sending spirits on and keeping the zombie-like Stirrers from taking over the world. Steven has never taken the family business all that seriously, but he’s going to have to start if he wants to survive. Some great action and pacing. But the romance really didn’t work for me and rather put me off the rest of the series.

126. Graevale by Lynette Noni. Fourth of The Medoran Chronicles. Read for the 2018 Aurealis Awards. A YA fantasy in which Alex tries to warn the peoples of Medora about the forthcoming battle, now that the evil Aven has taken his throne.

127. A Small, Charred Face by Kazuki Sakuraba, translated by Jocelyne Allen. A young boy is adopted by a pair of vampires after his family is murdered. A poignant meditation on the desperation and hope inherent in life. The book was actually three interconnected stories and I enjoyed the different perspectives they brought and the way they filled out the life cycle and history of the vampires. Comes with trigger warnings for sexual assault and animal death.

129. A Chocolate-Flavoured Bargain by Stephanie Burgis. Having had her first taste of chocolate, Marina comes to the city determined to apprentice to a chocolate-maker. On the voyage, she learns a thing or two about presentation and love. This story is a prequel to The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart and tells the story of two of the supporting characters. Short and sweet.

130. Icefall by Stephanie Gunn. Review forthcoming.

131. The Cruel Prince by Holly Black. Dark fantasy YA. After a fae general kills her parents, Jude and her sisters are raised by him in the fae world. As a human, she’s at the mercy of the fae and their glamours, and vows to do everything she can to gain power. I love Holly Black’s work and I appreciated the way this one touched on what it’s like to live under oppression. However, I found it a little predictable in places.

132. Spellswept by Stephanie Burgis. Prequel short story to Snowspelled. Amy is the assistant to the most powerful woman in the nation. She has her life all planned out: marry the right man and join the ruling council. However, on the night of the Spring Equinox, all Amy’s careful plans begin to unravel. Another delightful story, cementing Stephanie Burgis as a new favourite author. I can’t wait for the next book.

Books Acquired

Snowspelled by Stephanie Burgis

How to Suppress Women’s Writing by Joanna Russ

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Deadly Passion by Amanda Pillar

Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman

Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner

The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz

A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole

A Duke by Default by Alyssa Cole

For Real by Alexis Hall

A Chocolate-Flavoured Bargain by Stephanie Burgis

Iron by Aiki Flintheart

Sympath by Carolyn Denman

The Trytth Chronicles by Goldie Alexander

Storm Wings by Becca Lusher

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Catching Teller Crow by Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina

Halloween is Not A Verb by Tansy Rayner Roberts

Scourge of the Seas of Time (and Space) edited by Catherine Lundoff

Daring Greatly by Brene Brown

Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy

Grass by Sheri S. Tepper

Icefall by Stephanie Gunn

The Ghost Engine by Theresa Fuller

Leaving a Trace by Alexandra Johnson

Note to Self by Samara O’Shea

Writing and Being by G. Lynn Nelson

Journalution by Sandy Grason

Journal to the Self by Kathleen Adams

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente

Spellswept by Stephanie Burgis

Online Reading

Clasp Hands by Stephanie Burgis. A young witch just wants to join her mother’s coven to celebrate the end of a particularly difficult year. This is a touching story, full of warmth and yearning, with a dash of grief. The witches are vivid and full of personality. Perfect for a cold evening.

And Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree Jr. Read for the Lady Vaults book club. A man finds himself relieving memories of profound emotion. The main character is quite abhorrent and the story ultimately feels pointless… though that seems by design. However, it doesn’t make for the best introduction to Tiptree.

Christopher and Elinor by Mercy. A Jane Austen fanfic retelling of Sense and Sensibility in epistolary format and pairing Elinor Dashwood with Colonel Brandon. Charming, albeit a bit repetitive in places. I found the match convincing, perhaps because Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman made it easy to picture. Thanks to Kay from Not Now I’m Reading for the rec.

The Man Who Walked Home by James Tiptree Jr. Read for the Lady Vaults book club. Several decades after an explosion sets off a global apocalypse, a strange apparition begins to occur annually. Although the early parts of the story gave a good sense of time passing and the recovery of civilisation, the story really hooked me once it zoomed in and gave me some characters to relate to. The later stages demonstrate some brilliant tension.

The Last Flight of Doctor Ain by James Tiptree Jr. Read for the Lady Vaults book club. Follows the journey of a scientist on his way to an international conference in a world where pollution is on the rise and the environment is being devastated. The story rather lacked clarity in some places, but I appreciated its preoccupation with environmental concerns and I found it somewhat cathartic to read.

And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill’s Side by James Tiptree Jr. Read for the Lady Vaults book club. A young journalist with a fascination for aliens finds himself on a space station, where one of the employees tells him a cautionary tale. This was one of the stories I enjoyed the least, but it does show some of Tiptree’s reoccurring themes of sex, death and biological determinism. She doesn’t strike me as much of an optimist in relation to humanity (and I’m not sure I can blame her).

Love is the Plan and the Plan is Death by James Tiptree Jr. Read for the Lady Vaults book club. This was a strange, but beautiful story about the life cycle of an alien creature. Tiptree really shows off her poetic skills. However, it seemed like a wonderful allegory which I did not have the context to unlock.

 

RIP XIII

 

Happy Halloween! I admit I don’t really celebrate, but it is a wonderful excuse to wear some awesome manicures.

Of course, the arrival of Halloween means that the 13th Readers Imbibing Peril reading challenge is coming to a close. In case you have forgotten, this is basically an excuse to read as much as possible of anything that fits into horror, dark fantasy, the supernatural, Gothic, thriller or crime and mystery. I was pretty pleased to get through a bunch of great stuff this year:

Twice Dead by Caitlin Seal. Supernatural fantasy. Reviewed here.

Restoration by Angela Slatter. Last of the Verity Fassbinder trilogy. Urban fantasy with supernatural and thriller/mystery elements. Reviewed here.

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor. This YA novel is set in Nigeria and is about a young albino girl comes to terms with her magical heritage. It felt a bit episodic in places, though that fades as things ramp up towards the end. I read the sequel first and was surprised to find this didn’t provide as much set-up as I’d expected. It also felt odd that the villain had so little page space… although I can also see the appeal of that.

The Red Magician by Lisa Goldstein. A mythopoeic tale of a young Jewish woman who gets caught in a conflict between her village’s rabbi and a mysterious stranger. Set against the background of WWII, it goes to some dark places. The main character seemed a bit passive at times and the characters were often more symbols than people, but I find the latter is often characteristic of mythopoeic work.

Whisper by Lynette Noni. A young woman is imprisoned in a government facility in an effort to coerce her into using her special abilities. Read for the 2018 Aurealis Awards, so I won’t be offering an opinion on this one.

City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett. Part mystery, part supernatural fantasy. A retired general gets pulled in for one last job: to investigate the disappearance of a spy who was looking into a potentially divine phenomenon. I’ve been loving this series so much and especially that the first two books have each featured a different woman of colour who is amazing at what she does. General Mulaghesh is delightfully cranky, partially because she has Seen Some Shit. The book has a slow build, but really throws itself into the action once it reaches the tipping point. The worldbuilding continues to enchant me. Highly recommended.

Palace of Fires by Bill Bennett. A young girl inherits her powers and discovers her family broke a pact with the Devil. She must go on the run from the evil forces hunting her. Again, read for the 2018 Aurealis Awards.

An Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire. Toby must venture into the realm of the Wild Hunt in order to rescue a group of kidnapped children. Wonderfully atmospheric. I also felt you could see the seeds for McGuire’s more recent Wayward Children series. However, I wasn’t wholly sold on the thread with Toby’s Fetch, May.

Mercy Point by Anna Snoekstra. Thriller. Five teenagers who suspect they were adopted come together to discover the secrets their parents have kept hidden. Also read for the 2018 Aurealis Awards.

City of Miracles by Robert Jackson Bennett. Sigrud, a former spy and thug, comes out of hiding after thirteen years when he hears a good friend has been assassinated. A brilliant conclusion to the series, though it has a little more of an actiony, James Bond feel than the others. I enjoyed the reincorporation of a previously minor character and the way the story showed the impact of previous events on her. Right to the end, the series has been thoughtful in its worldbuilding and exploration of themes. Highly recommended.

A Curse of Ash and Embers by Jo Spurrier. Dark fantasy with Gothic vibes. A young woman receives a letter to say she’s been hired as a cleaner. When she travels up to the mountains to her new workplace, she finds she’ll be working for a witch. Another read for the 2018 Aurealis Awards.

Death Most Definite by Trent Jamieson. Urban fantasy with supernatural and thriller/mystery elements. Someone is killing off Australia’s Pomps–the people responsible for sending spirits on and keeping the zombie-like Stirrers from taking over the world. Steven has never taken the family business all that seriously, but he’s going to have to start if he wants to survive. Some great action and pacing. But the romance really didn’t work for me and rather put me off the rest of the series.

A Small Charred Face by Kazuki Sakuraba, translated by Jocelyne Allen. A young boy is adopted by a pair of vampires after his family is murdered. A poignant meditation on the desperation and hope inherent in life. The book was actually three interconnected stories and I enjoyed the different perspectives they brought and the way they filled out the life cycle and history of the vampires. Comes with trigger warnings for sexual assault and animal death.

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black. Dark fantasy YA. After a fae general kills her parents, Jude and her sisters are raised by him in the fae world. As a human, she’s at the mercy of the fae and their glamours, and vows to do everything she can to gain power. I love Holly Black’s work and I appreciated the way this one touched on what it’s like to live under oppression. However, I found it a little predictable in places.

I also read Halloween Is Not a Verb by Tansy Rayner Roberts, which is not in any way dark, but the Halloween theme made it feel like it fit in.

With all this, I made it pretty much through everything I had on my list, except Feedback by Mira Grant. I also didn’t quite get as far as pulling out Angela Carter’s The Magic Toyshop. However, the challenge was such a success for me that I have already signed up for a similar challenge for next month, as you’ve probably seen. I’d forgotten how much I love these themed challenges!

If you participated, I’d love to hear how you went. If not, what dark fantasy, Gothic horror or thriller would you recommend for next year?

 

Loose-leaf Links #69

Loose-leaf Links is a feature where I gather together the interesting bits and pieces on sci-fi, fantasy and romance I’ve come across and share them with you over tea. Today’s tea is Quince Sencha from Adore Tea. I was a bit taken aback by this tea, finding it sweeter than I expected, and tasting a bit more like an oolong. Definitely an afternoon tea rather than one for early mornings.

Awards News

Submissions for the Kitschies are open until the end of 1 November. These awards celebrate “progressive, intelligent and entertaining books that contain elements of the speculative or fantastic.”

The shortlist for the 2018 BookNest Fantasy Awards has been released and voting is open to the public until the end of the month. Particular congratulation to Devin Madson and Sam Hawke for being nominated for Best Self-Published Novel and Best Debut Novel respectively.

The winners of the 2018 British Fantasy Awards were announced last week.

And the winners of the 2018 Nommo Awards were announced over the weekend. The Nommos recognise excellence in African speculative fiction.

Community and Conventions

YA Research Australia are having their first symposium on gender and identities in literature for young people. The symposium will take place in Melbourne on 7-8 December. Registration is now open.

Crystal Huff shares why she is no longer attending Arisia, New England’s biggest SFF con. Trigger warnings for rape, stalking and gaslighting. In the wake of this post, 2019 Guests of Honour Daniel Jose Older and Malka Older have withdrawn from the convention. Nalo Hopkinson likewise turned down an invitation to be the 2020 Guest of Honour. Arisia have announced Noel Rosenberg has resigned as president. However, many feel this doesn’t go far enough and are calling for the entire board to resign.

On Equity

Lynn O’Connacht offers 13 dos and don’ts for panels and talks on asexuality and aromanticism.

After winning Best Newcomer at the British Fantasy Awards, Jeannette Ng’s acceptance speech discusses blind spots in the genre.

For Writers

As reported at Tor.com, Hugo-Award-Winning Editor Liz Gorinsky has launched a new publishing company. Of particular interest, Erewhon Books is currently open to submissions from agents and authors. Be sure to check the submission guidelines.

Harper Collins is launching the Diverse Voices Open Inbox contest for middle grade books. Unfortunately, like the Highlander, it seems there can be only one.

Via Gin Jenny of Reading the End, here’s a video on how to tell a realistic fake language from a terrible one.

For Readers

Over on Book Riot, Dana Lee takes a look at audiobook service options.

SciFiMonth 2018 sign-up

IMAGE CREDIT: PHOTO by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash. QUOTE from The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

According to my reading stats, the percentage of sci-fi in my reading diet is up on previous years. But it could always use a bit more of a boost. The RIP XIII challenge provided a nice balance of focus and freedom, so I thought I’d try signing up for something similar. SciFiMonth is run by Imyril of x+1 and Lisa of Dear Geek Place, and takes place throughout the month of November. In Imryil’s words:

What is SciFiMonth?

The original blogstravaganza that started it all (for me, anyway) — an excuse to read up the scifi and speculative fiction on your shelf, watch the shows and movies you’ve been meaning to get around to, try out that game or listen to that podcast you’ve heard all about. It’s also a brilliant time to discover new like-minded bloggers, bookstagrammers and booktubers — we don’t mind where you enthuse, just let us know you’re enthusing so we can share and enjoy.

You can make a single post, just join us for a chat on Twitter or go ahead and immerse yourself for the full month of November — there’s no minimum entry requirement and you can’t have too much of a good thing (so long as you remember to eat and sleep along the way).

I’ll mostly be sticking to speculative fiction and space opera: expect aliens, space travel and advanced technologies — but your definition of scifi is the one that counts!

I have a ton of options I could go with for the challenge. I’ve already pulled out a few and set them aside, as you can see below.

These include Fleshers by Alison Croggon and Daniel Keene, The Fallen Sun by David R. Grigg, Companion Piece edited by L.M. Myles and Liz Barr (technically non-fiction, but I figure the Doctor Who theme qualifies it), Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang, Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein, and The Birthday of the World and Other Stories by Ursula Le Guin. Digital options include Mother of Invention edited by Rivqa Rafael and Tansy Rayner Roberts, Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy and Starfarers by Vonda McIntyre.

Should keep me busy, right?

If you’d like to join in, it’s not too late to sign up! You can also jump in at any point throughout November.

In the meantime, what are your favourite sci-fi reads? Is there something you think I should pick up?

A Glimmer of Silver by Juliet Kemp

Published: July 2018 by The Book Smugglers Publishing

Format reviewed: E-book (mobi)

Genres: Sci-fi, YA

Source: NetGalley

Available: Publisher (print and electronic) ~ Amazon (AU, CA, UK, US) ~ Barnes & Noble ~Kobo ~ Smashwords

Disclaimer: I was provided with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Jennery is floating on xyr back when Ocean speaks for the first time. Just three days away from freedom, all Jennery has ever wanted to do was become a musician–because if you reach sixteen and Ocean hasn’t spoken to you once, then you can pursue a different life instead of becoming a Communicator.

But Ocean speaks to Jennery–only to Jennery. And Ocean is angry. And when Ocean is angry, bad things happen to the humans who have colonized Ocean’s world. Jennery must choose whether to listen or to swim away.

A Glimmer of Silver is a novella about responsibility, growing up, and what happens after first contact.

As is appropriate for a story about a sentient ocean, A Glimmer of Silver is a novella with a lot of depth.

One of the immediately noticeable things about the story is the style. All of the characters are referred to with gender neutral pronouns, leaving the reader to make their own assumptions about the characters’ gender in a similar manner to Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch trilogy. This is never made a big deal of or even commented on, which, to my mind, is a feature not a bug. More generally, the style tends to the informal, in keeping with a teenage protagonist. There’s a bit of infodumping, but since the story is told in first person, it comes across more as explanation or justification and doesn’t therefore feel out of place.

Another aspect I also liked was that it shows teenagers wrestling with world views and philosophies, trying to come to terms with the world they live in. The story deals with ethics, consent and colonisation, and these are never shown as being issues too advanced for teenagers or even things that teenagers don’t think about. Jennery and her friend Kira are actively seeking their place in this world, thinking about the ways in which their society encourages them to live and finding problems with that. The points of view that are presented aren’t black and white; it’s easy to see where the different characters are coming from and why they might think the way they do.

By taking its teenage characters seriously, the story underlines some of the struggles Jennery faces. Xyr message from Ocean is not one the rest of society wants to hear and so xyr youth and inexperience is used as an excuse not to listen. This kind of misunderstanding and miscommunication happens throughout the novella; there’s a strong emphasis on truly listening, rather than hearing only what one wants to hear.

I didn’t feel a strong emotional connection to this story, instead finding it was the ideas that drew me in. Jennery spends a lot of time feeling frustrated by various circumstances, which was understandable, even if it didn’t resonate with me.

All in all, I found A Glimmer of Silver paints a fascinating world, wrestles with some important issues and doesn’t talk down to its audience.

Loose-leaf Links #68

Loose-leaf Links is a feature where I gather together the interesting bits and pieces on sci-fi, fantasy and romance I’ve come across and share them with you over tea. Today’s tea is Ruby Red Rosehip from T2. This blend mixes rosehips, hibiscus and rosebuds. The combination is fragrant and tart, and has become my favourite thing to drink right before bed.

Announcements

I have been recording once again for the Skiffy and Fanty Show podcast. In case you missed it, I interviewed Sam Hawke about City of Lies and Tansy Rayner Roberts about Mother of Invention. I also joined Trish Mason and Brandon O’Brien for a discussion of the Nommo Award shortlist.

Follow Up

Over at Books and Tea, Christina has an interview with Claudie Arseneault about unconventional romance and Baker’s Thief.

Awards News

The Tiptree Fellowships are open for applications until 31 October. Emerging creators who are changing the way we think about gender through speculative narrative can apply for one of these $500 grants.

The winners of the 2018 Inky Awards have been announced. These Australian awards for YA fiction are selected by a jury of teenagers and then put to a popular vote.

As reported by File 770, the finalists for the 2018 Parsec Awards have been announced. These awards recognise excellence in speculative fiction podcasting. I’d particularly like to congratulate Rachel from Kalanadi, whose YouTube channel has been nominated for the category of Best Speculative Fiction Fan or News Podcast (General). Rachel also made the longlist for the Hugos this year, the first YouTube channel to do so without being supported by a slate.

Community and Conventions

Nominations for the Get Up-and-over Fan Fund (GUFF) are open until 5 December. GUFF will be sending one delegate from Australia to WorldCon 77 in Dublin, Ireland next year.

On Equity

Goodreads did not endear itself to the SFF community by targeting for removal two magazines focused on black speculative fiction: FIYAH and Anathema. Alex Acks has a good round-up of the situation.

Tor.com has a few reports on interesting panels from New York Comic Con, including #OwnVoices in Genre Fiction in 2018 and Intersectional Feminism Across Genres.

Over at Lady Business, forestofglory wonders where all the SFF mums have gone. Some additional answers were provided on Twitter.

S.L. Huang comes to the defence of (female) power fantasies.

If you’re looking to pick up more fantasy written by women, The Fantasy Inn has some suggestions about where to start, including a handy flow chart.

Lynn O’Connacht discusses asexual and aromantic tropes in speculative fiction.

KJ Charles examines the notion of historical accuracy in historical romance, with particular focus on who gets to have happy endings.

Chuck Wendig has been fired by Marvel due to pressure from far-right critics.

For Writers

A reminder that Twelfth Planet Press are open to novella submissions until 30 November. They’re looking for novellas that are gritty and all about punching the patriarchy in the face.

Fireside Fiction are also open for poetry submissions until the end of the month.

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) have had some excellent articles on their blog. Firstly, they warn authors to be alert for publishers who fail to finalise contracts. They’ve also been helping Douglas Phillips oppose one of those ridiculous trademarks in the wake of Cockygate. Ethan Ellenberg urges authors to maximise their backlist and also touches on author estates. And don’t forget to check out the SFWA market report for October.

Peter M Ball discusses writing and shame.

With the countdown on to NaNoWriMo, Sarah Nicolas has 12 books to get you through the challenge.

For Readers

The sequel to Zen Cho’s Sorcerer to the Crown will be released in March and is titled The True Queen.

Tor Books has released the cover for the second of Sam Hawke’s Poison Wars books. Hollow Empire is going to look just as stunning as City of Lies.

Ellen Datlow has released her honourable mentions for the 2017 edition of Best Horror of the Year (also see Part Two and Part Three). Particular congratulations to Alan Baxter, Terry Dowling, Lisa L. Hannett, Margo Lanagan, Garth Nix, Angela Slatter and Kaaron Warren.

N.K. Jemisin’s book The Fifth Season is being developed as a TV show.

SciFiMonth, a science fiction reading challenge, will be running in November. You will almost certainly see a post from me on this before too long, but if you’d like to get in first sign-ups are open.

Dewey’s 24-hour readathon is taking place this weekend. I’ll probably miss this one, due to a scheduling error on my part, and I’m pretty disappointed in myself.

Over at the Book Smugglers, Foz Meadows writes about accepting imperfect media while still valuing criticism.

Becky Chambers writes about the impact Ursula Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness had on her.

Laura Diaz de Arce has 21 ways to organise your Mt TBR.

Redux: The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf by Ambelin Kwaymullina

One of the first reviews I ever posted here at Earl Grey Editing was of Ambelin Kwaymullina’s debut novel The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf. This week, I revisit the novel for the Skiffy and Fanty Show.