It goes without saying that 2016 wasn’t a great year in a lot of ways, and it wasn’t a great year for me personally, either. I had to spend part of it moving yet again (I’ve moved in 2014, 2015, and 2016 now), and the only major thing that happened this year that was actually good was visiting Ireland. (Although that was amazing—I went on a Game of Thrones Tour of filming locations and “met” a couple of the Northern […]

Storm Constantine’s Wraeththu trilogy are among my favorite books, partially because of the beautiful prose and their exploration of gender but mostly because the main protagonists are vibrant and fascinating. Since discovering them I’ve wanted to read more of her books, and though there are a lot more of them left for me to read, I’ve yet to find one as compelling as the Wraeththu books. The latest book in my quest to read more by this author, Sign for […]

Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred, first published in 1979, is an incredible novel. Though it’s speculative fiction utilizing time travel, much of its focus is showing a glimpse into the past, and the way the author incorporated so much about society into such a well paced story is nothing short of masterful. It’s a book I find difficult to recommend because it’s filled with ugliness and brutality due to its forthright examination of slavery, and as such, may be too grim for some to […]

The Leaning Pile of Books is a feature where I talk about books I got over the last week–old or new, bought or received for review consideration (usually unsolicited). Since I hope you will find new books you’re interested in reading in these posts, I try to be as informative as possible. If I can find them, links to excerpts, author’s websites, and places where you can find more information on the book are included. Before I get to the […]

Since January, I’ve been reviewing one book a month selected by a poll on Patreon so this month marks the end of one year of these reviews (all of which can be found here). The December theme is religion—fantasy books with descriptions involving divinities, prophets, priestesses, etc., in some way—and the choices were as follows: The Burning Land (Way of Arata #1) by Victoria Strauss Heartwood (Trickster’s Game #1) by Barbara Campbell Lion of Senet (Second Sons #1) by Jennifer Fallon Sign for the […]