R.S. McCoy's Blog, page 2
May 1, 2018
Back to Back
I think it's pretty clear that this spring has been off the rails! Since I've been MIA for so long, I wanted to tell you a little about my story and why this time off was so important to me. Wayyyy back in 2005, I had my first back-related surgery. For most of my high-school years, I was totally sidelined by back pain and headaches. I never played sports. I took a lot of days off school. And it turned out, it was all fixed by a breast reduction right after I graduated high school. Hooray!For the next five years, I focused on losing weight and getting healthy. Which happened to be MUCH easier with the ability to be active and exercise. I ran 5ks and 10ks. I worked out with my friends. But something was never right. My back pain lingered. Nothing like it was before, but enough to make me slow down on running and take days off from the gym. I slept a lot but was always tired. I had terrible skin and mood swings and I just wasn't well. It wasn't until 2012 that they found the cancer in my thyroid. I completed back-to-back surgeries to remove my entire thyroid and nuclear radiation treatment to kill the little piece wrapped around a nerve. My back pain continued to get worse. But still, when dealing with cancer treatment, it was so far down on my list of priorities, I just managed it and lived with it. Then in 2015, just four months after moving to New Jersey, I ruptured my L4-5 disc. Most people rupture a disc in a car accident or some other form of major trauma. I managed to rupture mine wrapping birthday presents... It was a clear sign my back had been damaged for a long, long time. Additionally, my L3-4 disc was herniated, and my L5-S1 disc was bulging. The trifecta!In January 2016, I had my first true back surgery, a microdiscectomy to remove the piece of the L4-5 disc that was pushing on my spinal cord.And it was a success! For months, I enjoyed a relatively pain-free back and tried to get back to my life. But little by little, my back pain returned. I started receiving cortisone injections, which let me tell you, are the worst thing ever. Absolute misery! And they didn't help even one little bit. So I was prescribed a cocktail of opioids and anti-inflammatories to help reduce my pain. By fall 2017, I was back to being miserable all the time, even with all the drugs. It was then I asked for a new MRI and another consult with my surgeon. Something just wasn't right. Sure enough, my L4-5 disc had completely collapsed. The entire contents of my disc had shot into my spinal cord, crushing all the nerves to my legs. Even worse, the cushioning effect of the discs was gone, and my L4 and L5 vertebrae were grinding together. They'd been grinding together so long, there was already significant damage on the L4 bone. That's how I ended up in surgery getting a lumbar fusion in mid-March. The surgery involved cutting off the laminae (back pieces of the vertebrae), grinding them into a slurry, and injecting that slurry into a titanium spacer placed between the vertebrae. Also, titanium rods were screwed into the bones to keep them in place while the bones fused. As you can imagine, it wasn't the most fun thing I've ever done. But, shockingly enough, I was in virtually no pain after surgery. My crushed nerves were relieved and began to heal. My spinal cord had space to function normally and my bones were no longer grinding together. Even better, I got off all the drugs. After a year on some serious opioids, I worked to wean myself off and have a fully functional brain!It's been a tricky road to get back to my life, but little by little, I'm getting there. I walk 3-4 miles a day. I take my kids to the park and on hikes and practice tee-ball with them. I've done more activity in the last month than I had in the entire year before. And now, at last, I feel like I'm ready to get back to work. I can sit comfortably in any chair for any length of time. I can hold my computer and lift it without pain. I'm off all the drugs that were clouding my brain for over a year. So little by little, I'm going back to writing. I'm letting my thoughts breathe on paper and my stories have the outlet they need. I can't thank you enough for all you patience and understanding, for waiting for stories that are coming late, for keeping me in your thoughts and letting me live vicariously through your life while I worked to get off my couch. I wouldn't be here without you!
February 25, 2018
Spring 2018 Happenings
Only two months into 2018 and things have already gone sideways! Here's how the rest of the year is shaping up:1. The Snow Owl!After almost a year of work, The Snow Owl is set to release in less than two weeks! As the fourth and final book in the Alder Tales series, The Snow Owl marks the end of an era in my writing career and the start of the next stage. Woohoo!
2. Moving to BaltimoreAs a military family, our address changes a lot. We lived in southern New Jersey for the last 2.5 years and in June, we'll pack up and leave. It's always bittersweet to leave friends behind, but this time, I'm really excited to be living in a city I love! (Did you know my husband flew me to Baltimore to propose ten years ago?!) It will be a lot of work and vodka, but we'll get to make a fresh start in a really cool town. 
(Not my pic)3. Back surgeryAs most of you know, I have back issues. Like, serious ones. I try to keep a lid on it and not complain *all* the time, but it's been really, really bad for the last year. This week, I finally got some answers: my L4-5 disc basically exploded and now my L4 and L5 vertebra are grinding together, and apparently have been for a while. Yes, it's as miserably painful as it sounds. So just as soon as the hospital and surgery and everything can be set up (about three weeks), I'll go under the knife to fuse the L4 and L5 vertebrae together. And yes, the recovery will be just as miserably painful as it sounds! I'll be walking on eggshells for the first three months, but afterwords, my back should be bulletproof. I'll take it!
(This is a real (and yes blurry) screenshot of my actual MRI film that shows the ruptured disc, compressed spinal column, and bone damage.)4. A boxsetBefore knowing my back was going to give it up, I signed up to be part of an upcoming paranormal romance box set with an 'angels and demons' theme! I've already started writing an LGBT romance between a musician and his guardian angel. I'm really excited about this one!5. A balancing actBy now, you've probably realized that this is a LOT of things to do that don't necessarily work well together. Thankfully, The Snow Owl is on autopilot and will happen no matter what! As for the rest of it, that all depends on my back surgery. I'll likely be pretty useless for a few months (hey, maybe I'll get some good reading time in!) but other than that, I really don't know. I won't put dates on any upcoming projects because they're all up in the air. I'll do my very best to keep you posted!
2. Moving to BaltimoreAs a military family, our address changes a lot. We lived in southern New Jersey for the last 2.5 years and in June, we'll pack up and leave. It's always bittersweet to leave friends behind, but this time, I'm really excited to be living in a city I love! (Did you know my husband flew me to Baltimore to propose ten years ago?!) It will be a lot of work and vodka, but we'll get to make a fresh start in a really cool town. (Not my pic)3. Back surgeryAs most of you know, I have back issues. Like, serious ones. I try to keep a lid on it and not complain *all* the time, but it's been really, really bad for the last year. This week, I finally got some answers: my L4-5 disc basically exploded and now my L4 and L5 vertebra are grinding together, and apparently have been for a while. Yes, it's as miserably painful as it sounds. So just as soon as the hospital and surgery and everything can be set up (about three weeks), I'll go under the knife to fuse the L4 and L5 vertebrae together. And yes, the recovery will be just as miserably painful as it sounds! I'll be walking on eggshells for the first three months, but afterwords, my back should be bulletproof. I'll take it! (This is a real (and yes blurry) screenshot of my actual MRI film that shows the ruptured disc, compressed spinal column, and bone damage.)4. A boxsetBefore knowing my back was going to give it up, I signed up to be part of an upcoming paranormal romance box set with an 'angels and demons' theme! I've already started writing an LGBT romance between a musician and his guardian angel. I'm really excited about this one!5. A balancing actBy now, you've probably realized that this is a LOT of things to do that don't necessarily work well together. Thankfully, The Snow Owl is on autopilot and will happen no matter what! As for the rest of it, that all depends on my back surgery. I'll likely be pretty useless for a few months (hey, maybe I'll get some good reading time in!) but other than that, I really don't know. I won't put dates on any upcoming projects because they're all up in the air. I'll do my very best to keep you posted!
Review: Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab
Victoria Schwab's Monsters of Verity series is a stunning and unique duology, and today, I'm reviewing Our Dark Duet!
Basically, in short, I'm dead. This book killed me. What was life before this? How can I go on?*deep breath*The Monsters of Verity series follows Kate Harker, heiress to an empire of blood. Her father runs half of the city of Verity and his power is entirely owed to the success of monsters. Harker made a deal with the Corsai and Malchai, the two varieties of violent monsters. Every time a violent crime is committed, it breeds a new monster. By giving the monsters freedom to hunt, Harker has become the ruler of his world. He just needs the other half of the city. On the other side are the Flynns, who want to eradicate violence. They run militaristic missions to destroy monsters and eliminate the criminals that create them. They'll do anything to get ahead of the wave of monsters, including sending their middle son, August, across the border on a different kind of mission.Kate and August shouldn't have anything in common. He's a monster and she's a monster killer. But somehow they find this strange kind of peace with each other. It's not really a romance, but it has all the intensity of one. In Our Dark Duet, we follow Kate and August as they encounter a new kind of monster. It's not the straightforward violence of the Malchai or Corsai, and it isn't the musical soul-stealing Sunai. It's something else, and it sings songs in the heads of its victims, making puppets of even the strongest people. Kate is on the hunt for Alice, the Malchai she created when she accidentally killed a man. In Verity, murder is murder, and now Kate's soul is stained. Alice is sharp and cunning (she's made from Kate, after all) and she wants to kill the person that made her. August is a Sunai with a silver violin. He loves music but every time he plays, people die. For his older brother, Leo. Killing is easy. His little sister Isla lost her voice and can no longer sing. August has to pick up the slack. One of my favorite elements of this story is the relationship between Kate and August. It's not romantic, at least not much. But for this romance lover to swoon over a non-romantic relationship, you know it's good! They're not super platonic friends, not close-for-life like siblings, but rather something else, something sweet and dark and necessary to both of them. This series earns highest marks for world building, characters, and writing. The divided city with such creepily complex monsters are some of the coolest elements I've read in a long time. The characters are dynamic and interesting and the perfect balance of strong and weak. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the stunning writing. Schwab took a vastly different approach to this series than A Darker Shade of Magic series or Vicious. It's lyrical and melodious and brilliant. I know her writing style threw several readers off this series, and that's okay. It's not for everyone. But for those who can appreciate something a little different, you'll be adding this one to the favorites shelf in no time.
Basically, in short, I'm dead. This book killed me. What was life before this? How can I go on?*deep breath*The Monsters of Verity series follows Kate Harker, heiress to an empire of blood. Her father runs half of the city of Verity and his power is entirely owed to the success of monsters. Harker made a deal with the Corsai and Malchai, the two varieties of violent monsters. Every time a violent crime is committed, it breeds a new monster. By giving the monsters freedom to hunt, Harker has become the ruler of his world. He just needs the other half of the city. On the other side are the Flynns, who want to eradicate violence. They run militaristic missions to destroy monsters and eliminate the criminals that create them. They'll do anything to get ahead of the wave of monsters, including sending their middle son, August, across the border on a different kind of mission.Kate and August shouldn't have anything in common. He's a monster and she's a monster killer. But somehow they find this strange kind of peace with each other. It's not really a romance, but it has all the intensity of one. In Our Dark Duet, we follow Kate and August as they encounter a new kind of monster. It's not the straightforward violence of the Malchai or Corsai, and it isn't the musical soul-stealing Sunai. It's something else, and it sings songs in the heads of its victims, making puppets of even the strongest people. Kate is on the hunt for Alice, the Malchai she created when she accidentally killed a man. In Verity, murder is murder, and now Kate's soul is stained. Alice is sharp and cunning (she's made from Kate, after all) and she wants to kill the person that made her. August is a Sunai with a silver violin. He loves music but every time he plays, people die. For his older brother, Leo. Killing is easy. His little sister Isla lost her voice and can no longer sing. August has to pick up the slack. One of my favorite elements of this story is the relationship between Kate and August. It's not romantic, at least not much. But for this romance lover to swoon over a non-romantic relationship, you know it's good! They're not super platonic friends, not close-for-life like siblings, but rather something else, something sweet and dark and necessary to both of them. This series earns highest marks for world building, characters, and writing. The divided city with such creepily complex monsters are some of the coolest elements I've read in a long time. The characters are dynamic and interesting and the perfect balance of strong and weak. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the stunning writing. Schwab took a vastly different approach to this series than A Darker Shade of Magic series or Vicious. It's lyrical and melodious and brilliant. I know her writing style threw several readers off this series, and that's okay. It's not for everyone. But for those who can appreciate something a little different, you'll be adding this one to the favorites shelf in no time.
January 8, 2018
Review: Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
For the first Book Club read of 2018, we selected Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. It's a non-fiction crime book and definitely outside my normal genre. Even more shocking, I recommended it! I found this book at the airport on our way to the great state of Texas, but at the last minute decided I didn't want to read it on the cruise (it didn't seem like a light read for a vacation). 
Lo and behold, I was right!This was a really dark read. Like, so, so dark. It's split between the story of David Burnham, an architect who was almost a singular force behind the development and success of the World's Fair in Chicago. Parts of it were a little dry (committees and such), others were sad (RIP John Root), and still others were interesting (all the foods and new inventions that started here, including widespread electricity). While non-fiction isn't my favorite genre, I didn't have too much trouble getting myself to pick this up every night. There were enough new things to learn and interesting facts to keep me going. Larson had a mountain of information and he displayed it really creative ways. Kudos to him for making this big, boring historical event into a bright, vibrant story. I am 100% bummed I could not attend the World's Fair more than a century ago, and that's entirely due to the way Larson brought the whole event alive. On the other side, Larson wrote about H. H. Holmes. He had more names than I could really keep track of, but this seemed to be the one he used most often. Holmes was a total psychopath in a time when the signs and symptoms were largely unaware. He was handsome and charming, and somehow managed to elude attention for years as he lured attractive, available young women to his business and quietly killed them for no other reason than he simply liked to. The sections about H. H. Holmes tended to be shorter, but that was totally fine with me. They were chilling, and had they been even slightly more graphic or scary, I would definitely have had trouble sleeping. The idea that someone could have such split sides of himself was shocking, and the idea that he could go on so long without anyone catching on was even more shocking. Holmes killed women, men, children. Business associates, lost travelers, multiple wives, and people he'd known for years. All the while, he was writing apologetic letters to parents searching for daughters, shaking the hands of local cops, and expanding his businesses. He built a kiln to burn bodies in the basement and a sealed room with a gas lever to kill victims. He bought multiple properties to bury bodies when out of town and changed his name every time he moved. Holmes clearly thought out his crimes with calculated efficiency. A really, really scary guy. Even if crime non-fiction isn't your thing, I encourage you to give this one a try. It was a really unique read that brought history alive and really showed just how far we've come in business, forensics, and crime investigation. Next up, I'm reading Caraval! I can't wait! Eek!
What are you reading this week?
Lo and behold, I was right!This was a really dark read. Like, so, so dark. It's split between the story of David Burnham, an architect who was almost a singular force behind the development and success of the World's Fair in Chicago. Parts of it were a little dry (committees and such), others were sad (RIP John Root), and still others were interesting (all the foods and new inventions that started here, including widespread electricity). While non-fiction isn't my favorite genre, I didn't have too much trouble getting myself to pick this up every night. There were enough new things to learn and interesting facts to keep me going. Larson had a mountain of information and he displayed it really creative ways. Kudos to him for making this big, boring historical event into a bright, vibrant story. I am 100% bummed I could not attend the World's Fair more than a century ago, and that's entirely due to the way Larson brought the whole event alive. On the other side, Larson wrote about H. H. Holmes. He had more names than I could really keep track of, but this seemed to be the one he used most often. Holmes was a total psychopath in a time when the signs and symptoms were largely unaware. He was handsome and charming, and somehow managed to elude attention for years as he lured attractive, available young women to his business and quietly killed them for no other reason than he simply liked to. The sections about H. H. Holmes tended to be shorter, but that was totally fine with me. They were chilling, and had they been even slightly more graphic or scary, I would definitely have had trouble sleeping. The idea that someone could have such split sides of himself was shocking, and the idea that he could go on so long without anyone catching on was even more shocking. Holmes killed women, men, children. Business associates, lost travelers, multiple wives, and people he'd known for years. All the while, he was writing apologetic letters to parents searching for daughters, shaking the hands of local cops, and expanding his businesses. He built a kiln to burn bodies in the basement and a sealed room with a gas lever to kill victims. He bought multiple properties to bury bodies when out of town and changed his name every time he moved. Holmes clearly thought out his crimes with calculated efficiency. A really, really scary guy. Even if crime non-fiction isn't your thing, I encourage you to give this one a try. It was a really unique read that brought history alive and really showed just how far we've come in business, forensics, and crime investigation. Next up, I'm reading Caraval! I can't wait! Eek!What are you reading this week?
2018: What to Expect
It's the time of year for resolutions and goals, identifying what you want to accomplish in the coming year. Here's what you can expect from me!Pre-order The Snow Owl starting February 1st. The Release of The Snow Owl on March 7th!!! Ahhhhh!The Sea Shade - Mason and Talia will finally get their second book! If you've read The Lightning Luminary, you're definitely ready for this one. The House of Birds and Beasts - Raelin and Foster and all their maji friends will find a bookshelf this year, either through an agent/publisher and the traditional route, or via my own self-publishing channels. Their beautiful story is ready for the world!Mercy - Many of you have already alpha-read my latest contemporary romance following Elliot as he woes his childhood sweetheart, Mercy. Prepare to hear more about them going forward. The release of a super secret and extra-special short story (collection?) that takes place in the world of the Alder Tales. The launch of my author services. After years of paving my own roads, I'm now helping up-and-coming authors achieve their dreams through editing and formatting services. I'm really honored to be able to help my fellow authors! What are you looking to accomplish this year?Note: Not my pic!
December 14, 2017
Review: The New Voices of Fantasy Collection (Beagle/Weisman)
Sometimes as a reader, I feel way behind. There are simply too many books and too few of me! My Instagram is full of gorgeous pictures of books I'm dying to read and can't get to. Hell, I didn't even start The Raven Cycle until The Raven King was already published! So last month, book shopping for an upcoming cruise, I was stoked to find this little gem: The New Voices of Fantasy edited by Peter S. Beagle and Jacob Weisman. Now, I'm not much of a short story reader (I tend to prefer trilogies and longer series), but if you're going to branch out you might as well go all the way, right?
(Side note: This cover is super stunning and I love, love, love this alien leaf girl and I want a poster to put in my room!)The New Voices of Fantasy is my attempt to get ahead of the fantasy genre and see who are the up-and-coming names. While the editors do a great job of indicating which authors won which awards (of which there are many), I had honestly not heard of a single author in the collection before cracking it open. I call that a win!As a contributor to several anthologies and collections myself, I always appreciate a review that will itemize each story and tell readers (and authors) which stories worked and why. So here it goes!1. Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers by Alyssa WongThis was my favorite story in the collection, no joke. It tells the story of a woman who can see negative thoughts and personality flaws like living creatures that hover over the heads of everyone she meets. But not only can she see the darkness and corruption of others, she feeds on it. She even keeps it all in jars! The imagery of this piece was stunning and the writing was so delicious. Definitely a winner!Rating: 10/102. Selkie Stories Are for Losers by Sofia SamatarI didn't quite get this one. It's a few dozen or so smaller segments that seem to fit into a larger fabric that I didn't fully grasp. Just as I thought I might be starting to catch on, it was over! I did really like the idea of the Selkie, a seal that wears human skin and eventually returns to the ocean. That was a new-to-me lore that I was really interested in learning about, though I wish the story had explored them a little more.Rating: 4/103. Tornado's Siren by Brooke BolanderWhat could be cooler than a tornado that loves a woman? This is the unique story of a woman who finds herself the object of affection of a recurring tornado. It compares the white picket fence life to something more unorthodox. I really admired the way Rhea thought about her life and made decisions. She was very relatable and I loved the overall story. Rating: 8/104. Left the Century to Sit Unmoved by Sarah PinskerThe title of this one throws me off and is probably my least favorite thing about this story. It's about this local pond that kids jump into and every once in a while, someone vanishes. Now kids jump in as a sort of dare or to prove themselves or some other reason. In fact, at it's root, the story examines why people go in and what it means to them when they come up again. A really interesting piece. Rating: 7/105. A Kiss with Teeth by Max GladstoneThis was my second favorite piece in the collection. Vlad (assumed to be the Vlad) is a modern day vampire struggling to keep his identity a secret for the sake of his son. However, after years of marriage to a once-exciting woman, Vlad feels the itch for some interest and intrigue in his life, and targets his son's teacher. I found this piece to be a really fun and interesting examination of how people change over time and how marriages really work. And there was a twist on the usual vampire tale and that's always a plus!Rating: 9/106. Jackalope Wives by Ursula VernonJackalope Wives was another story I really enjoyed. I thought it was going to be a love story between a boy and the jackalope wife he captures, but it was really a story about belonging and bravery. The lore behind the story was new to me and I really enjoyed the legend feel of the piece. And the big reveal at the end left me tearing up.Rating: 10/107. The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees by E. Lily YuThis one was another miss for me. It has a really distant narrative voice and tells the story of two warring insect colonies. There was a moral of the story unfolding, about rising up against tyranny, and then the problems just disappeared and everyone went back to being happy. The ending was underwhelming and I am really left confused about what the story was trying to say. Rating: 2/108. The Practical Witch's Guide to Acquiring Real Estate By A.C. WiseThis is a kind of funny piece giving advice to witches about how to take or grow houses. It treats houses like predatory and emotional pets, which makes it humorous. But the joke gets carried on too long and I found myself wishing it had stuck to a shorter punch line. Not a total miss, but not a piece that I was particularly drawn to. Rating: 5/109. The Tallest Doll in New York City by Maria Dahvana HeadleyI liked this one. It tells the story of a lady building who is jonesing for a guy building and they start getting it on while the buildings are still occupied. Funny and cute and interesting. Rating: 6/1010. The Haunting of Apollo A7LB by Hannu RajaniemiI really liked this one! A space suit is haunted by the astronaut who wore it and returns to the woman who made it (and the astronaut loved). A sweet sort of haunting that's entertaining and unique. Rating: 8/1011. Here Be Dragons by Chris TarryI really, really did not get this one. It tells the story of a man who made a career fighting fake dragons who has to leave his business to be a parent. It feels like he's going to decide to be a good dad and focus on his family instead of cheating people out of money, but then he goes right back to dragon 'fighting' so I'm not really sure what the message was supposed to be. That guys are jerks no matter what? I just couldn't get on board with this one at all. Total miss. Rating: 1/1012. The One They Took Before by Kelly SandovalHell to the yes. This one was strange in all the best ways and at the end I was all OH MY GOD. Go read it. Now. Rating: 10/1013. Tiger Baby by JY YangI liked this cool little piece. A woman who feels like she's a tiger hangs with neighborhood cats until she transitions into her true feline form. But it's not what she expected. Really interesting and enjoyable read. Rating: 7/1014. The Duck by Ben LooryApparently the author writes children's books, and I definitely got that feel from this piece. While it was sweet and interesting to read about a duck who falls in love with a rock, the ending left me feeling like I missed something. Another paragraph or two would be all that was needed to really solidify the conclusion, but without it, the story just isn't complete. Cute though.Rating: 7/1015. Wing by Amal El-MohtarThis was a short and unique piece about a girl who a book around her neck who tells stories. They're all beautifully interwoven and at the end, I was left feeling a big 'wow' about how it all worked together. Flawless. Rating: 10/1016. The Philosophers by Adam Ehrlich SachsThis was actually a trio of slightly odd stories that examine the relationship between father and son. They are all complex and mostly negative, but otherwise they didn't seem to really relate in any way. Interesting but disconnected. Rating: 5/1017. My Time Among the Bridge Blowers by Eugene FischerThis was one of the longer pieces in the collection that had a lot of unique aspects. A researcher with some strange tattoos visits a colony of people who can create territories and structures with breath. It's a really interesting concept that I was excited to explore, but the story seemed stuck on some of the more commonplace aspects of the traveling experience. It could have been really stunning but it was just lacking that something to make it pop. Rating: 6/1018. The Husband Stitch by Carmen Maria MachadoA woman with a ribbon around her neck with predictable results. However, the story itself was spectacularly well-written with a delicate balance of flashback, current action, summarizing spans of years, and off-beat stories. It has a serious feminism streak and explores how women have a tendency to give everything (and eventually too much) to the men they love. Really, really well done though sadly an ending we all saw coming a mile away. Rating: 9/1019. The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn by Usman T. Malik This story is easily the longest in the collection and at first feels like the classic pilgrimage story. A young boy raised on his grandfather's stories of old Pakistan returns to fetch a secret item. However, it is rather long-winded and in many places feels preachy (This isn't how jinn lore works, thisss is the right way!). In the end, the secret was so abstract and far-fetched that I found myself groaning and wishing it was over. Which is a bummer! I really loved all my recent jinni/djinn reads (The Golem and the Jinni, Rebel of the Sands, etc) but found this one was less about expanding jinn lore and more about rewriting it in a long, twisted, uninteresting way. Rating: 6/10Overall, I thought the collection was well done. The cover is stunning. I didn't find a single typo in the whole dang thing, and never did a read a story that I felt needed another pass at editing. One of the cleanest and most polished collaborations I've ever read.Like all collections, it had a few stand out stars and a few that didn't resonate for me, but that's the reality of these collections. It's nearly impossible to put together a group of stories in which every reader loves every piece. It's just not feasible. But The New Voice of Fantasy accomplished its mission of introducing this fantasy lover to new voices in the genre and giving me some fodder for the Christmas list. Overall Rating: 7/10
(Side note: This cover is super stunning and I love, love, love this alien leaf girl and I want a poster to put in my room!)The New Voices of Fantasy is my attempt to get ahead of the fantasy genre and see who are the up-and-coming names. While the editors do a great job of indicating which authors won which awards (of which there are many), I had honestly not heard of a single author in the collection before cracking it open. I call that a win!As a contributor to several anthologies and collections myself, I always appreciate a review that will itemize each story and tell readers (and authors) which stories worked and why. So here it goes!1. Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers by Alyssa WongThis was my favorite story in the collection, no joke. It tells the story of a woman who can see negative thoughts and personality flaws like living creatures that hover over the heads of everyone she meets. But not only can she see the darkness and corruption of others, she feeds on it. She even keeps it all in jars! The imagery of this piece was stunning and the writing was so delicious. Definitely a winner!Rating: 10/102. Selkie Stories Are for Losers by Sofia SamatarI didn't quite get this one. It's a few dozen or so smaller segments that seem to fit into a larger fabric that I didn't fully grasp. Just as I thought I might be starting to catch on, it was over! I did really like the idea of the Selkie, a seal that wears human skin and eventually returns to the ocean. That was a new-to-me lore that I was really interested in learning about, though I wish the story had explored them a little more.Rating: 4/103. Tornado's Siren by Brooke BolanderWhat could be cooler than a tornado that loves a woman? This is the unique story of a woman who finds herself the object of affection of a recurring tornado. It compares the white picket fence life to something more unorthodox. I really admired the way Rhea thought about her life and made decisions. She was very relatable and I loved the overall story. Rating: 8/104. Left the Century to Sit Unmoved by Sarah PinskerThe title of this one throws me off and is probably my least favorite thing about this story. It's about this local pond that kids jump into and every once in a while, someone vanishes. Now kids jump in as a sort of dare or to prove themselves or some other reason. In fact, at it's root, the story examines why people go in and what it means to them when they come up again. A really interesting piece. Rating: 7/105. A Kiss with Teeth by Max GladstoneThis was my second favorite piece in the collection. Vlad (assumed to be the Vlad) is a modern day vampire struggling to keep his identity a secret for the sake of his son. However, after years of marriage to a once-exciting woman, Vlad feels the itch for some interest and intrigue in his life, and targets his son's teacher. I found this piece to be a really fun and interesting examination of how people change over time and how marriages really work. And there was a twist on the usual vampire tale and that's always a plus!Rating: 9/106. Jackalope Wives by Ursula VernonJackalope Wives was another story I really enjoyed. I thought it was going to be a love story between a boy and the jackalope wife he captures, but it was really a story about belonging and bravery. The lore behind the story was new to me and I really enjoyed the legend feel of the piece. And the big reveal at the end left me tearing up.Rating: 10/107. The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees by E. Lily YuThis one was another miss for me. It has a really distant narrative voice and tells the story of two warring insect colonies. There was a moral of the story unfolding, about rising up against tyranny, and then the problems just disappeared and everyone went back to being happy. The ending was underwhelming and I am really left confused about what the story was trying to say. Rating: 2/108. The Practical Witch's Guide to Acquiring Real Estate By A.C. WiseThis is a kind of funny piece giving advice to witches about how to take or grow houses. It treats houses like predatory and emotional pets, which makes it humorous. But the joke gets carried on too long and I found myself wishing it had stuck to a shorter punch line. Not a total miss, but not a piece that I was particularly drawn to. Rating: 5/109. The Tallest Doll in New York City by Maria Dahvana HeadleyI liked this one. It tells the story of a lady building who is jonesing for a guy building and they start getting it on while the buildings are still occupied. Funny and cute and interesting. Rating: 6/1010. The Haunting of Apollo A7LB by Hannu RajaniemiI really liked this one! A space suit is haunted by the astronaut who wore it and returns to the woman who made it (and the astronaut loved). A sweet sort of haunting that's entertaining and unique. Rating: 8/1011. Here Be Dragons by Chris TarryI really, really did not get this one. It tells the story of a man who made a career fighting fake dragons who has to leave his business to be a parent. It feels like he's going to decide to be a good dad and focus on his family instead of cheating people out of money, but then he goes right back to dragon 'fighting' so I'm not really sure what the message was supposed to be. That guys are jerks no matter what? I just couldn't get on board with this one at all. Total miss. Rating: 1/1012. The One They Took Before by Kelly SandovalHell to the yes. This one was strange in all the best ways and at the end I was all OH MY GOD. Go read it. Now. Rating: 10/1013. Tiger Baby by JY YangI liked this cool little piece. A woman who feels like she's a tiger hangs with neighborhood cats until she transitions into her true feline form. But it's not what she expected. Really interesting and enjoyable read. Rating: 7/1014. The Duck by Ben LooryApparently the author writes children's books, and I definitely got that feel from this piece. While it was sweet and interesting to read about a duck who falls in love with a rock, the ending left me feeling like I missed something. Another paragraph or two would be all that was needed to really solidify the conclusion, but without it, the story just isn't complete. Cute though.Rating: 7/1015. Wing by Amal El-MohtarThis was a short and unique piece about a girl who a book around her neck who tells stories. They're all beautifully interwoven and at the end, I was left feeling a big 'wow' about how it all worked together. Flawless. Rating: 10/1016. The Philosophers by Adam Ehrlich SachsThis was actually a trio of slightly odd stories that examine the relationship between father and son. They are all complex and mostly negative, but otherwise they didn't seem to really relate in any way. Interesting but disconnected. Rating: 5/1017. My Time Among the Bridge Blowers by Eugene FischerThis was one of the longer pieces in the collection that had a lot of unique aspects. A researcher with some strange tattoos visits a colony of people who can create territories and structures with breath. It's a really interesting concept that I was excited to explore, but the story seemed stuck on some of the more commonplace aspects of the traveling experience. It could have been really stunning but it was just lacking that something to make it pop. Rating: 6/1018. The Husband Stitch by Carmen Maria MachadoA woman with a ribbon around her neck with predictable results. However, the story itself was spectacularly well-written with a delicate balance of flashback, current action, summarizing spans of years, and off-beat stories. It has a serious feminism streak and explores how women have a tendency to give everything (and eventually too much) to the men they love. Really, really well done though sadly an ending we all saw coming a mile away. Rating: 9/1019. The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn by Usman T. Malik This story is easily the longest in the collection and at first feels like the classic pilgrimage story. A young boy raised on his grandfather's stories of old Pakistan returns to fetch a secret item. However, it is rather long-winded and in many places feels preachy (This isn't how jinn lore works, thisss is the right way!). In the end, the secret was so abstract and far-fetched that I found myself groaning and wishing it was over. Which is a bummer! I really loved all my recent jinni/djinn reads (The Golem and the Jinni, Rebel of the Sands, etc) but found this one was less about expanding jinn lore and more about rewriting it in a long, twisted, uninteresting way. Rating: 6/10Overall, I thought the collection was well done. The cover is stunning. I didn't find a single typo in the whole dang thing, and never did a read a story that I felt needed another pass at editing. One of the cleanest and most polished collaborations I've ever read.Like all collections, it had a few stand out stars and a few that didn't resonate for me, but that's the reality of these collections. It's nearly impossible to put together a group of stories in which every reader loves every piece. It's just not feasible. But The New Voice of Fantasy accomplished its mission of introducing this fantasy lover to new voices in the genre and giving me some fodder for the Christmas list. Overall Rating: 7/10
December 12, 2017
Cruise Reviews: Heart of Betrayal, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and The Magicians
Two weeks ago, I was blessed with a family trip on a cruise ship to Mexico and Honduras. My husband and I had seven days of eating, sleeping in, snorkeling, swimming, and, of course, reading! I managed to get through three books!Heart of Betrayal
It took me a while to get to this one because I didn't particularly love the first book. However, The Heart of Betrayal solves a lot of the problems found in The Kiss of Deception (namely, everyone has been identified). The world-building went a little crazy here, with Lia diving into the history of each of the three countries with more detail. At times it was difficult to keep up with all the names and places, but for the most part it was interesting enough. My favorite character in this series is definitely the Komizar, but he tends to lean too far into the cliche villain trope, where he does only bad things for bad reasons and has not a shred of humanity left. When he is given some dimension, he shines, and I wish there could have been a better balance to him. Lia, on the other hand, is kind of boring and a bit melodramatic. She's good at everything but never does anything to help herself get away. She can sneak in and out of places but never bothers to try leaving. She can fight with a sword but never uses it to her advantage. She can speak all the languages but doesn't bother trying to convince people to help her at all. Not a terrible read by any means, but it lacked that something that made me interested in continuing to read it. Had I not been on the pool deck of a cruise ship with nothing to do but read, I might have never finished it. I'll get to book three someday...The Perks of Being a Wallflower
This is a short little book (200 or so pages) that's told in a letter format, but it packs the punch of a full book. Charlie was a spectacular character and I loved him from the first page. His nerves and honesty were so endearing and it was impossible not to root for him. I also really loved the way the author dealt with issues like drugs, intimacy, loyalty, and self while showing Charlie interacting in a variety of quirky and real settings. Really a stunning book I wish I'd read years ago!The Magicians
I really, really enjoyed this one! (And it's stunning cover!) The Magicians easily breaks many rules of the fantasy genre. It has no definable plot (characters seem to roam around doing things for temporary reasons, but no real arc is present), it covers are large time frame (at least four or five years, rather than a few weeks/months), and the main character is an emotional wreck at times (not the 'strong' characters we tend to see). But never mind all that. It worked. Quentin is moody, complicated, brilliant, and unhappy. He should be a boring, unrelatable main character, but he was also endearing, and hard-working, and I had no trouble at all rooting for him. He kind of reminded me of Ender in Ender's Game, in that he is wholly dedicated to the study of a discipline, and his objective in life is to be the best at it. I think a lot of readers can relate to that. Some might (and probably have) compare this to Harry Potter, Brakebills to Hogwarts, Quentin to Harry, etc. But they'd find the comparison is short lived. The Magicians is full of sex, wine, cursing, devious misdeeds, and all manner of dark humor that would never survive at a sunny place like Hogwarts. They both succeed in nearly opposite ways. Lev Grossman's prose is magical (no really) and I'll have no trouble adding the rest of his books to my TBR immediately. New favorite!What are you reading over the holidays?
It took me a while to get to this one because I didn't particularly love the first book. However, The Heart of Betrayal solves a lot of the problems found in The Kiss of Deception (namely, everyone has been identified). The world-building went a little crazy here, with Lia diving into the history of each of the three countries with more detail. At times it was difficult to keep up with all the names and places, but for the most part it was interesting enough. My favorite character in this series is definitely the Komizar, but he tends to lean too far into the cliche villain trope, where he does only bad things for bad reasons and has not a shred of humanity left. When he is given some dimension, he shines, and I wish there could have been a better balance to him. Lia, on the other hand, is kind of boring and a bit melodramatic. She's good at everything but never does anything to help herself get away. She can sneak in and out of places but never bothers to try leaving. She can fight with a sword but never uses it to her advantage. She can speak all the languages but doesn't bother trying to convince people to help her at all. Not a terrible read by any means, but it lacked that something that made me interested in continuing to read it. Had I not been on the pool deck of a cruise ship with nothing to do but read, I might have never finished it. I'll get to book three someday...The Perks of Being a WallflowerThis is a short little book (200 or so pages) that's told in a letter format, but it packs the punch of a full book. Charlie was a spectacular character and I loved him from the first page. His nerves and honesty were so endearing and it was impossible not to root for him. I also really loved the way the author dealt with issues like drugs, intimacy, loyalty, and self while showing Charlie interacting in a variety of quirky and real settings. Really a stunning book I wish I'd read years ago!The MagiciansI really, really enjoyed this one! (And it's stunning cover!) The Magicians easily breaks many rules of the fantasy genre. It has no definable plot (characters seem to roam around doing things for temporary reasons, but no real arc is present), it covers are large time frame (at least four or five years, rather than a few weeks/months), and the main character is an emotional wreck at times (not the 'strong' characters we tend to see). But never mind all that. It worked. Quentin is moody, complicated, brilliant, and unhappy. He should be a boring, unrelatable main character, but he was also endearing, and hard-working, and I had no trouble at all rooting for him. He kind of reminded me of Ender in Ender's Game, in that he is wholly dedicated to the study of a discipline, and his objective in life is to be the best at it. I think a lot of readers can relate to that. Some might (and probably have) compare this to Harry Potter, Brakebills to Hogwarts, Quentin to Harry, etc. But they'd find the comparison is short lived. The Magicians is full of sex, wine, cursing, devious misdeeds, and all manner of dark humor that would never survive at a sunny place like Hogwarts. They both succeed in nearly opposite ways. Lev Grossman's prose is magical (no really) and I'll have no trouble adding the rest of his books to my TBR immediately. New favorite!What are you reading over the holidays?
November 9, 2017
Review: milk and honey by Rupi Kaur
After finishing Red Queen last night, I decided to switch things up and try out this little poetry book called milk and honey. Yes, it's lowercase. I'm not sure there's a capital letter in the entire book.
Kaur's poems are startlingly powerful and many times a bit of a gut-punch. Quite a few of them are short, three-liners and others are pages long. Each describes some aspect of abuse, femininity, loss, family, and self-confidence. While I really enjoyed a lot of the poems and felt moved by them, others were less successful. As a super happily married lady, I can't relate well to thoughts like 'you don't need a man to make you happy' or 'men are just visitors in your life' and that sort of thing. I've built a life and love with a man, so some of the poems felt a bit like man-bashing. Sure, there are jerks in the world, but there are also really lovely people in the world, too. I'm glad to have taken the time (seriously like an hour or two) to walk down Rupi's life and experience some of her failures and successes. She has a unique point of view that I don't entirely agree with but there's certainly a good amount of overlap. A startlingly well-done book of poetry and maybe the only one I've bothered to read in at least a decade. Next up, I'm trying to get back to the Remnant Chronicles with The Heart of Betrayal. Fingers crossed!
Kaur's poems are startlingly powerful and many times a bit of a gut-punch. Quite a few of them are short, three-liners and others are pages long. Each describes some aspect of abuse, femininity, loss, family, and self-confidence. While I really enjoyed a lot of the poems and felt moved by them, others were less successful. As a super happily married lady, I can't relate well to thoughts like 'you don't need a man to make you happy' or 'men are just visitors in your life' and that sort of thing. I've built a life and love with a man, so some of the poems felt a bit like man-bashing. Sure, there are jerks in the world, but there are also really lovely people in the world, too. I'm glad to have taken the time (seriously like an hour or two) to walk down Rupi's life and experience some of her failures and successes. She has a unique point of view that I don't entirely agree with but there's certainly a good amount of overlap. A startlingly well-done book of poetry and maybe the only one I've bothered to read in at least a decade. Next up, I'm trying to get back to the Remnant Chronicles with The Heart of Betrayal. Fingers crossed!
Review: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
This week I read Aveyard's Red Queen. It's the first in a YA fantasy series and is on every blogger's top list for the genre. However, popularity doesn't always equal quality or interest, so I went in with a grain of salt. 
The first few chapters feel like The Hunger Games fanfiction. There's a post-apocalyptic society based on separating classes (blood = districts) and a main character that belongs to the poorest and survives by stealing and breaking other laws (Mare = Katniss). She even has a psuedo hot bestie who's the only one who really gets her (Kilorn = Gale). However, despite these parallels, the story does get into it's own unique groove. The world-building was really fun (Silvers have lots of cool powers) and Mare's lightning was a fun twist. I was all set for a Kilorn vs. Cal love triangle, and then Maven comes in and throws the whole thing for a loop. I love to be surprised by an author and Aveyard definitely kept me on my toes, never quite getting what I was expecting. My only complaint is that Mare was a smidge over dramatic about things. She definitely knew she was going to die in almost every scene. She definitely loved or hated various people without any real conviction to those feelings, and she flips after several events. But I loved her personality and spunk, that she was willing to do anything to help the people she cared about, and she was willing to put herself in danger to protect her family. All in all, Red Queen was a great, interesting read that kept me glued to my chair. I look forward to continuing the series and have already put the sequels on my Christmas list!Up next, I'm stepping out of genre to try out Rupi Kaur's milk and honey. Who's read this one?
The first few chapters feel like The Hunger Games fanfiction. There's a post-apocalyptic society based on separating classes (blood = districts) and a main character that belongs to the poorest and survives by stealing and breaking other laws (Mare = Katniss). She even has a psuedo hot bestie who's the only one who really gets her (Kilorn = Gale). However, despite these parallels, the story does get into it's own unique groove. The world-building was really fun (Silvers have lots of cool powers) and Mare's lightning was a fun twist. I was all set for a Kilorn vs. Cal love triangle, and then Maven comes in and throws the whole thing for a loop. I love to be surprised by an author and Aveyard definitely kept me on my toes, never quite getting what I was expecting. My only complaint is that Mare was a smidge over dramatic about things. She definitely knew she was going to die in almost every scene. She definitely loved or hated various people without any real conviction to those feelings, and she flips after several events. But I loved her personality and spunk, that she was willing to do anything to help the people she cared about, and she was willing to put herself in danger to protect her family. All in all, Red Queen was a great, interesting read that kept me glued to my chair. I look forward to continuing the series and have already put the sequels on my Christmas list!Up next, I'm stepping out of genre to try out Rupi Kaur's milk and honey. Who's read this one?
November 1, 2017
Review: The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
This review is super late but finally here! Last week, I finished The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker. This book has been on my TBR for a good long while and everyone I knew loved it, so I figured it was time to give it a try. 
First, while I am a fantasy lover, I tend to read more books with supernatural or magical elements, rather than creatures. So my knowledge of golems was limited to The Alchemyst, and I was more recently introduced to jinni/djinni's through An Ember in the Ashes and Rebel of the Sands. Basically, I had a loose concept that golems were clay people and jinnis were desert spirits with human forms and some powers, but that was really the extent of my background knowledge. I was expecting to get a more in-depth journey into both golems and jinnis, but The Golem and the Jinni was so much more. The first third of the book was spent in separate POVs, introducing the characters and the settings. The golem was a clay woman made to be a wife for a Jewish immigrant arriving in NYC, but she ends up alone in the Jewish neighborhood in the city trying to figure out herself and the people around her. Wecker did a really fantastic job of giving us the parameters by which she was created and then showing us how those factor into her personality and relationships. The jinni was freed from a flask and trapped in human form, constantly looking for a way out. He romanticizes his life in the desert and lives with a metalsmith in Little Syria. He's been alive for hundreds of years and could theoretically live for another thousand years. Once the golem and jinni are introduced, they find they have quite a lot in common. Neither are quite human but are trying to pass as human for the time being, neither quite understand some intricacies of human life and spirit, and neither sleep. They argue sometimes and laugh at other times and all together, they have a really special relationship. The beauty of this book is in the seamless way the author wove this unique story of fantasy creatures in the backdrop of historical immigration-era New York. She was able to use stunningly beautiful writing to give us insight into two complicated characters while still keeping the story moving and showing a really rich cultural time period in a celebrated city. I mean. Wow. The sum of this book is definitely more than the parts. I can't recommend this book enough. The Golem and the Jinni is definitely one of my top reads of the year!Up next, I'm starting Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. Am I the last person on the planet to have read this one? Possibly!Read more of my reviews and check out my TBR on Goodreads!
First, while I am a fantasy lover, I tend to read more books with supernatural or magical elements, rather than creatures. So my knowledge of golems was limited to The Alchemyst, and I was more recently introduced to jinni/djinni's through An Ember in the Ashes and Rebel of the Sands. Basically, I had a loose concept that golems were clay people and jinnis were desert spirits with human forms and some powers, but that was really the extent of my background knowledge. I was expecting to get a more in-depth journey into both golems and jinnis, but The Golem and the Jinni was so much more. The first third of the book was spent in separate POVs, introducing the characters and the settings. The golem was a clay woman made to be a wife for a Jewish immigrant arriving in NYC, but she ends up alone in the Jewish neighborhood in the city trying to figure out herself and the people around her. Wecker did a really fantastic job of giving us the parameters by which she was created and then showing us how those factor into her personality and relationships. The jinni was freed from a flask and trapped in human form, constantly looking for a way out. He romanticizes his life in the desert and lives with a metalsmith in Little Syria. He's been alive for hundreds of years and could theoretically live for another thousand years. Once the golem and jinni are introduced, they find they have quite a lot in common. Neither are quite human but are trying to pass as human for the time being, neither quite understand some intricacies of human life and spirit, and neither sleep. They argue sometimes and laugh at other times and all together, they have a really special relationship. The beauty of this book is in the seamless way the author wove this unique story of fantasy creatures in the backdrop of historical immigration-era New York. She was able to use stunningly beautiful writing to give us insight into two complicated characters while still keeping the story moving and showing a really rich cultural time period in a celebrated city. I mean. Wow. The sum of this book is definitely more than the parts. I can't recommend this book enough. The Golem and the Jinni is definitely one of my top reads of the year!Up next, I'm starting Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. Am I the last person on the planet to have read this one? Possibly!Read more of my reviews and check out my TBR on Goodreads!
