Sable Aradia's Blog, page 25
March 8, 2019
An Ordinary Day: My Thoughts on International Women’s Day
Reprinted from a couple of years ago. It seems more pertinent than ever. Think about everything we have to lose. Don’t let them take it away.
Today was just a day like any other for me. I got up and put on a pair of jeans and a blouse that flatters my figure, tied my hair back in a ponytail, and left the house. I went to the bank and withdrew a significant sum of money from my account because I needed to replace my broken, battered old car with an unbroken, slightly less battered old car. We picked up and paid for the car, a little Hyundai hatchback that’s almost as old as my son, and then I spent the two hours or so I had before work arguing about politics and then watching sexy videos with my partner.
Read the full article on Between the Shadows.
March 5, 2019
Book Review: A Feast of Crows by George R. R. Martin
A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book was a surreal experience for someone who saw the TV show first. Because here, the text and the show dramatically part ways, and become in many respects entirely different stories. There’s a whole lot of stuff going on with the Ironborn that is poignant and terrible and the show didn’t touch it at all.
Not to say I didn’t thoroughly enjoy it! It’s just that it’s sooooo much more complicated, and there’s so much going on! We got to meet characters we have barely even seen in the TV show, and entire subplots unfolded that were either not present, or truncated. For instance, the Sand Snakes serve more purpose and make a lot more sense. And there’s a whole lot going on in the North that’s barely touched on in the show. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but it’s right out of a Grimm’s fairytale. Grimm’s, not Anderson’s. This is, after all, Game of Thrones.
An intense and exciting read that I couldn’t put down, even when I had other things I really had to do.
I am really behind on book reviews. Expect a bit of a backdated blitz over the next few days. Date I finished reading is estimated because I am so far behind.
March 4, 2019
Eyeball Planets
By Michelle Starr
Science Alert Writer
You’ve heard of hot Jupiters. You’ve heard of mini-Neptunes. You’ve heard of super-Earths. But have you heard of Eyeball Planets? Yep – planetary scientists think there might be a type of exoplanet out there that looks disturbingly like a giant eyeball. Just sitting there. Staring.
But it’s actually not as weird as it sounds – the appearance of these bodies has to do with tidal locking.
Read the full article at Science Alert’s website.
March 3, 2019
The Indie Connection: The Dark Tower
Once Upon a Time in the Wyrd West is getting some press! It was featured recently on the Indie Connection, which is a segment in GoIndieNow! that suggests similar indie titles to popular mainstream books! Thanks, Fiction-Atlas Press!
March 2, 2019
39 Amazing New SciFi & Fantasy Books to Check Out in March
io9 curates a great list of new releases in SFF every month, which I always check out — and this month, I’m pleased to say that Gunsmoke & Dragonfire made the cut and got some press! Thanks guys! We appreciate it! I’m looking forward to many of these books myself. Read on:
March is here—damn, that was fast!—and with it, a stack of new sci-fi and fantasy books to add to your reading list, including entries from genre favorites like Cory Doctorow and G. Willow Wilson, plus a new Expanse novel, Tiamat’s Wrath, that was originally supposed to come out in 2018 but is finally on its way. Dig in!
Read the full article at io9.
March 1, 2019
Book Trailer Drop: Gunsmoke & Dragonfire #7!
Happy Friday! It’s a book trailer drop day, and today we’re focusing on the Weird Northwesterns in the collection: The Teeth of Winter by Yours Truly, By Way of Answer by Sean Jones, and A Prayer for the Reaping Season by Mackenzie Kincaid.
For the next week, you can get the book on Kindle for somewhat less than the full price: only $4.99! Pre-order Gunsmoke & Dragonfire here.
Watch the full list of book trailers so far HERE.
Check out the playlist of all the Kickstarter videos, including book trailers and author interviews, HERE.
February 23, 2019
The Authors’ Guild Objects to Morals Clauses – Here’s Why
The Authors Guild objects to publishers’ new and increasing use of so-called “morals clauses.” These contract provisions allow publishers to terminate a book contract, and in many cases even require the author to repay portions of the advance already received, if the author is accused of immoral, illegal, or publicly condemned behavior. Publishers insist they need the clauses to protect themselves in the event an author’s reputation becomes so tarnished after the book contract is signed that it will hurt sales. But most of these clauses are too broad and allow a publisher to terminate based on individual accusations or the vague notion of “public condemnation”—which can occur all too easily in these days of viral social media.
Read more at The Authors’ Guild website.
February 22, 2019
Book Trailer Drop: Gunsmoke & Dragonfire Book Trailer #6!
Happy Friday! Here’s the sixth book trailer for Gunsmoke & Dragonfire! It’s the last one you’ll see before the special February pre-order price at Amazon ends. On March 1, we go up to full price. So get it here now!
This time we’re focusing on sci-fi westerns: “Red Tide Rising” by Sara Codair, “Orcus Express, Derailed” by Russell Hemmell, and “Rollo’s Herd” by Claire Ryan!
Watch the full list of book trailers so far HERE.
Check out the playlist of all the Kickstarter videos, including book trailers and author interviews, HERE.
February 20, 2019
Book Review: The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells
The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Read for the Science Fiction Masterworks Book Club and the SF Masterworks Reading List.
This classic science fiction novel by H.G. Wells has not seemed to have aged well. Of course we have been to the moon, and found no evidence of life of any kind. But there’s a lot in it well worth examining anyway, even for a modern audience.
For one thing, Wells cleverly examines the full implications of an alien mind, “creatures who are as smart as a man, but who don’t think like a man.” The two primary characters – an impoverished businessman named Bedford and an utterly impractical genius named Cavor – take advantage of Cavor’s discovery of a substance that repels gravity to journey to the moon, where they encounter an entire race of ant-like sentient creatures, mostly to their peril.
It’s hard to know whether or not Wells was writing seriously about these characters, or whether he has penned a classic work of masterful satire. These two gentlemen are textbook examples of everything that was wrong with Victorian high society, from their utter disdain and disrespect of the intelligence and capabilities of the lower classes, to their racism and misogyny, to their complete stupidity in the way they approached and reacted to the voyage. Bedford is an Edison-like figure who sees himself as superior to others, and thus entitled to the better things in life, and he thinks of everything in terms of how it might profit him. Cavor is completely given to intellectual pursuits, coloured beyond redemption with his assumptions, and has no common sense. This is a good example of what science fiction, at its best, is supposed to do, which is to make you question the way that societies, as they currently exist, do things, and to imagine better ways.
Despite the Victorian writing style, this, like all Wells’ works, is well worth the time. Highly recommended.
February 18, 2019
WE DID IT!
There’s still a couple of days to get in on the Kickstarter if you want any of the great rewards! Check it out here!
