The Soulforge by Margaret Weis
"He never wore his white robes while traveling." Yesterday in class one of my students was teasing his friend who was telling me about a YA Fantasy series he was reading. He was only laughing (in a mostly good-natured way) at how silly any series sounds when you're the one to describe it, … [Read more]
Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
First off, everything Patricia C. Wrede has written is a damn delight. I STILL re-read the Sorcery and Ceclia books regularly. But my entry point to her books was the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. So imagine my delight when, while browsing my favorite used book store, I found a collected hardback … [Read more]
Space Opera by Cat Valente
I heard about Cat Valente many times from my wife, a fan, but she entered my own scope through a post about how the internet has changed, and how that change has been for the worse as we repeatedly jump from social media platform to platform as each one is invariably purchased by a prick or … [Read more]
The Liminal Zone by Junji Ito
The first Junji Ito collection I read was the only collection my library had, at the time: Fragments of Horror. It definitely had enough of the style to turn me into a fan, but it also had some absolutely bizarre stuff that didn't translate across cultures well, such as the story about a reclusive … [Read more]
Black Paradox by Junji Ito
Junji Ito is a bizarre safety blanket, given that he writes some of the most disturbing body horror ever put to the page, but here we are: I read Junji Ito to fall asleep at night. Something about the stories he tells, from the absolute seriousness with which the characters take the happenings … [Read more]
The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen
CBR Passport Challenge: New to Me author In a world very unlike our own, most people live on islands and when people die, they are not buried in coffins, but rather placed in boats and sent out to sea (like when we bury someone in the ground) or the boats are cremated. So undertakers don't just … [Read more]
