The Leaning Pile of Books is a feature where I discuss books I got over the last week—old or new, bought or received in the mail for review consideration (most of which are unsolicited books from publishers). 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 […]

Today’s guest is prolific author Sherwood Smith! She’s written a great number and variety of stories, including both adult and young adult fantasy as well as science fiction. Her plentiful backlist was very welcome news to me after discovering her writing last year when I read her recently published book Banner of the Damned, an impressive, richly detailed fantasy novel focused on cultures and the lives of the characters. I loved it, and the experience of reading it made me […]

The second annual Women in SF&F Month starts tomorrow! The entire month of April will be dedicated to highlighting the contributions of women to speculative fiction. There will be guest posts by women who write speculative fiction and women who share their love for the genre with others on their blogs throughout the month. Like last year’s series, some guests will be discussing the subject of women writing speculative fiction, but not necessarily, since the goal is to get some […]

Banner of the Damned is a recent fantasy novel in the Sartorias-deles world by Sherwood Smith. While Sherwood Smith has also written middle grade and young adult novels set in this same world, this is an adult novel set in the historical era. It is set approximately 400 years after the Inda books comprised of Inda, The Fox, The King’s Shield, and Treason’s Shore. Despite its relation to these books, it can be read as a stand alone, although I […]

Thanks to a gift card I got for my birthday, I bought some new books that came out this month that were being recommended around the Internet. I want to read them all right now, but between the day job and this month’s event I’ve barely had time to read lately. So I’m not sure when I’ll get to them since I have a few review copies I’ll be reading next, but they’ll be waiting for me when I do […]