Elizabeth Fitzgerald's Blog: Earl Grey Editing, page 22

Bout of Books 20 sign-up

July and August have my Mt TBR looking in pretty good shape, but it could always use a little more help. One of the best ways to do that is through a reading challenge!

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 21st and runs through Sunday, August 27th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional.For all Bout of Books 20 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog.– From the Bout of Books team

Being a low-pressure challenge, Bout of Books lets me set my own goals. As with the last few times, I’m aiming to get through a minimum of three books. My goal is to power through Glenda Larke’s Mirage Makers trilogy, which has been languishing on Mt TBR for entirely too long. It might be a bit ambitious to get through in a week, but I’ll be giving it my best shot!

If you’d like to join in, there’s still time to sign up!

What’s on your TBR pile this week?

Matters Arising by Simon Petrie

Published: June 2017 by Peggy Bright Books

Format reviewed: E-book (mobi)

Series: Guerline Scarfe #1

Genres: Sci-fi, crime

Source: Publisher

Available: Publisher (print and electronic) ~Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Book Depository ~ Booktopia

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.

Tanja Morgenstein, daughter of a wealthy industrialist and a geochemist, is dead from exposure to Titan’s lethal, chilled atmosphere, and Guerline Scarfe must determine why.

This novella blends hard-SF extrapolation with elements of contemporary crime fiction, to envisage a future human society in a hostile environment, in which a young woman’s worst enemies may be those around her.

Matters Arising from the Identification of the Body is a hard sci-fi crime novella. It starts off with the suicide of a wealthy heiress, but the book is as much about the author’s vision of Titan’s settlement as it is about the mystery.

Usually, I’m not particularly fond of hard sci-fi and there were elements of the genre present in Matters Arising that didn’t appeal to me. In particular, I found the language more academic than emotive, which created a distance from the characters. However, the story went some way towards mitigating that by giving the main character a family life of sorts. Seeing her struggle with her personal relationships helped humanise Guerline. Her focus and dedication to her work is shown as both a virtue and a character flaw.

The details of daily life also helped make Guerline relatable. We get to see her make long commutes, grouch at missed flights and travel delays, and engage in online research and recreation. These details also do a clever double duty, showing what it’s like to live on Titan in a way that feels natural. It also fits in with the detail-oriented nature of procedural crime.

The drawback to this approach is that it can feel a bit slow-paced. There’s no real sense of urgency until Guerline’s final trip home. However, the short chapters help to counterbalance this.

Another thing I was pleased to see was how diverse the cast was. It’s something I’m not used to seeing in hard sci-fi… though it should be said my experience with the genre is very limited, especially when it comes to modern examples.

All in all, Matters Arising from the Identification of the Body was a solid read and while not exactly my cup of tea, I’d definitely recommend it to lovers of hard sci-fi.

Three Years

Tomorrow marks the third anniversary of Earl Grey Editing’s blog. I’m celebrating with Lamington cake: vanilla sponge cake dipped in chocolate and covered in dessicated coconut, layered with jam and cream. It is delicious!

So, three years. That sounds like such a short time and yet it feels like I’ve been doing this forever. I find the work very satisfying and it continues to bring me a great deal of joy. Having found my niche, I hope to continue for many more years.

2017 has brought a few milestones. It was a great honour to be nominated for the Aurealis Convenors’ Award for Excellence, so thank you to the person or people who put my name forward. I’d also like to say a big thank you to those of you who nominated and voted for the blog as part of the Ditmar Awards. Getting my first nominations for both major Australian SFF awards in the same year was a delightful surprise. Thanks also goes to Paul Weimer for his support and to Mike Glyer and File 770 for the occasional signal boosts. It is astonishing to be acknowledged by one of the giants in the field.

To celebrate, I’m trying something new: a giveaway. The prize is a gift card for either Booktopia ($30 AUD) or Amazon US ($25 USD) or Amazon UK (GBP) Because I hate it when giveaways are restricted to just a few countries on the other side of the world, I’m also open to prize suggestions if none of the above suit your country of origin. Entries close 19 August (AEST) with a winner announced on 25 August.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Loose-leaf Links #45

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 Tea for Sunday from the Tea Centre. It’s an Assam tea with pieces of vanilla, so it’s strong with a touch of sweetness.

Follow Up

Since my post on my podcast playlist, I’ve had the great pleasure of being a guest on Radio Free Fandom. Claire has put together a special episode about conventions and WorldCon in particular. I spoke about general con-going tips and she had a range of other guests speaking on Helsinki 101, the Hugo Award nominees, attending cons as a pro, and what goes on at a WorldCon business meeting. Claire did a great job on the episode and I found it really informative.

If you’re looking for yet more podcasts, the Skiffy and Fanty Show blog recently had a round-up of podcasts of note.

Awards News

Awards season is in full swing, with a number of honours being presented since my last links post. In romance, the Romance Writers of America have announced the winners of the RITA and Golden Heart Awards for 2017. And the Romantic Times have presented their awards for 2016.

In SFF, the Mythopoeic Awards and the Arthur C. Clarke Award have also been presented.

The nominees for the Dragon Awards were announced. Over at File 770, JJ takes a look at just how well-known these nominees are by listing their stats on Amazon, GoodReads and LibraryThing. The difference in statistics between nominees is considerable in most categories. Cora Buhlert also offers some commentary and a links round-up for those looking to read further. And John Scalzi has withdrawn from consideration.

Also at File 770, Steve Davidson makes some humorous suggestions regarding potential new categories for the Hugo Awards.

Speaking of which, there will be live coverage of the Hugo Awards ceremony on YouTube. Unfortunately for locals, the ceremony will be starting at 2AM for the east coast of Australia.

Community and Conventions

Paul Weimer’s report on his adventures in New Zealand and Australia as the 2017 Down Under Fan Fund delegate is now for sale. It costs $7 USD and the money goes to help fund the next DUFF candidate. It’s worth the cost just for Paul’s gorgeous photography.

Donna Maree Hanson, the Get Up-and-over Fan Fund delegate, checks in on stage one of her journey: Canberra to Helsinki.

A draft program of Conflux, Canberra’s speculative fiction convention, is now available. This year’s guests are Ellen Datlow and Angela Slatter.

On Equity

There has been a lot of great content coming out in relation to Uncanny Magazine’s Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction. Non-fiction editor Elsa Sjunneson-Henry has a fantastic essay on Tor.com called I Built My Own Godd*mn Castle. Fiction editor Dominik Parisien is over at Black Gate discussing the importance of the anthology for disabled creators. And there is a raft of great essays edited by Nicolette Barischoff in the updates section of the anthology’s Kickstarter page. I highly recommend checking them out.

Nicola Griffith writes an open letter to writing programs, workshops and retreats on the importance of accessibility for disabled writers.

Fireside Fiction have released their 2016 Black Spec-Fic report. While numbers are up on 2015, there’s still a long way to go. Nerds of a Feather provides some additional commentary.

Geoff Ryman shares where you can find 21 pieces of African speculative fiction for free online.

For Writers

Clarion West have announced the instructors for their 2018 Summer Workshop.

Nicky Drayden discusses book promotion on an $800 budget. She gives different options for big house publishers, small press and indie authors.

Relatedly, Donna Maree Hanson gives her publishing results for July 2017.

Over at Clarkesworld Magazine, Cat Rambo discusses the subtle art of promotion.

Cora Buhlert reports in on her challenge to write a short story a day throughout July. This is her third year of undertaking this challenge.

Dan Rabarts discusses overcoming isolation in a guest post for Alan Baxter. Dan recently co-wrote a supernatural crime noir horror with Lee Murray.

They may have found use for this post from Stewart C. Baker on tools for online collaboration.

For Readers

Alison Croggan and Daniel Keene are currently running a Pozible campaign for their novel Fleshers, a dystopian YA cyberpunk. They’ve already made their target but would love to meet their stretch goals. Alison was a finalist in the YA category of the Aurealis Awards last year, so it goes without saying I liked her work.

Shauna O’Meara has been producing some gorgeous artwork to promote the CSFG’s forthcoming anthology A Hand of Knaves.

The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee

Published: August 2017 by Amulet Books

Format reviewed: E-book (mobi)

Genres: Young adult, fantasy

Source: NetGalley

Available:Abbey’s ~ Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Book Depository ~ Booktopia ~ Dymocks ~ Kobo

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

The struggle to get into a top-tier college consumes sixteen-year-old Genie Lo’s every waking thought. But when her sleepy Bay Area town comes under siege from hell-spawn straight out of Chinese folklore, her priorities are suddenly and forcefully rearranged.

Her only guide to the demonic chaos breaking out around her is Quentin Sun, a beguiling, maddening new transfer student from overseas. Quentin assures Genie she is strong enough to fight these monsters, for she unknowingly harbors an inner power that can level the very gates of Heaven.

Genie will have to dig deep within herself to summon the otherworldly strength that Quentin keeps talking about. But as she does, she finds the secret of her true nature is entwined with his, in a way she could never have imagined

The Epic Crush of Genie Lo is a fun, fast-paced YA novel which plays with elements of the Chinese legend Journey to the West. It was a delightful read, but suffers from a few flaws.

Genie is a great character. She takes her study seriously and uses her unusual height to round out her curriculum as a member of the volleyball team. Her greatest dream is to leave behind the Bay Area town in which she lives. She’s disciplined, but underneath she’s quite an angry person, which I liked about her. She’s also a little bit juvenile at times.This suits her age, but contributes to an overall feeling that the book verges on Middle Grade rather than being Young Adult.

This is exacerbated by the relationship between Genie and Quentin. The romance between them is interesting in theory, but in execution it never feels that deep. Instead, it feels tacked on to a reasonably solid friendship. Part of this is due to Quentin’s lack of respect for boundaries. This was entirely in keeping with his character, but it undermines the relationship. Genie pushes back, but we never really see Quentin’s learning curve, making elements of the ending surprising.

Genie’s relationship with Quentin also undermines her friendship with Yunnie. This is something Genie explicitly struggles with and it was disappointing that this was never properly followed through. Instead of Genie’s decisions having a lasting impact on that relationship, it gets used as a plot device.

The action sequences were well-handled. The few shown on screen were dynamic and fast-paced, and I was happy the ones that took place but weren’t really important to the story got hand-waved.

As I mentioned, the story plays with elements of Journey to the West. I liked how it had been updated for the modern age and its framing as a superhero tale. The way the original legend relates to Genie was clever and opened up some interesting discussions on the nature of personhood. It was also nice to see a story that not only centred an Asian-American protagonist, but an entire community.

Overall, I enjoyed The Epic Crush of Genie Lo, despite its flaws. The door has been left open for a sequel, which I would quite happily read.

Mt TBR report: July 2017

The winter weather must be helping my reading stats because I got through a fair few books this month. Combined with a modest number of acquisitions, I’m on track to break even on Mt TBR this year. Not that I expect that will last, but one can hope.

I continue to meet my goals of borrowing at least one library book and reading at least one piece of fanfic every month. I also got to try my first audiobook this month, after downloading the Libby app. My other milestone this month was replacing my Kindle. It served me well for five years but was struggling to hold a charge and would periodically reset itself. It was an original model, using buttons, so the transition to a touch screen took some getting used to.

Mt TBR Status

Mt TBR @ 1 January 2016: 327

Mt TBR @ 30 June 2017: 334

Mt TBR @ 31 July 2017: 330

Books Read

106. Corpselight by Angela Slatter. Reviewed here.

107. Trust by Kylie Scott. Reviewed here.

108. Beyond Ruin by Kit Rocha. Post-apocalyptic erotica. Seventh book of the Beyond series. Tensions escalate between the privileged city of Eden and the Sector slums surrounding it. Adrian Maddox finds himself caught in the middle of it, drawn back towards his old life as the grandson of Sector One’s former ruler. But this time he’s not alone. However, the tension between him, Dylan, Jade and Scarlet may prove to be just as devastating. This book really shakes up the status quo of the series, which I enjoyed. I also found the dynamics in this four-person relationship to be interesting and well-handled.

109. Paper Girls, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan. Read for the Hugo Awards. Four newspaper delivery girls are making their rounds in the wee hours of the morning when they get caught up in something strange–the Rapture, or possibly an alien invasion. The 80s nostalgia was nice, but neither artwork nor story did much for me.

110. Ashes by Amanda Pillar. Reviewed here.

111. Monsterhearts 2 by Avery Alder. The second edition of a roleplaying game about secretly monstrous teenagers. In addition to a tightening up of the rules, there’s a renewed focus on diversity. I particularly appreciated the section on incorporating asexual characters in a game that is often driven by sexuality.

112. Valentine by Jodi McAlister. Reviewed here.

113. The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher. Read for the Hugo Awards. Carrie Fisher reflects on her affair with Harrison Ford during the filming of Star Wars: A New Hope. Although written with sharp wit, it’s clear she was deeply unhappy. An interesting but quick read.

114. Blades in the Dark by John Harper. A new roleplaying game with an industrial fantasy/gritty steampunk setting wherein the players are thieves, assassins, smugglers, drug dealers, alchemists and witches. A complex system, but one written clearly and concisely. I appreciated explicit discussion of creating and establishing tone, and the obligations of the players.

115. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. My first audiobook. Every year, the island of Thisby holds the Scorpio Races: a deadly sprint along the beach where the riders are mounted on carnivorous water horses. Sean Kendrick has won four of the last six years, but this year he may have met his match in Puck Connolly–a girl desperate to win the races and save her home. An evocative story that hooked me quickly and kept me listening.

116. The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee. Review forthcoming.

117. Matters Arising from the Identification of the Body by Simon Petrie. Review forthcoming.

118. Beyond Ecstasy by Kit Rocha. Post-apocalyptic erotica. Eighth book of the Beyond series. Now that Eden and the sectors are at war, Hawk realises he’s running out of time if he wants to make Jeni his–and for more than just one night. I liked seeing a farm boy in this setting and the recklessness of the characters.

Books Acquired

Starfarers by Vonda McIntyre

Matters Arising by Simon Petrie

The Secret Throne by Peter F. Hamilton

The Hunting of the Princes by Peter F. Hamilton

A Voyage Through Air by Peter F. Hamilton

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Blades in the Dark by John Harper

Monsterhearts 2 by Avery Alder

The Starlit Wood edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe

Shimmer by Maggie Stiefvater

Online Reading

Late Night Call by hellotailor. Star Wars: The Force Awakens fanfic. Rey calls Poe for a late night conversation about haircare products and dead parents. This story was short and sweet.

15 Things You Should Know Before You Say Yes by Michelle Ann King. Original fiction at Daily Science Fiction. Written in second person as a series of instructions for an ambassador to an alien planet, it does a good job of conveying the helplessness at being at the mercy of your government.

Guest Post: Hot Drinks and Character

Yesterday marked the re-launch of The Wizardry of Jewish Women. The book was nominated for a Ditmar Award earlier this year and I enjoyed it when I reviewed its initial publication last September. In honour of its re-release, I invited Gillian to write about a topic close to my heart.

Elizabeth has asked me if I could talk about the role of hot beverages in my books. Given that one of the things I like about her is her love of tea, how could I refuse? I won’t talk about all my books, however, just three: The Wizardry of Jewish Women, The Time of the Ghosts and Langue[dot]doc 1305. (In terms of getting hold of them, the only one you can find right now is Wizardry the other two will be available again and I promise to announce when this happens!)

Food and drink are both important to me when I build the worlds for my stories. I use drink as a code for each of my characters. By knowing what kind of hot drink they prefer and how they prefer to drink it, I can remember so much about each one of them and I can twine the beverage into the story and use it to help build emotions in the novel.

Talking about it here lets my code out of the bag for careful readers of The Time of the Ghosts. My three superheroes, Lil, Mabel and Ann had a teenage apprentice, Cat. At one stage she helps prepare a dinner and she notes that the three women drink their after dinner coffee quite differently. If you look at how they prefer their coffee, you can see the whole of their food habits echoed, and that those food habits reflect their lives. Lil’s cup is filled with the most exotic beverage and the one that uses unusual ingredients. Mabel’s drink is practical and even ordinary. Ann’s drink is trendy and was the drink-of-choice for professional women the year I set it. I made each drink for myself throughout the novel, to help me focus on each character’s plotline

This helps me write the story, and it also helps the reader who likes to decode the way I like to encode. Lil’s main problem was dealing with the emotional burdens bequeathed to her by her exotic past and reaching a stage where she could move on. Mabel fought to remain ordinary and typical, even when she patently wasn’t. And Ann? Ann was about to retire and lose all the public service professional air she’d carried for so long. What would she drink when her life changed? Not even she knew.

I created those drinks (and the food that went with them) before I knew what the story would be. For this book more than any other, I needed to know.

Why was it coffee? A friend took me to Weston Park for research, and we had the best cup of coffee I’ve ever had in Canberra. The equal best now, for I had a just-as-nice one a few months ago. At that time I didn’t even know there was good coffee in a city I’d been living in for so very many years. I put Weston Park in the novel to celebrate my friend and her magnificent taste in children, small railways, and coffee. It’s not her fault Weston Park turned creepy, but it was to celebrate her that I made the drink of focus coffee rather than, say, after-dinner liqueurs.

This focus on the fineness of the palate and the joy hot drinks can bring is quite different to what I did with Langue[dot]doc 1305. I gave all the time travellers instant coffee. It was not only an obvious choice of beverage for time travellers, it was a very painful one for the team member who was Italian Australian and knew real coffee better than she knew the clothes she wore. To show how damaging the instant coffee was to her I gave her my favourite French cold drink in midsummer in France before she travelled into the past. She went from a gourmet (but troubled) present to a past that seemed drained of all the values (and coffee) she cared for. It was a very easy point to make.

I don’t know if anyone sees these things except me. I write them because they help me knit my story. When I faced the problem that Jewish characters in Australian fiction are generally seen as being very Eastern European, for example, in The Wizardry of Jewish Women, I dealt with it by using a teapot.

The family drink, the one that calmed life down when it needed it and which made everyone feel as if they were together and united, was tea. Tea made with loose leaves in a very particular pot. When Nick, the teenager, does something so special that his mother, Judith, thinks towards him “He is an adult–and a good one” she doesn’t say this. She lets him pour the tea from that pot. Judith will drink coffee and will make the children hot chocolate when they need to be calmed as children (for instance, should the Angel of Death be imminent, hot chocolate is the drink of choice) but that pot of tea is special.

For me, culture and personality can be expressed through hot drinks. I hope they help the reader. I’m going to make some tea for myself while I contemplate whether they do or not.

I won’t tell you what sort I’m making, for it’ll tell you too much about this moment. It’s much easier to let you see who my characters are through their choice of hot drink than to let you see who I am tonight, by telling you all about my own tea. I can promise you, however, that it’s very good tea indeed. And it’s impossible to judge me by dropping in tomorrow and asking for some, for this is the last of that variety. Tomorrow I’ll be a different person and my mind will be on different subjects.

Gillian Polack writes fiction that others have trouble defining. Her novels range from kinda-sorta urban fantasy in The Wizardry of Jewish Women(a Ditmar finalist) to kinda-sorta time travel but probably alternate history in Langue[dot]doc 1305. She is a historian (mainly a Medievalist) and narrative specialist, which means she has written much non-fiction, the larger part of which has appeared as articles. Alas for the world, she is addicted to chocolate, sarcasm and bad jokes. Fortunately, she lives in Canberra, Australia (where she teaches, edits, writes, and cooks), which is too far from most of the world for these things to matter.

Valentine by Jodi McAlister

Published: January 2017 by Penguin Teen Australia

Format reviewed: Paperback, 395 pages

Series: Valentine #1

Genres: YA, fantasy

Source: Slow Glass Books

Reading Challenges: Australian Women Writers Challenge 2017

Available: Abbey’s ~ Amazon ~Book Depository ~ Booktopia ~ Dymocks ~ Kobo

Strange and terrible things begin to happen to four teenagers — all born on the same Valentine’s Day. One of these teenagers is the Valentine: a Seelie fairy changeling swapped for a human child at its birth. The Unseelie have come to kill the Valentine — except they don’t know who it is.

Pearl shares a birthday with Finn Blacklin. She’s known him all her life and disliked every second of it. Now Pearl and Finn must work together to protect themselves from the sinister forces that are seeking them out.

But there’s one more problem: the explosive chemistry between them…

This was definitely a case of “right book, right time” for me. I’d meant to review something else, but it was clear from the first page that we weren’t going to get along. Since I had a Monsterhearts game coming up, I thought I’d give Valentine a go instead. It turned out to be the perfect mood-setter.

But I think I was always going to love this book. As I’ve mentioned before, I was a huge fan of Holly Black’s Tithe, and Valentine hits many of the same buttons. The book starts off with a strange event–a black horse mysteriously showing up at a party–and things get stranger around Pearl. If you like your faeries with teeth, this is definitely a book to check out. It makes use of some of the less commonly known or used pieces of faerie lore, such as elf-locks, though it doesn’t always play them straight.

Pearl isn’t stupid and recognises something weird is going on, though she sometimes wavers in that belief. She’s a relatable character in many ways, taking her responsibilities seriously and angsting over what other people think of her. She’s brave and loyal, while also being afraid and, at times, hypocritical. She neglects her best friend but doesn’t hesitate to put herself in danger for the people she cares about.

The book is told in first person and is lightly sprinkled with pop-culture references and text speak. This is not going to suit everyone. I thought it contributed to making Pearl’s voice a strong one. The reference to the eternal conundrum of Sherlock vs Elementary made me smile. Facebook also plays a role in the plot as a way the characters keep in contact. Valentine embraces the modern era, rather than trying to work around it.

I also love a good enemies-to-lovers story. It’s clear from the outset that Finn isn’t as disdainful of Pearl as she is of him, though that doesn’t prevent him from expressing anger and irritation towards her where it’s warranted. Watching Pearl’s opinion of him grow and improve was a delight.

Not everyone is going to like the ending, particularly since it deviates from certain genre expectations, but I found it a mature change. The story is also set in Australia, which results in some subtle cultural shifts.The common US stereotypes of jocks, nerds and goths are absent. Instead, there are some distinctly Australian elements, like school captains and Pearl’s job as a lifeguard at the local pool.

Overall, I found Valentine a fresh and intelligent take on faerie YA urban fantasy. I can’t wait to get my hands on the next book.

Loose-leaf Links #44

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 Iron Goddess Tie Guan Yin from Adore Tea. Being an oolong, it’s a little heavier than green tea, though this one retains a bit of the grassy flavour of sencha.

Awards News

The winners of the 2017 Rhysling Awards have been announced. The awards are presented by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association.

The shortlists for the 2017 British Fantasy Awards have also been announced. The awards will be presented at FantasyCon 2017, which runs from 29 September until 1 October.

The 2017 World Fantasy Awards nominees were released this week. A particular congratulations to Jack Dann and PS Australia for Dreaming in the Dark‘s nomination for Best Anthology.

Katharine at Ventureadlaxre reports in on Round Three of the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off, for which she is a judge.

Local authors are reminded that entries close at 5 PM today for the ACT Book of the Year.

Community and Conventions

Speaking of Canberra locals, horror writer Kaaron Warren is set to be a Guest of Honour at the 2018 World Fantasy Convention in Baltimore, USA.

Meanwhile, this year’s World Fantasy Convention (set to be held in San Antonio, USA) has just released a preliminary list of program topics.

And WorldCon 75 has also released a detailed program. I don’t envy attendees trying to decide what to see! (Okay, so maybe I do.)

On Equity

Over at No Award, Liz Barr takes a look at the first three episodes of Cleverman‘s second season.

Joyce Chng hosts a fantastic roundtable on Australian SFF over at Strange Horizons. There were some very thoughtful answers here.

The editorial team at FIYAH Magazine discuss the problems black speculative fiction faces in getting published.

Uncanny Magazine has launched its Kickstarter for Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction and is already most of the way towards funding its goal. The first of their personal essays has also been posted:

We Are Not Your Backstories by K.C. Alexander.

In the wake of the announcement that the next Doctor will be a woman, Sarah Gailey writes about what this will mean for male and female fans.

Meanwhile, Liz Bourke is tired of people erasing women’s presence in SFF (and who can blame her?).

For Writers

A reminder that the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild’s forthcoming anthology A Hand of Knaves, edited by Chris Large and Leife Shallcross, opens for submissions on 1 August.

Marguerite Kenner and Mur Lafferty have announced they’re editing a forthcoming anthology called Space Marine Midwives. Submissions won’t be open until after the Kickstarter campaign, but the editors have released details so that writers can get started. Stories will be paid at pro rates and should be up to 5K words. Check the guidelines for more details.

File 770 reports that the Authors Guild and SFWA have reached an agreement with Galaktika Magazine on infringement claims.

Roxane Gay gives some advice on how to be a contemporary writer.

She’s also over at Lit Hub as one of several authors who gave advice on how to be a writer on social media. Thanks to Reading the End for drawing this to my attention.

Kameron Hurley discusses how pro writers deal with pro criticism.

At the SFWA blog, Stewart C. Baker gives some advice on how to write with a co-author.

And Chuck Wendig offers some consolation to writers having a bad writing day.

For Readers

David Gaughran reports on how clickfarming is creating problems in Amazon’s Kindle store.

Rocket Stack Rank takes a look at the hard sci-fi of 2016.

Fireside Magazine have announced they’ll be publishing a new serial by Sarah Gailey, beginning 2 August.

Lastly, Leife Shallcross shares a peek of the printed proof copies of The Beast’s Heart. They look absolutely stunning and I’m already plotting ways to convince Hodder & Stoughton to send me one.

Ashes by Amanda Pillar

Published: July 2017

Format reviewed: E-book (mobi)

Series: Venom and Vampires collection, Graced #2.2

Genres: Paranormal romance

Source: Author

Reading Challenges: Australian Women Writers Challenge 2017

Available:Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble~ Kobo

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

Aria Ash shouldn’t exist

Born to a were mother and vampire father, Aria Ash is the perfect blend of two races, and in their world, that’s a death sentence. Hunted for as long as she can remember, she now hides in plain sight in the city of Skarva, and will do anything to keep her secret safe.

Sebastian Talien is an alpha were with a troubled past. Ever since his pack went rogue and tried to kill three innocent pups, he’s been dedicated to rescuing children in need. Now an invitation has him heading to Skarva, to help a child he thought he’d failed

Ashes is a novella set in the Graced universe, around the same time as Bitten. While I enjoyed reading it, I ultimately had the same issue with it as I did with Captive: I felt its ambition exceeded its scope.

Since Ashes is part of a collection, I assume it’s meant to appeal to new readers. I feel it’s only partially successful on that front. The beginning works quite well, introducing us to the characters and getting us invested in their relationship. However, the Graced universe is a complex one. Worldbuilding elements necessary for understanding the story were given in a kind of infodump in the guise of one character educating and warning another. The character doing the educating also functioned like a deus ex machina, there to make sure certain things happened. While there is context and an implied reason, it sat rather awkwardly and I’m not sure how it would sit for someone new to the series. It is also old information to returning readers, making it a little bit dull to sit through, even if I enjoyed the cameo from that particular character.

That said, I felt Ashes was a much stronger story than Captive. Aria is a wonderfully fiery character. She’s powerful and quick to protect what’s hers. I really enjoyed the way her strength is something that Sebastian finds attractive, rather than seeing it as a threat. Their relationship is likely to be a bit too insta-love for some readers, but it worked for me. The circumstances and the passion between these two dominant characters sold it. The pair are also able to spend more time together than Laney & Wolf did in Captive. This gives their relationship a more solid foundation before the rest of the action really kicks into gear.

I also really enjoyed the development of the city of Skarva. We got to see the Duke of Ravens in Bitten. In Ashes, we get to meet the Duke of Ashes and learn a little more about the other ruling dukes. I liked that each duke has their own motif, providing a distinctive counterpoint to the vampire nobility of Pinton featured in previous books.

There were also plenty of loose ends left and I’m looking forward to discovering which directions will be explored next.

All in all, Ashes was bumpy in places, but an enjoyable read.