Elizabeth Fitzgerald's Blog: Earl Grey Editing, page 47

Halfway Gone

I’m generally a glass half full kind of person. The year might be half over already, but I find myself looking ahead with excitement. There’s a lot to look forward to. The first anniversary of this blog is coming up in August. I have some exciting guest posts lined up as part of the Brewing Community series (the talented Stephanie Gunn will be joining me on Friday to get that started). Conflux 11 will be happening in October. And my birthday is coming up–which will hopefully mean more books and tea!

However, looking ahead doesn’t preclude also noting where I am and savouring what has been.

Reading Challenges

At the beginning of the year, I signed up for two year-long reading challenges. The first of these was the ubiquitous Goodreads reading challenge. I committed to reading 52 books–a fairly low bar. Here’s how I’m doing:

So far, so good! I look set to exceed the target, though not by as much as I’d hoped.

The second challenge I signed up for was the 2015 Australian Women Writers Challenge. I signed up for the Miles level, which was to read at least six books and review four. I have managed to read and review seven books so far, so I have definitely met this challenge. I’ll be continuing to monitor it so that I can get a feel for what might constitute a more difficult challenge for next year.

Favourite Reads

Quantity is one thing, but what about quality? My favourite books of the year so far, in no particular order:

Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples. Okay, so this is a graphic novel series rather than a single book, but I’m counting it as one anyway. What’s not to love about science fantasy space opera? I adore the characters and every single volume makes me laugh. The last one wobbled a little for me, but I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes.

Kaleidoscope edited by Alisa Krasnostein and Julia Rios. This anthology of young adult speculative fiction features stories with a diverse array of protagonists. There were a few stories that didn’t appeal to me much, but on the whole I think it has deserved all the awards it has won.

Unbound and Free by Becca Lusher. I might be a little bit biased here, but Becca really does write some amazing stuff. Considered historical fantasy, Unbound and Free leans more towards fantasy than history–which suits me fine. Demero is a sweet boy and I really enjoyed reading about how he came to become one of the immortal Aekhartain. I’m reminded that I’ve left the next book in the series, Dark Rebel, languishing on Mt TBR for entirely too long.

Graced by Amanda Pillar. On the surface, this looked like clear-cut paranormal romance but turned into something entirely unexpected and lovely. There were some nice worldbuilding elements and a diversity of characters that I hope gets built on further in a sequel. It’s not without its problems but I appreciated the way it added some depth to the sub-genre.

The Magpie Lord by KJ Charles. A historical fantasy romance that was just pure fun. Again, it was the characters that drew me in, but the Victorian occult vibe was completely on the mark. I have been very restrained in not immediately devouring the rest of the series.

All in all, it has been a good year so far. How has 2015 been treating you?

 

Mt TBR report: June 2015

June was an exceptionally busy month for work, so I’m a little surprised I got in as much reading as I did. Mt TBR actually shrunk! This was partly because I returned a couple of books I’d borrowed before things got busy, but I was also good about not picking up too many new books. Hopefully, I can continue this trend.

Mt TBR status

Mt TBR @ 1 January 2015: 202

Mt TBR @ 31 May 2015: 220

Mt TBR @ 30 June 2015: 215

Books read

28. Saga Vol. 4 by Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples. Reviewed here.

29. The Magpie Lord by KJ Charles. Reviewed here.

30. Aurora: Meridian by Amanda Bridgeman. Review forthcoming.

31. Malifaux: Rising Powers by Wyrd Games. This is a manual for a tabletop skirmish game. It includes some stories along with rules for new models, introducing some interesting characters into the world of Malifaux.

32. Interlude with Tattoos by KJ Charles. This is a short story set almost immediately after The Magpie Lord. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting, since I thought it would tell the tale of how Lucien came by the largest of his tattoos. However, I still adored it.

Books acquired

Checkers’ Asylum by Jarrod Elvin

The Rebel Returns by Becca Lusher

Interlude with Tattoos by KJ Charles

Online reading

The Court of Five Thrones Ch 43-48 by Pia Foxhall. Some new dynamics settle into place. While these are largely positive (and I enjoyed seeing them immensely), the danger is not over for Gwyn and the Unseelie Court. As usual, a reminder that this is an original fantasy m/m erotica and not suitable for all audiences.

The Wildness Within Ch 8-11 by Pia Foxhall. These few chapters were almost enough to make me like the Raven Prince. I especially liked his manipulations of the Oak King.

Sea Foam and Silence  Ch 1- 16 by Lynn O’Connacht. This is a free-verse serial poem about a mermaid determined to prove she is just as grown-up as her sisters. Lynn has a knack for writing innocent voices and this series is no exception.

The Merger by Sunil Patel. A short story about Paresh and Sita, a married couple who are offered the chance of a lifetime by an amorphous alien looking to possess Paresh’s body in exchange for a small fortune. Paresh and Sita were both easy to relate to and I loved Sita’s practical side. The corporate legalese spoken by the alien is pretty hilarious.

What have you read this month?

Review: The Magpie Lord by KJ Charles

Published: September 2013 by Samhain Publishing

Format reviewed: E-book (mobi)

Series: A Charm of Magpies #1

Genres: Historical fiction, fantasy, romance (m/m), erotica.

Source: Amazon

Available: Samhain Publishing (print and electronic) ~ Amazon ~ Book Depository ~ Booktopia  ~ Kobo

Exiled to China for twenty years, Lucien Vaudrey never planned to return to England. But with the mysterious deaths of his father and brother, it seems the new Lord Crane has inherited an earldom. He’s also inherited his family’s enemies. He needs magical assistance, fast. He doesn’t expect it to turn up angry.

Magician Stephen Day has good reason to hate Crane’s family. Unfortunately, it’s his job to deal with supernatural threats. Besides, the earl is unlike any aristocrat he’s ever met, with the tattoos, the attitude…and the way Crane seems determined to get him into bed. That’s definitely unusual.

Soon Stephen is falling hard for the worst possible man, at the worst possible time. But Crane’s dangerous appeal isn’t the only thing rendering Stephen powerless. Evil pervades the house, a web of plots is closing round Crane, and if Stephen can’t find a way through it—they’re both going to die.

If you know Memory from In the Forest of Stories, you might know she’s very vocal about what she likes. It’s one of the things I love about her. Early in the year, she was full of excitement because Amazon was offering The Magpie Lord for free. Having heard her wax lyrical about it, how could I resist? Especially when Amy Rae Durreson–another of my favourite fantasy m/m romance writers–chimed in. And let’s face it, my willpower has never been that good when it comes to books.

It has taken me a little while to get to it, but I’m making up for lost time now. Because wow, what a ride!

The book keeps up a brisk pace and begins in the immediate aftermath of an attempted suicide. Readers who find suicide problematic might like to know that while the attempt isn’t directly shown, it is pretty clear what happened. The details are laid out without being dwelt on. I found it deftly handled, but your mileage might vary.

Lord Crane is a man of contradictions. He was raised as nobility but forced to scrape a living among the poor in China as a young man. He is clever, resourceful and used to getting his way, one way or another. He also allows his servant, Merrick, to bully him into getting help. Merrick is really more a friend than a servant. In fact, the dynamic between these two characters reminded me of the one between Locke Lamora and Jean Tannen in Scott Lynch’s The Gentlemen Bastards Sequence. These two have been through a lot together, saved each others’ lives many times and don’t stand on formality. So it was a little bit disappointing to see Merrick take a back seat to Stephen Day.

But only a little. Stephen Day is an odd little man who is very intense about his work–and with Stephen, it is all work and no play. It’s no surprise, then, that he finds the passionate Crane quite overwhelming. To make matters even more confusing for the poor man, Lucien should be the enemy. The previous Lord Crane, Lucien’s father, effectively destroyed Stephen’s family. Stephen works so hard not just because he takes his duties seriously but in the hope of salvaging some vestige of his father’s reputation.

The chemistry between these two is excellent. Set in Victorian England, Crane and Stephen swing between making sure to mind their manners one minute and all over each other the next. Yet despite this fantastic tension, I found the two sex scenes (or, rather, one sex scene and one almost) a bit lacklustre. Perhaps Pia Foxhall has corrupted me with her excellent erotica, but I found the BDSM elements both bland and unnecessary. However, it was a very small blemish in an otherwise awesome tale.

I should also emphasise that the story’s focus is not the romance between Crane and Stephen. It is far more about the supernatural threat the pair of them face. The majority of the action takes place at Piper, the decrepit Crane family estate, which makes a wonderfully atmospheric setting. The mysterious magical attacks on Crane and the addition of a ghost only contribute to the creepiness.

All in all, I enjoyed the book thoroughly. A big thank you to Memory for introducing me to what may soon be a new favourite series.

Loose-leaf Links for June

Loose-leaf Links is a feature where I gather together the interesting bits and pieces I’ve come across in the last month and share them with you over tea. Or, in this case, over something vaguely similar to tea. The vanilla rooibos came courtesy of my   Monstrositea subscription.

Awards News

The Gemmell Awards are now open for voting. I notice a sad lack of female authors on the ballot, with just one (Kameron Hurley) across both writing categories. The artists don’t fare much better.

The winners of the Nebula Awards have been announced and achieve a better balance of genders.

On Diversity

Fantasy Faction have an interesting article on gender stereotyping and strong women in fantasy. I’m not sure I agree with all of it, but it is worth a read.

I found this article from Liz Bourke on how we talk about strong female characters to be closer to the mark.

Tansy Rayner Roberts’ Guest of Honour speech for Continuum 11 was reposted on SF Signal and discusses female fantasy writers and the politics of influence.

For Writers

Australian residents might be interested to know that the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild is partnering up with Conflux 11 to run a short story competition. They’ll be accepting stories up to 4000 words on the theme of light and light-based technologies.

The NSW Writers’ Centre is running the 2015 Speculative Fiction Festival on July 18. Panelists include Garth Nix, Trudi Canavan, Kate Forsyth, Marianne de Pierres, Isobelle Carmody, Kaaron Warren and Amie Kaufman, among others.

coeur de lion are accepting submissions for Dimension6 (first issue reviewed here) until the end of the month. They’re looking for speculative fiction stories of up to 40 000 words, with a 4 500 minimum.

For Readers

Looking for a reading challenge? The Estella Society is running Season 3 of their Estella Project. Pick a book (or several) and read it before 1 September. I’ve been thinking this might be a good opportunity for me to pull out that copy of The Shadow of the Wind I’ve been meaning to get to.

Ursula Le Guin explains why she asks people not to buy books from Amazon.

Twelfth Planet Press have announced the Table of Contents for their Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2014. Readers familiar with Kaleidoscope may notice some overlap.

Ticonderoga Publications have also announced the Table of Contents for Bloodlines, edited by Amanda Pillar (who some of you might recognise as the author of Graced). The anthology is being billed as non-traditional dark urban fantasy and will be available in October.

Review: Saga, Volume 4

Published: December 2014 by Image Comics

Format reviewed: Paperback, 152 pages

Series: Saga #4

Genres: Science fantasy, space opera, speculative fiction, graphic novel

Source: On loan from friends

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

Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for previous volumes.

SAGA is the sweeping tale of one young family fighting to find their place in the universe. As they visit a strange new world and encounter even more adversaries, baby Hazel finally becomes a toddler, while her star-crossed parents Marko and Alana struggle to stay on their feet.

I’ve been a big fan of Saga but this volume left me somewhat indifferent.

Time has moved on since the last volume. Hazel has grown from a baby into a toddler while the family has been hidden away on a planet called Gardenia. Alana has joined the Open Circuit–a show something like World Wrestling Entertainment–in an effort to help the family to make ends meet. It also provides her with a handy disguise but the job is sucking the life out of her. Meanwhile, Marko keeps a low profile as a stay-at-home dad. This makes for a nice inversion of traditional gender roles.

The cracks in the family really start to show in this volume. Alana develops a drug habit, Marko has to decide whether to fend off the advances of an overly friendly neighbour and Klara seeks a way to overcome her grief. There are communication problems of all kinds. In fact, one of my favourite moments is when both Alana and Marko are away, leaving Klara and Izabel without the benefit of the translator rings.

The cracks are also literally beginning to show for Prince Robot IV. After he discovers his wife has given birth, he decides to seek help from his father. The King was another example of some great character design which left me chuckling. In fact, the visual elements around the denizens of the Robot Kingdom are particularly clever. Being humanoid but with televisions for heads, the images they show on their screens in times of high emotion often lend an extra layer to scenes.

I feel my apathy in relation to this volume mostly comes from Alana’s drug habit. Until Marko came along, everyone around her thought of Alana as a screwup. In the case of her former military career, this was because Alana had qualms about slaughtering innocent people, making this view of her hardly seem just. So seeing her turn to drugs made me really disappointed. However, this is definitely my issue and not an issue with Saga. From the very beginning, it has been a gritty story and not one where the characters are always (or even mostly) their best selves. In fact, it is their struggles and mistakes that make the characters so easy to relate to.

The volume finishes with another unlikely alliance–something that the series has been so good at–so I continue to look forward to the next instalment.

Once Upon A Time IX: epilogue

The Once Upon A Time IX reading challenge finishes on Sunday. I’m busy chasing deadlines and am not likely to squeeze in any more reading, so it is time for me to check in with how I went. To recap, OUAT is a reading challenge for lovers of fantasy, fairytale, folklore and mythology. It is organised by Carl of Stainless Steel Droppings and runs from 21 March to 21 June. I signed up for:

Read at least 5 books that fit somewhere within the Once Upon a Time categories. They might all be fantasy, or folklore, or fairy tales, or mythology…or your five books might be a combination from the four genres.

In my sign-up post, I mentioned that I was nervous because this was my first year participating in the challenge while also blogging here at Earl Grey Editing. It turns out I need not have worried–there’s always plenty of fantasy on my Mt TBR. This year I got through six books.

 

Unbound and Free by Becca Lusher is a historical fantasy about a boy who lives with his family on a haunted island. Full review here.

The Dagger of Dresnia by Satima Flavell is a high fantasy featuring a middle-aged queen doing her best to keep the kingdom and her family together. Full review here.

City of Fae by Pippa DaCosta is an urban fantasy in which a young journalist breaks the law by touching a fae rockstar in need of help. Full review here.

 

The Art of Effective Dreaming by Gillian Polack is a literary fantasy about a young woman whose vivid fantasy world begins to develop a mind of its own. Full review here.

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch is a high fantasy in which a young thief and his merry band become caught in a struggle for control over the criminal underworld of their city. Full review here.

The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch is a high fantasy wherein our thief is somewhat older and no wiser. He is forced to face off against his long-lost love in a rigged election. Full review here.

Once again, I enjoyed the event hugely, though I wish I’d had more of a chance to check out some of the other reviews that went up as part of the event. Next year, I might try the more challenging Quest the Second: read one book each of fantasy, folklore, fairy tale, and mythology. At least I have plenty of time to prepare.

If you participated in the event, I’d love to hear how you went. If not, what fantasy have you read lately?

 

Review – Aurora: Pegasus by Amanda Bridgeman

Published: December 2013 by Momentum

Format reviewed: E-book (mobi)

Series: Aurora #2

Genres: Science fiction

Source: Amazon

Reading Challenges: Australian Women Writers Challenge 2015

Available: Momentum ~ Amazon ~ Kobo

Disclaimer: This review may contain spoilers for previous volumes/books.

Captain Saul Harris of the UNF Aurora gets the call he does not want to receive. Forced to pull his team back together and go hunt down and capture old enemies, he finds himself faced with a whole new terror. He thought the Darwin mission was over, but all those unanswered questions are beginning to haunt him.

Corporal Carrie Welles has no choice but to rejoin the Aurora crew and help her captain finish what they started. But is this mission as straight forward as it seems? Is she really prepared for the fight of her life?

Aurora: Pegasus is a bit of a different beast to its predecessor. Classic sci-fi/horror in the vein of Alien has been traded for a more character-driven story that spreads out the action over a greater number of locations. Given I’m not really a horror fan and usually love stories that focus on character, I was surprised to find I didn’t enjoy Aurora: Pegasus quite as much as the previous book.

Some of this was due to personal taste. I’ve mentioned before that I don’t like seeing characters humiliated. A little bit is bearable, but Corporal Welles has it heaped on her by friend and foe. The former was especially difficult to witness, when throughout the story Welles constantly shows herself to be capable and loyal. She was a character I could empathise with and while her stubborn streak was occasionally discomforting, it was also something I could admire.

In terms of the characters, the book does a good job of building on the foundation created by Aurora: Darwin. Like most human beings, the majority of the Aurora‘s crew strive to do what is right but they don’t always make the best choices. The flaws of the entire cast begin to emerge.

Unfortunately, I found the story somewhat predictable. Characters were slow to reach obvious conclusions. I also felt the villains were undercut. It is hard to say more without giving away spoilers, but I felt they didn’t present as convincing a threat as they did in the previous book, though they certainly get up to some horrible things. This led to a bit of a lack of tension for me, though the internal squabbles among the crew of the Aurora counterbalanced this somewhat.

The pace of the last quarter was slow. This was in keeping with the stronger focus on character but overall I thought it would have served better as the introduction to the next instalment.

Having said that, the ending left me teary and did what it was supposed to do: hook me in for Aurora: Meridian.

 

Brewing Community: An Introduction

 

Photo by Chris Fitzgerald

If you know me, you know I am a planner. This goes as much for my life as it does for my fiction. It may be June but I’m already aware that September is just around the corner. September is a really busy month for me, both personally and professionally. Conflux isn’t far away, so any preparations I need to make tend to be in full swing. Also, just about everyone I know seems to have a birthday in September; free weekends are a distant dream. It all becomes a bit hard to juggle when I add the usual editing and blogging into the mix.

This year I decided to make it a bit easier on myself by inviting along some guest bloggers. Community is a topic I’m pretty interested in and it’s one I’ve asked guests to write about before. It also seems in keeping with what’s already happening for me in September.

However, when I looked at my blogging schedule I quickly noticed a problem. After filling in my regular slots for reviews, Loose-leaf Links and my Mt TBR report, there weren’t all that many slots left. There were so many wonderful guests I wanted to invite along, so how was I going to narrow it down?

The easy answer was to expand instead of limit. So I’m kicking off the series early. Starting next month, I’ll be featuring two or three guest posts every month on the theme of community. My guests will be coming from a variety of communities; some are book bloggers, some write SFF and some are involved in fandom. I may yet even manage to wrangle one of the many talented artists I know.

I hope you’ll join me when things kick off in July. In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you. What communities are you involved in and how have they helped you?

Review: The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch

Published: July 2014 by Gollancz

Format reviewed: Paperback, 726 pages

Series: The Gentlemen Bastards Sequence #3

Genres: Fantasy

Source: Dymocks Online

Available: Publisher (print, e-book & audiobook) ~ Abbey’s ~ Amazon ~ Book Depository ~ Booktopia ~ Dymocks ~ Kobo

Disclaimer: This review may contain spoilers for previous books.

Locke and Jean barely escaped with their lives from what should have been the greatest heist of their career, in the port city of Tal Verrar. Now they head north, looking for sanctuary and an alchemist who can cure the poison that is slowly killing Locke. They find neither, but with their luck, money and hope exhausted, they receive an offer from a power that has never had their best interests at heart: the Bondsmagi of Karthain.

In exchange for the chance that Locke might be saved, the Bondsmagi expect the two Gentlemen Bastards to rig an election in their home city of Karthain. They will be opposed. The other side has already hired the services of Sabetha Belacoros, the one person in the world who might match Locke’s criminal skill, and the one person in the world who absolutely rules his heart.

Now it will be con artist against con artist in an election that couldn’t be more crooked, all for the benefit of the mysterious Bondsmagi, who have plans within plans and secrets they’re not telling…

I confess my love for this series has waned a little with The Republic of Thieves. While there was a lot I enjoyed about it and I ripped through it in no time, it was a bit of a different beast to the first two books. That should come as no surprise when we’re stepping from pirates to politics. However, it means the story lacked the same made-it-by-the-skin-of-their-teeth feel. I could see there were attempts to build that, but I found them a little flat–at least in terms of the present-day story.

The Republic of Thieves keeps the same structure as previous books in the Gentlemen Bastards Sequence: chapters set in the present are broken up by interludes set in the past. In this book, the interludes give us the backstory of Locke and Sabetha’s relationship. The bulk of this takes place one summer when the Gentlemen Bastards are sent away to apprentice as actors, only to find their intended mentor brings trouble of his own. Previously, I’ve found the interludes an entertaining way of providing context. In The Republic of Thieves I actually found the interludes becoming more interesting than the main story. The action is more dynamic and the stakes more immediate. In contrast, the present day action moves slowly, despite the ticking clock. Even early on, when the stakes are arguably at their highest and most immediate, the pace is slowed by extensive dialogue.

I enjoyed meeting Sabetha for the first time. Her younger self tended to be prickly and somewhat emotionally volatile, but that seemed appropriate for a teenager. Her adult self had more poise and polish. On the whole she felt like an equal match for Locke and I appreciated that she explicitly calls out Locke on his privilege and the way he assumes leadership. Despite that, I think The Republic of Thieves still has a way to go with its treatment of female characters. In particular, I felt the ending undermined Sabetha’s character and thus fell somewhat flat for me.

In general, I found The Republic of Thieves to be an entertaining read and one which frequently made me laugh out loud. At over 700 pages, it is definitely within the realm of Big Fat Fantasy; readers with wrist trouble might want to consider picking it up as an e-book.

Mt TBR report: May 2015

I think this month might be the first month this year I’ve broken even by reading as many books as I acquired. Now, if I can just improve on that a little…

Mt TBR status

Mt TBR @ 1 January 2015: 202

Mt TBR @ 30 April 2015: 220

Mt TBR @ 31 May 2015: 220

Books read

24. Kaleidoscope edited by Alisa Krasnostein and Julia Rios. Reviewed here.

25. The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch. Review forthcoming.

26. The Art of Effective Dreaming by Gillian Polack. Reviewed here.

27. Aurora: Pegasus by Amanda Bridgeman. Review forthcoming.

Books acquired

A Circle of Stones by Erynn Rowan Laurie

The Apple Branch by Alexei Kondratiev

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

Saga, Vol. 4 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Online Reading

The Wildness Within Ch. 1-7 by Pia Foxhall. A non-canon, standalone, alternate universe piece utilising Pia’s characters from The Court of Five Thrones. Gwyn becomes semi-wild after being hunted through the forest by his family for centuries. Augus discovers him and takes an interest. An accessible story for those unfamiliar with Pia’s canon, though a warning that while it doesn’t (yet) contain erotica, there are references to torture and BDSM. Although it’s not canon, it did give me a better grasp of Gwyn’s past and the Raven Prince, which was useful because both came up in…

The Court of Five Thrones Ch 32-42. The earlier chapters succeeded in making me cry, though I’ll refrain from saying why to avoid spoilers. As usual, a reminder that this is an original fantasy m/m erotica and not suitable for all audiences.

Your Blue-eyed Boys by Feather. Captain America fanfic dealing with Bucky’s recovery after the events of the Winter Soldier. The characterisation didn’t ring true for me, but I appreciated its treatment of PTSD and the difficulties Steve faces as a caregiver.

What have you read this month?