As someone who adores epic space opera tales written by female authors, I was excited for this book. I’d never read anything by Valente before, and this seemed like a great introduction to her work. It absolutely was a fantastic primer on her delightful and illustrative writing style, but this was not the intricate political tale I’d been expecting. Continue reading
This novelette is available to read for free at Tor.com.
This novelette serves as a fantastic introduction to the universe of this set of stories, giving intriguing background and introducing us to an interesting character while still leaving the reader wanting more. Continue reading
As I’m completing a resolution to review the rest of the books in this series this year, I was happy to return to the book that I read multiple times while growing up despite missing all the rest. You can find my full review of Many Waters at Speculative Chic.
An excerpt:
I may not have read A Wrinkle in Time growing up, but I can’t tell you how many times I devoured its companion Many Waters. If fact, I was fairly concerned when I picked it up this year, having not read it since at least early high school, whether it would live up to such fond memories.
Good news. I adored this novel just as much at 34 as I did at 11. Continue reading
Often novellas either feel like a padded-out short story or a rushed novel. This was neither, giving all the background detail between each of the three main characters necessary to make the next step in their relationship feel natural and inevitable. Additionally, the supernatural element of the story blended seamlessly with the relationship arc between the characters. Continue reading
Just because I’m behind schedule with all of my writing projects doesn’t mean I will deprive myself of a reward when I do get something done! To celebrate submitting my fifth novel to my editor, I built this year’s special Star Wars set, the Y-Wing Starfighter. The Y-Wing is not one of my favorite ships from that particular universe, so I didn’t expect to enjoy this build as much as I did.
Between travels and other obligations, this build was spread out over the course of about two weeks. But it started with an epic night of watching Marvel movies, spanned the latest season of the Great British Baking Show, and then most of season 2 of Luke Cage.
How is it almost the end of the year? What happened? Where have I been?
Writing and reading and traveling, for the most part. Oh yeah, and I published my fourth book. Welcome Steel Empires Book 4: Steel Time to the world!
But now October has already started, so there’s no time to waste!
September Wrap-Up
September Book Reviews
September Speculative Chic Contributions
October Goals
A question for you writers in the audience — what do you do when you’re so intimidated by a project that you’re too terrified to even start it? This isn’t writer’s block, I think. I’d appreciate any advice.
For you non-writers, gentle and not-so-gentle nudges on social media of “You should be writing!” are probably welcome in the coming weeks.
These guys are not helpful:
This weekend was amazing, and I’m absolutely exhausted. (I apologize in advance that this con report will not be as in-depth as usual.) I’m very glad that spent the weekend at the hotel, despite Capclave being a “local” convention to where I live (Rockville, Maryland, is a 40-minute drive from my house without traffic). But it meant plenty of social time to catch up with old friends and meet new ones, which is really the best part of conventions anyway! Continue reading
