Lisa Eckstein > Recent Status Updates

Things have been moving along at a better pace in recent chapters. Still a lot of story left, and I have no real guesses about where it's going to go.

A great ending to this great collection with "Kelsey and the Burdened Breath" by Darcie Little Badger, an inventive story in which the last breaths of the dead can linger and need to be herded onward, perhaps by a live human guide and a dead sheepdog.

The story is focusing a bit more, with some revelations I've been waiting for. I still think this final installment is just too long, but I'm glad to feel more compelled again.

I loved the subtle shifts in "The Robots of Eden" by Anil Menon, a family story that gradually becomes science fictional.

There is a LOT going on in this final installment, and I'm sorry to say it's often feeling like too much for me.

What an odyssey!

"The Freedom of the Shifting Sea" by Jaymee Goh is an intense, sexy, constantly unexpected story about love with an immortal sea creature.

"Burn the Ships" by Alberto Yañez is a gut-punch of a story about a husband and wife taking two different approaches to magic against the colonizing forces that have imprisoned their people.

Really enjoying all the different things already happening in this very tense final installment of the series.

Great range of story styles and genres!

Enjoying getting to know a new narrator but very anxious about the last one!

I was engrossed by "The Virtue of Unfaithful Translations" by Minsoo Kang, which is written as a scholarly analysis of archived documents that uncover the truths behind a misunderstood historical event.

I was quickly drawn in to the world and problems of the first story, "The Galactic Tourist Industrial Complex" by Tobias S. Buckell.

There's a lot that's interesting in this story, but also a lot I'm losing patience with. Will see how things turn out.

"The humidity transformed Park Avenue, the moisture in the air bestowing warm halos to the lights on the street and in the rows of apartment windows. It made the street less stuck-up. Inexplicably kind, like a white cop who cuts you slack for no reason you can figure."

"Carney didn't go to church. Blasphemers on one side of the family, skeptics on the other, and both sides like to sleep in."

This story certainly has a hook! I am eager to find out what happened on the flight and what's going to happen to poor broken Edward.

Finished the first section, and it was not as action-packed as I was imagining from the setup, but still fun to read. I just heard the Book Riot podcast describe this novel as having the setting of a heist rather than the plot of a heist, an interesting idea. I'm curious to see how the rest of the story is going to play out!

"Think of these different tones and styles as part of your Swiss army knife. (Why are the Swiss so obsessed with armies and knives when they're supposed to be neutral?) You have a stabby tool, but you also have a scrapey tool, a corkscrew, and a snippy tool. Each of them can help to solve problems in different ways."

Compelling characters and setup, with a story that's moving right along, and of course the writing is fantastic.

"Here's a fun tip: When you quit writing for the day, write down a list of five things that could happen next, from most least likely. Chances are at least one of those things will hit you in a new way when you start up again." This book is a great combination of specific practical advice and inspiration to get words on the page, and higher level craft talk to turn to for revision.

"Marie suspects this fiery end would be the stone and the soil and the waters of the earth itself, through human folly and greed made too hot for it to be willing to bear any more life upon it's back."

I love a good story of women unabashedly wielding power.

"There's only one thing more intimidating than a blank first page, and that's a blank tenth page. At least when you are starting a new piece of writing from scratch, anything is possible. But once you've started weaving a bunch of narrative threads, you'll have a much harder time unweaving them."

"Write the thing that you're ready and excited to write--not the thing that you feel the moment calls for, or the story that you think will fix every broken thing in the world. Your job is to survive, and maybe to help others to survive. That's it. That's more than plenty."

From the introduction, I can tell this is going to be just the writing guide I need right now.

"Money and stories. Information and sympathy. There can be no real defense against such a war. Eleanor herself was the one who taught Marie this." Enjoying this story and its characters very much!

"Well, Marie decides, she must train her superiors in the community like dogs or falcons, with rewards, and slowly, so they don't know they're being trained."

"The After Party" by Ben Francisco is such a lovely imagining of an afterlife that offers a chance to grow and heal.

I'm excited about reading a story set so far back in the past, and I've taken an immediate liking to the main character.