Journeys in Print
Mei Ling Stalks the White HartI’ve been really busy, as I get back into my writing, but I’m still finding time to read. I seem to have been reading a lot of stories in which journeys, not necessarily quests, are a theme.
For those of you unfamiliar with this column, the Friday Fragments lists what I’ve read over the past week. Most of the time I don’t include details of either short fiction (unless part of a book-length collection) or magazines. The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list. If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive recommendation list, you can look on my website under Neat Stuff.
Once again, this is not a book review column. It’s just a list with, maybe, a bit of description or a few opinions tossed in. And it’s also a great place to tell me what you’re reading.
Completed:
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. Audiobook. Non-military space opera setting. Good aliens. Structure is more like interlocking short stories than a novel, but very good.
The White Hart by Nancy Springer. Celtic flavor fantasy in which love in its many forms, rather than merely romance is a driving force. Lovely prose.
In Progress:
A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger. So far quite promising, but I’m only a few segments in.
Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day by Seanan McGuire. Audiobook. Just started.
Also:
“A Psalm for the Wild-Built” by Becky Chambers. Novella. Richly descriptive, with focus on conflicts within the self, rather than without. Sort of a non-dystopian “Canticle for Leibowitz” meets some of Clifford Simak’s more pastoral work. Definitely, SF for more reasons than setting.
