Hey'a, all! So, we all know that many bookworms are a bit like dragons, in that we tend to hoard books and dislike even the suggestion that we might get rid of a single volume. Unfortunately, at some point, weeding the collection does become necessary — namely, when one runs out of both shelf space and space to put more shelves, which is my current situation. This means that, over the past few weeks, I've been working on going through my books, figuring out what I'm keeping and what's going to our local used bookstore (and also figuring out how to organize what I'm holding onto). It's still a work in progress, but I've gotten enough of the way through to have some thoughts to share with other bookworms tackling the same sort of project.

On Getting Rid of Books

1. It's ok to get rid of books that everyone else loves (even if they're classics). One of the big choices I've made in the process of weeding my shelves was deciding to get rid of a few series that are wildly popular, but which I'm kind of meh about. Some of these are books that I did like at one point, but which I enjoy less now. Others are books that I thought I should like, even if I hadn't read them yet, because they were popular, influential, and practically classics. The common thread was that they were books I was keeping because I felt like I was socially obliged to own them, not because I really still wanted them. But I'm not a public library, so why should social obligation force me to hang onto books I don't expect to read often (or at all) when I could instead clear more space for the stories I love?
2. There's always the library. Speaking of libraries, this is probably the most helpful thing for me to keep in mind when figuring out whether to keep or pass on a book. After all, in most cases, getting rid of a book doesn't mean losing access to it — not when I have library cards at three or four different libraries. If I decide I want to reread something or give a particular series another try, I can most likely borrow it either in physical or digital form. Maybe I won't be able to pick up a book on a whim, but that's not the end of the world. Granted, this is less true for indie books than it is for traditionally published ones . . . but most of the books that the first point applies to are traditionally-published. Plus, a lot of my indie collection is duplicated in digital thanks to ebook sales and giveaways.
3. Books are meant to be read. This is the other most helpful thing for me to keep in mind. The chief purpose of a book is to be read. If I'm keeping a book because I think I'll reread it, even if I might not do so in the immediate future, that's great. But if I don't think I'll read or reread it, then holding onto it is kind of silly — like someone who lives in an apartment building keeping a lawnmower. It's better to pass the book on to someone else who'll enjoy it and want to reread it again and again, whether I do that directly or via a used bookstore. And if I'm wrong and it turns out I do want to read or reread it after all? Again, that's what the library is for.
4. It's ok to keep books for sentimental reasons even if you're not likely to reread them. While this might seem to contradict the previous point, I think it is a valid exception. I have some books on my shelves that I don't think I'll reread in the near future but which I don't think I'd ever give up if I had a choice. For example, I have a pair of fairy tale retellings that, to be frank, I don't like half as much now as I did when I first encountered them — but I had them signed by the author at one of the first author events I ever attended, so they're special to me and I'm reluctant to part with them. As another example, I still own a fair number of my favorite books from when I was a kid, before I discovered fantasy — books I've outgrown, but to which I still attach fond memories — but I keep them on a separate shelf from the rest of my collection, so they aren't competing with current favorites for space. Even if these books aren't being read, the fact that I have them still brings me pleasure in the form of reminders of good memories, and that's a valid reason to hold onto them.
5. Having a separate shelf for owned-but-unread books would probably be a good idea . . . if I had the space. I feel like this would help both with future efforts at book-weeding and with making sure I actually, y'know, read the books in question. The shelf would serve as a reminder of what books I still needed to read, and it would also give me a single place to look when I'm trying to decide what to read next. I could start there and check to see if any of my unread books fit my mood at the time, then move them to their proper places after I finish. However, doing this would require having at least one shelf clear of other books, and I'm not sure that's going to happen even after I finish weeding. We'll see.

What's your process for getting rid of books (if you have one)? What do you think of keeping all owned-but-unread books in one place? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

Song of the Selkies Is a Realm Awards Finalist!

Hello all! I am absolutely thrilled to announce that, as the post title says, Song of the Selkies is a finalist in the Fantasy Novel category of the Realm Awards!

Order on Amazon || Add on Goodreads || View all finalists

I've spent the last few months since the Long List came out trying not to get my hopes up — after all, while I love Song of the Selkies, and I know others do too, there were SO MANY amazing books in the list. There was no way I'd make the finalists two years in a row, right?

But here we are, and I am absolutely delighted! Congratulations to all the other finalists as well; I'm super happy for you! Make sure you check out the full list — there are some amazing books on there. Also, thank you to the judges for loving my book enough to put it in the top five.

And now I have one more reason to be excited for the conference in July . . . Storms! I can hardly wait!

Have a lovely day!

Hey'a, all! If you're a fan of H.L. Burke's Supervillain Rehabilitation Project universe like I am, you know that this is a pretty exciting month. For one thing, we have the DOSA Files Kickstarter, which has hit its first stretch goal (an audiobook version of the anthology) and is reaching for the next (downloadable coloring pages). For another, Burke is launching another new series in this world: the Supervillain Legacy Project, which focuses on our next generation of superheroes. Book one, Game On, releases in just a few weeks on May 24. I was lucky enough to get an ARC, and let me tell you that this is a really fun read that's simultaneously rewarding for long-time fans and a great entry point for newcomers. If you're anything like me, you're going to love it . . . and, of course, I have five reasons why that's the case.

 

Reasons You'll Love Game On

1. H.L. Burke knows how to do next-generation stories well. Next-generation stories are always a risk — after all, there's so many ways they can go wrong, whether they echo the originals too much, present beloved original-generation characters in an unflattering light (or kill them off entirely), or commit a myriad of other storytelling sins. However, Burke avoids all these missteps with a story that honors the rest of the canon while still being something new. Ruby, Curran, and Oliver may echo past characters, but only in the way that kids normally echo parents or other influential people in their lives. The storyline is very different than the rest of the books — rather than a fight versus a supervillain, we have a superhero tournament (which, let's be real, is exactly the kind of PR stunt we knew DOSA would pull eventually). And we see plenty of past characters, either as mentors or in brief cameos, but they don't steal the spotlight, and where they fall short, it's in ways consistent with their past characterization.
2. The connections to past books are really fun. Game On has ties to pretty much all the past SVR series, and the list of appearances is almost like a "Who's Who" of the DOSA-verse. Ruby and Curran are Fade and Prism's kids, obviously, while Oliver last appeared in Wishing on a Supervillain. The story also features Jake and Laleh as significant secondary characters (Jake is the one adult to get POV chapters, and his dynamic with Laleh is still so good) and a few characters from Second Chance Superhero, along with some other reappearing characters in more minor roles. I loved getting to see Prism and Fade in full-on parent mode (and seeing the success of Prism's dreams!) and getting updates on a lot of past characters and their lives.
3. It's a great way to discover the SVR-verse. This might sound contradictory, given that I just talked about how Game On has so many connections to past books. However, the story itself doesn't require a lot of background knowledge to understand, and what is required is explained in the narrative. Ruby, Curran, and Oliver are very much their own characters with their own stories, and I think you could easily pick this up and fully enjoy it without having read any previous SVR books. And the fact that the story does have so many connections kind of gives new readers an idea of where they might like to read next — someone curious about Prism and Fade would go to the original series next, someone who loves Jake and Laleh's dynamic could pick up the Superhero Rescue Project, and so on.
4. It's a family-focused story. This is true of most SVR-verse books, but it's particularly true here. All three kids have very strong bonds with, love for, and pride in their families — Ruby's whole thing, in fact, is wanting to not just compete in the Games but specifically to compete in them with her family by her side. The story is also very much, as the series name would suggest, about legacies and about the way your family affects you and the way others perceive you.
5. It's a YA book that still has reasonable adults. We all know that adults — parents especially — are often the antagonists in YA books, whether that's intentional or not in-world. That is not the case in Game On. All three main characters have strong, healthy relationships with their parents, even in circumstances where other authors would see bitterness as a character-justified way to add drama. That's not to say that all these relationships are perfect, but they're realistically loving. Even adults who do act as an obstacle to some degree generally (with one or two exceptions) aren't seeking to be cruel; they're just acting realistically.
   

Are you ready to pick up Game On? If so, make sure to preorder it on Amazon and add it on Goodreads. Before you go, though, tell me in the comments: what other really good next-generation stories have you enjoyed?
Thanks for reading!

April 2024 Doings!

Hello, all! May is here, summer is in sight, and let me tell you; both of those things are such a relief. April was another stressful month, unfortunately, though it did also include some really good days and a fun adventure or two. Most of that stress was, unsurprisingly, caused by grad school and having a lot of tasks that all needed to be done at once across multiple areas — including writing, so let's start there and recap what happened.

Writing!

• April was the second RealmieWriMo event in the RealmSphere, the social media site specifically for people connected to the Realm Makers writing conference. It was also the deadline month for H.L. Burke's DOSA Files anthology. As such, I had high hopes for what I wanted to accomplish: drafting a story to submit for the DOSA Files and writing 40,000 words to finish Daughters of Atirse #2. Unfortunately, I may have been a bit . . . overambitious.
• Let's start with the undeniable win: I did write and submit my DOSA Files story, "Save {Point}", drafting half of it in a marathon of writing on April 19, then doing a very rapid first edit and sending it off to beta readers the next day. By Thursday, I had comments back and final edits done, and I submitted the story to Heidi — and if you saw my post earlier this week, you know the rest of the story! "Save {Point}" and nine other stories in the SVR-verse will be coming out in a few months, and Heidi is currently running a Kickstarter to help fund the launch. We've hit our base goal, but we're still hoping to get to the stretch goals, one of which is an audiobook of the anthology. If you haven't already, make sure you check out the Kickstarter and consider backing it!
• As for Daughters of Atirse #2 . . . well, splitting my focus between two stories slowed me down a lot, as did grad school, stress, and the fact that I had stuff happening on the weekends a lot more this month than I did back in January. After a few too many days in which I just didn't have time to write more than a few hundred words, I dropped my goal down to writing 30,000 words and getting as close to the end of the story as I can. And I did achieve that, so . . . yay?
• In all fairness, even if I'd gotten all the way to adding another 40K this month, the book still wouldn't quite be finished, so I have that as kind of a consolation.
• Wrapping up this section with an update on the D&D campaign I run: the Travel Interlude still isn't done, but it's most of the way there. The next adventure hasn't been touched, but that can wait as well. I did, however, manage to improv my way through an extended in-character discussion of an aspect of my campaign world that I haven't reviewed in ages, which is something I definitely couldn't have done five years ago, so I'm kind of proud of myself for that.

Reading!

• If nothing else, I can at least be pleased that this was an excellent reading month!
• You've already heard about several of the highlights of April's reading: Dark & Dawn, Castle of the Winds, and The Erlking's Daughters were all some of my most highly-anticipated reads of the season (possibly of the year), and not one of them disappointed me. No Man Left Behind, the conclusion of W.R. Gingell's Worlds Behind series, was likewise delightful, and I think it wrapped up all the storylines and character arcs very well indeed. Tragically, it's hard to express just why I was so pleased with it without giving significant spoilers.
• Aside from these, I spent most of the month in H.L. Burke's SVR universe. Early in the month, I reread Reunion, the final book in the Supervillain Rehabilitation Project series, in preparation for writing "Save {Point}." Then I jumped ahead to Power Up, the final book in the Supervillain Rescue Project series, and followed that up with Captured by a Supervillain, Engaged to a Supervillain, and Accidentally a Supervillain. All four were excellent, but I think Power Up and Accidentally were probably my favorites from that group. And, conveniently, the ARC for Game On, the first book in Burke's new Supervillain Legacy Project YA series, hit my inbox just as I was finishing up Accidentally, so I've been reading (and very much enjoying) that. Watch for my full review a bit later in the month!
• For anyone curious: my group reread of the DragonKeeper Chronicles is still happening, and I will be rereading DragonLight at some point. However, ARCs took priority, plus I've been waiting for other people to be ready to start. Hopefully I'll get to that in May.

 Watching & Playing!

• Once again, not a lot to report in this section. I still haven't been watching much — no movies, very little YouTube, and only one show episode. I did get to introduce my parents and a friend to Leverage with another rewatch of "The Rashomon Job," so that was fun. That's the third time I've watched that episode, and it's still so good.
• I did figure out an answer to my podcast app problem and ended up switching to Pocketcasts on a friend's recommendation. So far, aside from a slight hiccup in the beginning when I couldn't figure out how to find all my downloads, it's worked out pretty well for me. It has pretty much all the podcasts I wanted to try, and I like the interface (again, other than that tricky bit with the downloads) and the level of customization it offers.
• As for what I've listened to on the app, that's mostly been Lateral, a trivia show hosted by Tom Scott, occasionally interrupted by a new episode of Dear Hank and John or a week or so of Wolf 359. I intended to listen to all of Season 3 of Wolf 359 this month, but . . . well, I'm at an intense, high-stress part of the story, and I just wasn't in the headspace for it. I wanted something lighter, and Lateral fit the bill. And, y'know, it is a really fun show; I have fun trying to figure out the answers alongside the participants. (Occasionally, I beat them to it, and that's very satisfying.)
• On the gaming front, I'm still enjoying Honkai Star Rail, and it's still proving very effective motivation for getting my writing done without getting distracted (in addition to being almost as good a de-stressor as reading is). I've finished the second main quest line, and I really liked the ending in most respects! Now I'm running around trying to clear some side quests before continuing with the third world and quest line. At this point, I'm comfortable enough with the mechanics that I can actually think more about strategy and tactics and figuring out which characters work best with each other or will be most effective for certain missions — though those thoughts are constantly in tension with my desire to build a party that's narratively and thematically relevant and my desire to just use all the characters I like best or think are coolest. It's a problem, but a good one.

 Life!

• As I said before, April was . . . frustrating. Don't get me wrong; there were some really lovely bits! Just most of it was, again, frustrating.
• The vast majority of that frustration came from my grad school class. I mentioned in my March Doings post that the class seemed overly focused on one particular type of writing (journalism — and, to be clear, this was not described as a journalism class) and felt like it was calculated to hit on all my greatest frustrations (and some insecurities that I didn't know I had) while taunting me with how much of the material I already knew. Unfortunately, that has held true for the rest of the semester, and as a cherry on top, the class is structured around one big group project. I will say that my project group was a lot better than some others I've worked with, but even the best group is still a lot more stressful than doing something yourself. I will also say that, had the class been presented as a journalism class, or even described as focusing primarily on journalism, it would have been a lot less frustrating. As it was . . . well, it's the first time in my life that I've literally felt sick from stress (in the past, I've topped out at a twitchy eye and short temper), and I do not recommend the experience.
• Aside from grad school, April was busy in other ways as well. The first weekend was actually pretty chill — my parents went out of town to visit my sister and see the eclipse, but I'm saving up leave for later in the year, so I had the house to myself for a few days. And while I prefer home with everyone in it, it's sometimes a nice change of pace to be able to listen to music without headphones, play D&D over dinner, and have an impromptu lunch-and-shopping adventure after church. (Well, technically, I could do the last one when other people are home . . . but if my family's here, I'd rather eat with them.) The weekend after was also comparatively calm, or I assume it was — I honestly don't really remember it, ha!
• On the 20th, though, Realm Writers Mid-Atlantic (an author group I'm part of) had our yearly in-person meeting, and while I usually enjoy getting to see others face-to-face, that was stressful. That same weekend, I had a major grad school assignment due, I was finishing up my DOSA Files story, and I had two boxes full of books to prep for Heather Halverstadt and RWMA to sell at events, on top of normal weekend stuff. It was . . . a lot. I ended up being late for the meeting and missing lunch, and I don't function well on an empty stomach, so . . . not the best of times, y'know?
• Last weekend, though, was a lot more fun, even if it was also tiring! My friend Wyn Estelle Owens came down to visit, which was delightful, and we went to the National Zoo together, which was even better. My family used to go to the National Zoo a lot — it's probably my favorite part thing in DC — but that kind of fell off sometime when my sister and I were in our teens. I loved getting to go back and revisit it, especially with a friend. I also rode the Metro for the first time in probably at least twelve or thirteen years, so that was an adventure. It was nice, though, as the train ride gave Wyn and I plenty of time to chat without having to worry about missing a turn in DC traffic. I will say that I was exhausted from all the walking by the end of Saturday, but it was definitely worth it.
• Work, at least, was pretty chill. We spent most of the month in the post-Easter calm — between spring break and the fact that we're coming off a busy season, no one plans many events. The one exception was that our associate pastor announced that she was being transferred to a new church this summer. I'm sad that she's leaving, but not too stressed about it, as I know who's going to replacing her.
• Unfortunately, with all the craziness that went on this month, I didn't really do any baking (aside from a grasshopper pie that, as of writing this post, I haven't tried yet), so I'll have to double-up on Baking Yesteryear recipes either this month or next month. I also don't have any particularly exciting news in the crafting department; I've mostly been making pieces for crochet plants because that's easy and practical (in that crochet plants make good gifts and good office decorations).
• D&D has continued to be exciting! We had another ancient dragon fight, which almost went very badly due to an antagonist from the campaign's past (a former player character who got kidnapped and turned to the dark side) showing up unexpectedly with a bunch of shadow-monsters and causing so many problems. Also, we found out that, in the process of killing the dracholich that I mentioned back in my March Doings, we also kind of accidentally fixed an part of the world that's basically Moria with more undead, and I'm still not over it. Like, we found this out at the beginning of the month, and I still periodically pause and remember it and get excited. (For a little extra context, when we first learned about this region at the start of the campaign, I kind of wanted to try to fix it, but got the impression from the DM that it really wasn't the kind of thing that was fixable, so the problem dropped off my radar. And now . . . we've done it. By accident (by which I mean that it happened as an after-effect of the dracholich fight). And I just think that's delightful.)

May Plans

• I have one week left of this grad school class. Thankfully, I think it'll be less stressful than the rest of the class has been. And once it's over, I have the rest of the summer off to focus on other things! Like, for example, writing.
• I recognize that I've said this for the last two months, but I once again think I should be able to finish drafting Daughters of Atirse #2 this month. I'm not going to set a specific wordcount goal for the month, but I'm going to aim for somewhere in the vicinity of 1K or 1.2K per day until the story is done, and I think that should get me where I need to be.
• I also need to finish the Travel Interlude and the next adventure in my D&D campaign, but I can take those pretty slow and still be ok.
• Aside from Game On, I've more or less reached the end of my ARC pile, so I expect May will be mostly mood-reads and DragonLight. Though I do also have multiple sizable piles of library books, so hopefully my moods will include most of those. I also still need to reorganize my bookshelves, which might be a task for this weekend if all goes well.
• As for work, we'll have a couple transitions this month (both with the associate pastor leaving and with some other procedures around the church changing), so we'll see how that goes. That said, I'm not too worried.
• Overall, I'm hoping that May will be a much quieter and less stressful month than April . . . but as long as it's better than last May was, I won't complain.

How was your April? Any plans for May? If you play action-type RPGs, how do you usually build your parties? What are some books, games, or other media you've been enjoying lately? Please tell me in the comments! And don't forget to check out the DOSA Files Kickstarter!
Thanks for reading!

 

Introducing the DOSA Files Kickstarter!

 

Hello, everyone! I have two pieces of exciting news. First, some of you may be aware of H.L. Burke’s Supervillain Rehabilitation Project (SVR) universe, nineteen books and five series’ worth of superhero and supervillain stories that combine epic action with plenty of heart and humor. Recently, Burke decided to open up her world for other authors to explore by putting together an anthology of short stories and novellas.

Naturally, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to play in one of my favorite storyworlds or to switch things up by getting back to writing superhero action (a genre I experimented with quite a bit when I was in high school and college). And I’m happy to announce that my short story, “Save {Point}” will be a part of the anthology, alongside other stories from authors like Amber Gabriel, Jenelle Leanne Schmidt, C.O. Bonham, and of course Burke herself.

The second piece of exciting news? Burke has just launched a Kickstarter to help fund the anthology and make it the best it can be. You can back the project to receive rewards ranging from a copy of the anthology (with your name in the acknowledgements) to a spot in a SVR-verse TTRPG session hosted by Burke — or, if you really want to make the author’s day, you can spring for the highest reward tier and get yourself a cameo in a future SVR novel.

Check out the Kickstarter!

Oh, and as a bonus? If the campaign hits its first stretch goal, Burke and one of the other authors, Rena Gail, will produce an audiobook of the anthology! (That would be my first time having one of my stories or books in audio form, so I’m very much hoping we can get there.)

So, go be a hero — check out the Kickstarter now!
Thanks for reading!

Hello all, and happy release day to The Erlking's Daughters by Claire Trella Hill! This epic romantic fae fantasy was the last of my Highly Anticipated spring reads for this year and the last of the four books by four of my favorite authors released in the last not-quite-a-month. And what a high note to end on! I loved Claire's debut, Black and Deep Desires, and The Erlking's Daughters is every bit as good (and, in some ways, better). I think y'all will love it too, and I have five good reasons why!

 

Reasons You'll Love The Erlking's Daughters

1. It's all about family, with sibling relationships center stage. Y'all know how much I love a story that focuses on family bonds just as much or more than it focuses on romance, and The Erlking's Daughters absolutely delivers on that front. Morwë, Enzella, Arken, and Micah are all motivated first and foremost by family, for good or for bad, and that's particularly true of Morwë and Arken, both of whom are driven by their need to protect their younger siblings. The family relationships here run the gamut from abusive (I was rooting for Morwë's father and brother to get stabbed from early on in the book) to oh-so-sweet and loving, but all of them are drawn with care. And, really, if you give me a book that's primarily about a pair of older siblings ready to move heaven and earth (possibly literally, if necessary) to protect their younger siblings, there is no way I'm not going to love it.
   
2. It's a dark story with a bright ending. This is true both literally and metaphorically, ha! The story chronicles the main characters' escape from the darkness of the Unseelie fae's cavernous home to the light of the human world. In the process, it also takes us from a beginning that has a lot in common with grimdark fantasy to a brilliant, hope-filled ending — and while that might sound like a jarring tone shift, it's not. It's a beautiful, gradual change that mirrors what's going on in the characters' hearts. Speaking of which . . .
3. It's a lovely, lovely redemption story. The Erlking's Daughter isn't an allegory, but it is a magnificent picture of spiritual redemption. As I said, this story has a grimdark beginning due to the culture of the Unseelie fae, and at the start, Morwë is very immersed in that way of life. She's better than many of those around her, thanks to the influence of her sister and mother and her love towards them, but she's still cold and vengeful and caught in darkness. It takes someone from outside that culture to push her to choose a different path, to leave the darkness and begin to change. And the ending completes the picture . . . but, of course, I can't say much about that because that would be a spoiler.
4. It has a slowburn romance that never overwhelms the rest of the plot. Better still, it's slowburn enemies-to-lovers romance. Or, antagonists-to-lovers, at least — Morwë and Arken might start out on different sides, and their first interactions are far from friendly, but they're both trapped by the Erlking, just in different ways. Seeing them come to understand each other, then come to love each other, is wonderful — and the tension inherent in both of them trying to figure out their feelings and Morwë worrying about hurting Arken (and others, but especially Arken) is absolutely delicious. However, at no point does the romance overwhelm the rest of the plot, and both characters are restrained enough (and sensible enough of the seriousness of their situation) that they're not letting their feelings overwhelm their view of what needs to be done.
5. It's set in a rich, lore-filled world. While this is a fairly localized story, taking place mostly in three locations and the wilderness between them, you can tell that there's a larger world outside the immediate narrative. Additionally, we get snatches of lore here and there: tales of the Unseelie history, legends of monsters and forest cats, whispers of magic and other magical beings. It's all fascinating, and I look forward to future books where we'll hopefully get to explore more of it.

How are you ready to pick up The Erlking's Daughters? What do you think you'll love most about it? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

Hello, all! It's time to spotlight another release I'm super excited about: Christina Baehr's Castle of the Winds. This is the third book in the Secrets of Ormdale series, and you may recall my raving over book one, Wormwood Abbey, and book two, Drake Hall. Now we're back with my thoughts on Castle of the Winds, which sees Edith (and others) venture away from Ormdale, into the mountains of Wild Wales . . . and find themselves in a very unexpected sort of adventure altogether. Once again, I absolutely loved this book, and naturally I have to share my thoughts.

Thoughts on Castle of the Winds

1. Edith continues to be the most relatable protagonist. And no, I'm not just saying that because we're both writers — though I do love that about her, and I'm pleased any time it comes up. (There's one brief scene wherein she tries to solve a problem by considering how her protagonist would address her, only to admit that her protagonist never would've gotten himself in the situation in the first place, and . . . Girl, same.) But she's simultaneously sensible and eager for adventure, equal parts practical and appreciative of drama. She's intelligent, but she's still allowed to make mistakes — and, I'll admit, she flubs a bit more in this book than she does in others. However, at no point was I actually frustrated with her because every time, I had to admit that I probably would've done the same thing, probably for the same reasons (those reasons being dragons and responsibility, but especially the former).
2. I enjoyed seeing Edith and Simon's relationship continue to develop. I can't say a lot on this point because, y'know, spoilers. What I can say is that they make very good friends who support each other, protect each other, fill in each other's blind spots, and try to make the other better . . . and they're both aware of how they feel about each other (in a deeper-than-friendship sense), but they're handling those feelings like mature adults. Which is to say, they both also have lines they're not willing to cross, and they're not letting feelings carry them off into making foolish decisions, either in how they treat each other or how they relate to other people.
3. On that note, I also loved seeing Simon continue to come into his own. He is finally really having an opportunity to determine who he is and who he wishes to be, aside from the expectations laid on him by others, and I love that for him. Again and again, he has opportunities to display his character, and again and again he proves himself to be a man of quality (especially held up against certain others). In particular, he demonstrates a great deal of courage and trust throughout the book, sometimes in obvious ways and sometimes in less obvious ones, and . . . I just love him, ok?
4. Getting to see another part of Baehr's version of the world was so exciting. As I mentioned in the intro, this book takes us to Wild Wales, to the holdings of another family of dragon keepers, and this one is very different from Ormdale. Discovering this new area, with its unique dragon types, culture, and lore, was fun and fascinating — and I loved the inclusion of some Arthurian and Welsh myth references! Beyond that, though, this new region and its people allow Baehr to explore new facets of her series themes: the dangers of the lure of traditionalism and "the way it's always been done" and the ways family can build a person for better or worse.
5. Though it's more adventurous than other books in the series and has higher stakes, it maintains the cozy vibes. As you might have gathered from the last point, Castle of the Winds is a book of discovery that takes place mostly away from Ormdale, and the characters are often caught off-guard by the differences between this place and their home. This unfamiliar setting also brings new dangers, which are simultaneously more insidious and more threatening than what we've dealt with in previous books. The climax and ending of the story are also quite thrilling (and the very end of the book made me gasp). However, Baehr keeps the overall tone cozy through the narrative voice, through the focus on character relationships, and through the details she chooses to emphasize. So, this is still a low-stress read — relatively, anyway.
   

Are you excited to visit Castle of the Winds? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

Good morning, everyone, and happy release day to Dark & Dawn, book 4 in Suzannah Rowntree's Miss Dark's Apparitions series. Now, by the time you get this far into a series, you pretty much know what to expect from the rest, so if you liked the first three Miss Dark books, you'll be delighted by Dark & Dawn, and if you didn't care for the previous three, you'll feel about the same about this one. And if you haven't read any of the series, you really ought to go back to Tall & Dark and give it a try! (It's great; you should read it; I reviewed it back when it released.) However, reviews also give me a chance to externally scream in delight over this book, rather than just keeping all the screams internal, so let's go!

 

Dark & Dawn Is a DELIGHT

1. The character development is magnificent. We've known these characters for three books now, and it's magnificent to see how far they've all come since met them in Tall & Dark (or in Miss Sharp's Monsters). Vasily, of course, gets the star for having come the furthest and going still further in this book. He's still far from perfect, but he really is learning to be good and trying to be worthy of the trust and affection he desires. But he isn't the only one who's growing. We see Molly do a lot of working through her own long-held hangups and insecurities, figuring out how to really trust the rest further than she ever has before, and unraveling some of the lies she's believed for a very long time. And we also see developments from Schmidt, Nijam, and Mimi, though Vasily and Molly very much take center stage.
   
2. Vasily and Molly's relationship gets better and better. Part of Vasily trying to be worthy of trust and Molly working through her insecurities is, of course, prompted by their continued relationship. They are, both of them, figuring out what they want and what they can give, whether it's what they expected or not. And, thank goodness, that means some actual mature, difficult conversations that, while hard for the characters, are delicious for the reader.
3. Delving into Molly's family history (and family present) is thrilling. For the past several books, the imprint of Molly's father has been a constant . . . and now we get to find out just why he's stuck around, which involves confronting Sir Humphrey, her family's supposed benefactor. Of course, it quickly becomes evident that something is fishy and that Sir Humphrey might be less benevolent than he seems. Unwinding the truth of the past while navigating present villainy provides plenty of challenge for the crew, as well as abundant reason to keep readers turning the pages!
4. The setting is wonderfully lifelike. Rowntree always does an amazing job with her settings, of course. You can tell in every book that she's done a great deal of research, even as she wreaks merry havoc on history by filling the ranks of the monarchy and upper-class society with monsters. However, the setting in Dark & Dawn is especially vivid and lifelike, enough that I found myself actually cringing at the humidity and decay in some parts of the setting and as awed by beauty as the characters were in others. And this vividness extends to the people of the setting; Rowntree does a masterful job of capturing the different groups of the era and the tensions between them.
5. The ending is absolute perfection. Obviously I can't get into detail about it because, you know, spoilers. But I will say that there's poetic justice for some thoroughly despicable villains, as well as trust and sacrifice and love and humor sprinkled in for flavor. Plus, where the individual characters' arcs and relationships wind up is as satisfying as the end of book three was heart-rending. It almost feels like a series-ender ending . . . but, happily, we have one book more to look forward to!

How excited are you about Dark & Dawn? What are you most looking forward to? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

March 2024 Doings!

Hello, everyone! It's Good Friday, and March is almost over, and that means it's time for Doings! March has been better than I expected in some respects and worse in others, but on the whole, it's been a decent month filled with some very good stories. I'm excited to tell you about it, so let's get going!

Writing!

• In some respects, on paper, March looks like another not-great writing month. I didn't finish drafting my DOSA Files story (I barely started it), I didn't finish my next D&D adventure or the travel interlude I added at the last minute, I didn't get a full 40K words on Daughters of Atirse #2, and I definitely didn't finish Atirse #2.
• That said, I feel like March was still an improvement over February. I may not have hit 40K on Daughters of Atirse, but I got close — 33K, probably rising to 36K over the weekend, which is nothing to sneeze at, especially as I was working through a troublesome section of the plot. I'm also pretty happy with the quality of most of what I wrote, and I think it's reasonable to expect that I can finish the draft next month. I also commissioned character art of two of the main characters, and I cannot wait for when I get to share it. It's so pretty, I can't even. It's by the lovely Scarvenartist, who's also done art for Gillian Bronte Adams, and I cannot recommend her highly enough.
• Additionally, even if I didn't finish either D&D project, I made progress on both, and the travel interlude is pretty close to finished. And I'm back to having time to get the original adventure sorted out, as the party chose to travel via the route most likely to involve Problems. I will note that they were warned that they were going the dangerous route; they just decided to do it anyway.
• I am a little upset with myself for not working more on the DOSA Files story, but it's ok. I needed to prioritize other things, and that's how it is sometimes.
• Overall, though, I'm happy with how my writing went this month. I'm also pleased that I didn't really have to resort to the plan I mentioned in my February 2024 Doings, taking extra time to rest before I start writing. Between the warmer weather and the fact that work was less stressful than I expected, I generally wasn't as tired in the evenings — and I had another factor giving me some extra motivation to focus, but I'll talk about that in a later section.
• Also, on a more definitely-successful note, I did have an author event this month that I think went well! On March 2, I joined Heather Halverstadt and Realm Writers Mid-Atlantic at a nearby craft fair, with all my books in tow. While the event was tiring (even though I didn't stay the whole time), I got to have some really good conversations there, and I sold some books, so that's also lovely. (Side note: if you found me at that craft fair and you're reading this now, hello! Welcome! So glad to have you! Please say hi in the comments!) Plus, my family went out to a new location of our favorite Mexican restaurant afterward — that's not really writing-related, but it was in the same event, so it totally counts for this section.
• Oh, and I found out that Song of the Selkies and "Grim Guardian" both made the Realm Awards long list, so that's exciting! We're still waiting to find out if either will make the finalists as well . . .

Reading!

• The books I read at the start of this month feel so far away in relation to now. It's weird. Anyway —
• Let's start with the new-to-me reads, which include one just-for-fun read, one class read, and three ARCs (one of which isn't pictured). Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries popped up on everyone's 2023 best-of lists, so I knew I had to get my hands on it, and having read it, I agree with everyone's assessment. This was an excellent book; I did have a little trouble getting into it, but once Bambleby showed up, I was properly hooked. We have fae, academia, adventures, Howl-and-Sophie vibes . . . it's great. If you enjoy Suzannah Rowntree's Miss Sharp and Miss Dark books, this will probably be right up your alley.
• As for the ARCS: I already reviewed Water Horse, so I recommend you go read my thoughts instead of me repeating myself. Nobody's Hero was a fun, fast-paced superhero adventure in the same vein as H.L. Burke's Supervillain Rehabilitation Project series; I'm not obsessing over it, but I liked the characters, the world, and the storyline, and I'll probably read the next book. Finally, not pictured is Dark & Dawn, book 4 of the Miss Dark's Apparitions series, which I'm currently reading but will almost certainly finish over the weekend. As of writing, I'm about halfway through and thoroughly enjoying it — the character dynamics are impeccable as ever, and I am extremely eager to see where this job goes for Molly and the rest of the group.
• The class-required-read was How I Know God Answers Prayer, a memoir by 19th-century missionary Rosalind Goforth in which she recounts various occasions in which God answered or didn't answer her prayers in notable ways. I didn't love it, but I liked it more than I expected to, and it's arguably been the best thing I got out of the class so far, so . . . there's that.
• We also have two miscellaneous rereads. Towards the end of February, Prydain Chronicles-related stuff kept popping up in my internet circles, and I got an itch to reread the series. I only managed The Book of Three before other books (that either had closer due dates or review-required dates) took precedence, but revisiting that one was fun, and I plan to finish the series in April. And DragonFire, which I read for the book club/readalong some of my friends and I have been doing, was naturally enjoyable. It's not my favorite in the series, but I do appreciate it more every time I read it.
• Finally, we have several email-subscription books. I finished Fellowship of the Ring towards the beginning of the month, as I was running behind reading the daily entries. The subscription went down after that, so I will not be continuing the reread at this time. I already have enough other email subscription stories to read! For example: A Study in Scarlet, courtesy of the Letters from Watson Substack, which I started in January and finished midway through this month. I didn't much like A Study in Scarlet when I first read it, as I preferred the short stories, but I enjoyed it more this time around. And I finally finished reading Dante's Divine Comedy, which started on Good Friday of 2023. I confess that I've been skimming the cantos more than actually reading them for a while now, but . . . at least I can say I've read it!
• On the topic of email-subscription books, I've been very much enjoying the Letters Regarding Jeeves Substack, though I'm not very good at keeping on top of it. I've never read the Jeeves and Wooster stories before, and this seems to be an excellent way to do it. The small doses mean I can appreciate the humor without getting caught up in secondhand embarrassment, and the stories themselves are pretty clever.

 Watching & Playing!

• This section is heavy on the "playing" and light on the "watching" this month, so I'm glad I expanded it! Somewhat unsurprisingly, I've watched pretty much nothing this month — no movies, no streaming shows, and (somewhat more surprisingly), hardly any YouTube.
• I have, however, enjoyed a lot of podcasts! (Or, a lot for me, anyway.) I finished the second season of Wolf 359 (very good! much exciting stuff going on!) and then took a couple weeks' breather because dear goodness the last several episodes were intense. Also, I needed to catch up on Dear Hank & John before I got ridiculously behind, and I wanted to work through more of my test episodes from the long list of recommendations I solicited back in January.
• That list, for the record, is still very long, but I'm slowly getting through it and getting a better feel for what kinds of podcasts I actually like and what I don't vibe with. And I do have everything on that list actually written down in a note instead of just held in my Google Podcasts queue, so I won't lose it all when I inevitably have to switch apps!
• On a that note, Google is apparently discontinuing their podcast app and forcing a switch to listening to podcasts via YouTube Music . . . but I don't like the YouTube Music podcast interface, so I'm looking for a new app. If anyone has recommendations of what they use, please share!
• I've also been doing a lot of gaming this month, specifically playing Honkai Star Rail, a space-fantasy action RPG recommended to me by a friend. I'm not very far in — only partway through the second main quest — but I'm really enjoying it! The storyline is fun, the artwork is gorgeous, and there are a lot of cool characters to meet and get to know. I did have trouble figuring out some of the mechanics at first (especially because this is my first time playing this kind of game), but I was able to pick up the essentials without too much trouble, and the friend who recommended it helped me figure out some of the other stuff I was confused about.
• Also, weirdly enough, I think the fact that I'm gaming more has helped my writing productivity? I don't play unless I'm satisfied that I have everything else done that I need to do that day, and having something that I'm looking forward to doing after I write gives me extra motivation to not get distracted. And that extra motivation and focus mean that my writing flows better, which in turn means that I'm more likely to pass my wordcount goal because I'm really into what I'm writing or because, when I reach my goal for the day, I'm a hundred-odd words away from some very satisfying manuscript wordcount and I might as well just push a little further and get there. I don't know how long this will continue to work, but as long as it does, I'm happy!

Life!

 

• March was a bit less stressful than I expected in some ways and a bit more stressful than expected on others.
• Work was actually a lot more chill than I thought it would be. Usually, Lent and Easter make up one of our busiest seasons, and I expected the fact that this year would be worse than usual because there was so little time between the end of Christmas and the start of Lent. However, one of the projects I thought would take up a lot of time (new devotionals for Stations of the Cross) instead got cancelled, so all I had to do was update the devotionals we had. That still took time, but not nearly as much. I also managed to work ahead on a lot of the graphics, which lowered the overall pressure even further. And while I did spend most of this past week racing to front-load as many tasks as possible, just in case I ended up sick by Wednesday, I remained healthy aside from allergies (praise God!) and ended up with a really light Thursday as a result. So, I'm definitely thanking God for all of that.
• Grad school, on the other hand, was much less chill. My technical writing class ended well; though the final assignment took more time to put together than I thought it would, the end result turned out really well. The new editing and publishing class, on the other hand, has been . . . frustrating. I don't agree with the professors' positions on certain types of writing (because I feel like they're promoting a particularly unhelpful misconception), and the first big assignment of the class (due this weekend) has been . . . problematic. I wanted to work ahead on it so that I would have it ready to turn in this past Tuesday or Wednesday and I wouldn't have to worry about it on Easter weekend, but instead I had three false starts before I figured out how to write it in a way that didn't make me kind of hate everything. Part of the problem is that the assignment is essentially a personal essay about my faith development, which sounds like it should be easy . . . but I don't actually like writing about myself that much outside of blogging. I almost always feel like I'm being overdramatic, and the angle I initially tried to use for the assignment was particularly vulnerable to that concern. Thankfully, I think I've figured out how to get around the problem, which is to write the thing mostly about books and fantasy media and bring myself in slant-wise. Basically, though, the whole class just seems calculated to hit on all my greatest frustrations while taunting me with how much I'd like to just be able to say "I have published seven books, and I did all the editing, layout, and such myself; also this is literally 70% of my day job; do I really need to be here?"
• Still, it's better than grant writing!
• I want a more cheerful subject, so let's talk about food. My Baking Yesteryear recipe for March was Cowboy Cookies, basically oatmeal cookies with coconut, pecans, and chocolate chips mixed in. They were very tasty, and I definitely think I'll make them again, though next time I might toast the coconut longer and substitute butterscotch chips for half of the chocolate. And March 14 is, of course, Pi Day, and I celebrated with pie or pie-adjacent foods at every meal: quiche at breakfast, store-bought apple pie at lunch, and homemade spaghetti pie and pecan pie at dinner. It was, as you can probably tell, a very good day.
• D&D has also been going well. In my long-running group, we fought an ancient dracolich in our most recent session, which was really cool but also terrifying because, you know, ancient undead black dragon. And half our party can't even hit it properly because we're primarily melee fighters and the dragon has both wings and an annoying habit of hanging out in the shadows, out of reach of our lights. We did beat it, though, after a magnificent Touch of Death from our cleric and a fourth-level Divine Smite from me (the one hit of mine that I remember actually landing during the entire fight). We're getting steadily closer and closer to the end of the campaign, and it's exciting, though also really weird to think about — we've been playing this for five or six years now. We do have plans for another campaign after this, though, so our group hopefully isn't going to break up anytime soon.
• The 4e campaign I just joined had its second session this month, which was mostly taken up by combat. Adapting to 4e's style of combat was a little bit of a challenge for me, but thankfully, one thing carries over from 5e: the rogue's best tactic is to hide, shoot, and hide again! And rogues are shaping up to be just as fun to play as I thought they would be.
• On the topic of D&D, I had my first actual run-in with someone who genuinely believed D&D is a gateway to the occult, so that was interesting (and kind of feels like an . . . achievement? milestone?). The person in question is a newcomer to our Bible study who overheard me mention to someone else that I play D&D on the weekends and stepped in to voice her concerns. I'd been internally preparing for a version of that conversation for a bit (because I knew she had a similar objection to Harry Potter), but I was still pretty nervous — I really did not want the center of dissent in the Bible study, even if I was pretty confident that most people would back me up if things got ugly.  Thankfully, the person making the comments was speaking from a place of genuine concern, not judgement, and it turned out that she doesn't really know a lot about D&D, so once I explained to her what D&D and fantasy in general were for me and my faith, we were able to reach an amicable conclusion. And the conversation did later inspire my idea for what to do about my current grad school assignment, so I guess I have to thank her for that, ha!
• We'll wrap up with Easter, though it hasn't quite happened yet as of writing. We won't be celebrating with our Bible study like we normally do, due to people being out of town, but we still have plans I'm looking forward to, namely attending our church's Saturday service and inviting a few friends over for Easter lunch. I'm making a coconut cake; it's going to be great.

April Plans

• As I said already, I think I can reasonably finish Daughters of Atirse #2 (which is so close to having an actual title, by the way) by the end of April, so I'm aiming to do just that — or, at least, to get within a few chapters of finishing. As such, I'm putting my loose wordcount goal at 40,000 words again, and we'll see if that works out. April is going to be another Realm-Makers-equivalent-to-NaNoWriMo month, so that should help give me the boost I need! There's nothing like a daily check-in and word sprinting buddies to help keep you on track.
• I also need to properly draft, edit, and submit my DOSA Files story, which I haven't given up on yet. While there's not much on paper at the moment, I've been letting it mature in the back of my mind, and I think I worked out one of my last major plot problems. And it's only 10,000 words, max, so writing it shouldn't take that long.
• I'm hoping that the current grad school class will become less frustrating as time goes on. I'm hoping that this past week is about as bad as it's going to get. If it is, the rest of the class will be annoying, but bearable. If it goes downhill from here . . . well, we'll see what happens. Work, at least, should be chill — the period right after something like Easter or Christmas almost always is.
• On the reading front, I have a couple more ARCs that I'm looking forward to, and I also hope to get back to my Prydain reread. And if I have a free weekend sometime, I have high hopes of going through my bookshelves to reorganize, weed out the books I know I'm not going to read or reread, and make space for new stories. (This is something I've been planning to do for a while now . . . but it's spring now, so hopefully that will make a difference.)
• Outside of all those things, I'm looking forward to more gaming, more D&D, and continuing to work on assorted small craft projects until I can psych myself up for another big thing.

How was your March? Any plans for April? How do you listen to podcasts? What are your Easter plans (or how did you celebrate, if you're reading this the week after Easter)? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

 

Spring 2024 Read

Hello, everyone! Spring is here . . . and so, naturally, the cold has returned after a week and a bit of sunshine, because that's how the world works apparently. Happily, this spring is also full of so many exciting releases, which provide a very handy distraction from the weather. In fact, there's enough releases that have me really hyped that I can't actually cut down my list to just five — so I'm posting the full version on both Light and Shadows and Dreams and Dragons! (I actually have an ulterior motive for doing this as well, but I'll get into that in a week or two.) What has me so excited? Let's find out. 

Spring 2024 Reads

1. The Queen's Curse by J.F. Rogers (February 27). Ok, yes, this released in February, which is not spring by any means, and it's the third in a trilogy that I haven't actually started. However, the trilogy does sound pretty cool — it's an epic portal fantasy (a genre that used to majorly dominate my reading), but with the hero coming from one fantasy world into another, which I've always thought is an underused concept. Better still, apparently at least one of these worlds is steampunk with elves and fae. If that isn't worth a try, I don't know what is.

2.  What Monstrous Gods by Rosamund Hodge (March 5). Past experience with Rosamund Hodge's work gives a roughly 50/50 chance on whether I like it . . . but that past experience also suggests that if I end up liking it, I'll really like it. And What Monstrous Gods sounds like it potentially has a lot in common with Cruel Beauty (which I liked enough to buy), so I am hopeful that this will will end up in that "really like it" category. It's a Sleeping Beauty retelling with what sounds like secrets and quests and an unexpectedly arranged marriage romance, and a lot of people with excellent taste in books have recommended it. I haven't gotten my hands on it yet, but I will request it from the library as soon as it becomes available in one of the systems.

3. Water Horse by Katie Hanna (March 19). I already read and reviewed this one! So, go read that post if you want my full thoughts. But in short: I think the fantasy and Western genres are an underrated combination, and I'm pleased that at least one author has also realized that and started to fill that void with this book. Water Horse blends Western adventure and drama with Irish mythology, and aside from having more swearing than I expected and a few quibbles with the writing style, I quite enjoyed it.

4. Nobody's Hero by Janeen Ippolito (March 21). This one actually released just yesterday, but I got an ARC, so I got to read it early. You can check out my Goodreads review for my full thoughts, but in short, this is a fun, fast-paced superhero adventure that has a lot in common with H.L. Burke's SVR-verse books. I enjoyed the characters and the storyline, and I also thought Ippolito had an interesting take on what a world populated in part by people with superpowers might look like, especially in the early stages when supers are a relatively new phenomenon.

5. No Man Left Behind by W.R. Gingell (March 23). And here we get to the part of the season when I possibly start exploding from an overload of awesomeness — otherwise known as what happens when four (four!) of my favorite authors release new books in rapid succession. First up: No Man Left Behind, the final book in the Worlds Behind series. I have very steadily enjoyed each book in this series more than the last, so I have very high hopes for how this tale will turn out, especially after all the revelations and general awesomeness of Book 4's ending. And the snippets Gingell has been releasing only reassure me that this book is going to be so, so good.

6. Dark & Dawn by Suzannah Rowntree (April 5). I have an ARC of this book waiting on my Kindle right now, and the only reason I haven't already devoured it is that I had a book club (or group read, whatever you want to call it) read I had to get through first. But I desperately, desperately, need to find out what happens next to Molly, Vasily, and the rest of the crew . . . particularly because there's a part of me that hasn't stopped screaming since I finished Dark & Stormy. Plus, this one is apparently going to delve into some mysteries of Molly's own past, and given that I have been wondering if foul play is somehow afoot for a while now . . . well, all I can say is that Rowntree's Miss Dark's Apparitions never fail to deliver, and I can't wait to see what's in store next.

7. Castle of the Winds by Christina Baehr (April 14). Speaking of stories that consistently deliver: I am so looking forward to returning to the cozy Gothic world of the Secrets of Ormdale series. Even better, this story sees Edith venturing off to Wales (in some interesting company, no less! — though I can't say more than that), apparently to encounter a legendary Red Dragon, and I just know this will be quite the adventure. I'm excited to find out what mysteries Edith will uncover next, and I'm also eager to see how certain relationships continue to develop.

8. The Erlking's Daughters by Claire Trella Hill (April 19). Wrapping up our streak of awesomeness-overload: The Erlking's Daughters is by the same author as Black and Deep Desires — aka that historical paranormal romance that I went uncharacteristically feral over last year — but this time she's giving us a dark fae fantasy tale with a slowburn romance and strong sibling bonds. We all know that fae and slowburn romance and sibling bonds are like catnip to me . . . and while I can go either way on dark, I trust Hill to handle it well. (I also have an ARC of this one, so I'll be reading it well before the release date — the only reason I haven't gotten to it yet is because I've had other books-with-deadlines that had to be read first.)

9. Shattered Resistance by Madisyn Carlin (May 28). This is the third book in the series that began with Shattered Reflection, which came out as part of the Arista Challenge Shattered Mirrors release. I liked Reflection, so I'm kind of ashamed to have missed the fact that the sequel is already out! But I'm eager to get my hands on both Shattered Reaction (the sequel) and Shattered Resistance and return to this world and these characters.

What book releases are you excited for this spring? Am I missing any? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

 

Hello, everyone! March and April are full of exciting book releases, and today, I'm helping to celebrate the first of these: Katie Hanna's Water Horse, a Western fantasy coming in just a few days, on March 19. Katie has published many short stories in anthologies and through Havok, but this is her first full-length nove release, so I'm absolutely thrilled for her. I was also thrilled to get my hands on an ARC of her novel so I could read this tale of magic, murder, and marriage as soon as possible — and, of course, so I could share my thoughts with y'all.

Thoughts on Water Horse

1. I love the blend of a Western setting and Irish mythology. You all know that I'm a fan of unique fantasy settings, especially for historical fantasy — while I love the classic medieval-Western-European-inspired stories, it's delightful to see how authors merge magic and fantasy elements with other eras. And since the Old West is already such a legendary era and region on its own, combining it with fantasy seems such like such a natural choice, I'm always surprised that there aren't more fantasy Westerns out there. Happily, Water Horse fills a little bit of that void. I can't speak to the book's historical accuracy, but it hits the right notes of ranchers and cowboys, wild horses, isolated settlements, and adventure. And Hanna blends in Irish mythology, specifically the water horses (similar to kelpies, but sea-dwelling), along with other magic and magical beings in a way that works very well.
   
2. I enjoyed the characters and their dynamics. This book features a very colorful and varied cast of characters, both magical and mundane. I enjoyed the characters themselves, and I also enjoyed the dynamics between them: the wary alliances, the friendships, and, yes, the romance — Meg and George end up in a marriage of convenience turned second-chance romance (for one of them, anyway), and it's very sweet. That said, the friendships — between George and his ranch hands, between Meg and the magical beings with whom she can communicate, and between Meg and Brian (a ranch hand who's also from Ireland) — are also a strong element of the story, and they were all written very well. Plus, there's a magical cat in this story, so that's obviously a plus.
3. There is a lot more swearing than I expected. Is it worse than Critical Role (aka, the very upper limit of what I can tolerate)? No. Is it worse than some other books I've read? Also no. Was it enough to detract from my enjoyment of the book? Yes, yes it was — language used included pretty much everything except the f-bomb, and the s-word showed up with surprising frequency. And, yes, I know, this is a story about cowboys, and realistically speaking, they probably wouldn't exactly be clean-spoken . . . but I think that it should be possible to strike a balance between realism and not making readers uncomfortable in that way. If a book is going to make me uncomfortable, I would prefer it to be because it challenges my view of the world in a good way, not because the characters have overly dirty mouths.
4. On a nitpicky note, there's something about either the writing style or the POV that I don't love. I think this has to do with the fact that Water Horse is written in first-person POV that switches between three characters, and while I love single-lead first-person POV, switching first-person POV has to be done really, really well in order to not bother me. Technically, Water Horse checks the main boxes — the characters have fairly distinct voices, they don't switch mid-chapter, and chapters are labeled with the POV character — but something about it still bothers me, and it kept me from enjoying the book as much as I could. This is very much a personal thing, though, so others might not be bothered at all.
5. This is, in many ways, a story about secrets and second chances. The events of this story are a second chance for many characters, whether that's a second chance at life, at love, or at being better than you used to be. It's also about secrets, how they divide characters and how they threaten the second chances that are on offer. And while I did occasionally get frustrated with how long some of those secrets were kept, the way in which they came out and the results of the reveals played well with the overall theme.

Does Water Horse sound like something you'd enjoy reading? What's a setting you'd like to see more in fantasy? Tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

Hello hello hello! I originally intended to take this week off from blogging, as I had a lot on my plate and wanted to focus my time and energy elsewhere. Then one of the things that was on my plate came off it . . . and I remembered that I had a half-finished post that I'd been saving for March Magics, so here we are! For those who don't know, March Magics is an annual, month-long celebration of the writings of Diana Wynne Jones and Terry Pratchett. I typically don't participate aside from using the event as an excuse to read Howl's Moving Castle, Chrestomanci, or some Discworld, but this year I'm squeezing in a post or two on the blogs and socials as well! As some of you might remember, I finally finished reading the Discworld series last year, after having procrastinated on Night Watch for an embarrassing amount of time. And now that I've read the whole series, I decided that it's a great time to share my favorite Discworld books — a list that, for the most part, also functions as a set of excellent entry points into the series for those curious.

The Best Books of Discworld

1. Going Postal. The chances of this book not taking first place were exactly nil. It has all the things I love about Discworld — the clever use of tropes and archetypes, the masterfully crafted plot, the brilliant characters, the humor — packaged with some of my favorite character and storyline types. Moist von Lipwig is a character in much the same line as The Music Man's Professor Harold Hill, and when what should've been a death sentence lands him instead in a government job, well . . . magnificently masterminded chaos ensues. Plus, even though it's fairly late in the series, it's a good entry point for the Discworld novels — it gives you the background you need on Ankh-Morpork and its significant inhabitants, and I'd argue it has some of Pratchett's best writing.
   
   
   
2. Guards! Guards! I may love Moist von Lipwig . . . but he's only my second favorite Discworld character (tied with the Patrician). My favorite? Sam Vimes. Vimes is a character of contrasts, a transplant from another genre who works astonishingly well in the fantasy city of Ankh-Morpork. And while Guards! Guards! shows him at his lowest . . . it also shows how he went from that lowest point onto the path that we see him on for the rest of the series. As a bonus, it's also a very good starting point for the series — early enough that you don't really need any background knowledge, but far enough in that Pratchett really had a feel for what he was about. (It's also where I started the series, so you know. There's that.)
   
   
   
3. The Wee Free Men. The Tiffany Aching sub-series in general is pretty good, but the first book — featuring a very practical, no-nonsense young Tiffany and her first encounters with the wild and riotous Nac Mac Feegle — is definitely my favorite. It's got Pratchett's take on fairies and fairyland, a main character who sets out to defend her family and her home, and just a lot of excellent moments and insight. It's also very short, so if you're after a quick read, this is it.
   
   
   
4. Hogfather. This is probably my most-read Discworld book, even if it doesn't take the top spot, as it's often one of my yearly Christmas reads. When the Disc's version of Santa Claus goes missing, Death must temporarily take his place while Death's granddaughter Susan (who is somewhat along the lines of a goth Mary Poppins) figures out what's gone wrong. Also featured are the wizards of Unseen University (whose extensive and mostly food-oriented holiday celebrations are interrupted by the goings-on), send-ups of a vast variety of Christmas tales, and what happens when you have a great deal of belief and nowhere for it to go. While it's a very secular take on Christmas, it does have worthwhile themes — and it's just generally a fun read.
   
   
   
5. The Fifth Elephant. This is the one book on this list that I wouldn't necessarily recommend as a starting point, simply because it's both late in the Discworld series as a whole and midway through the City Watch subseries. So, while it can be read first without issue, you'll enjoy it more if you have a little context for, well, most of the characters. That said, I do love this book. There's lore, intrigue, a genuinely clever mystery, and Sam Vimes being, well, Sam Vimes. The one thing that sours the story is that there are some LGBT themes running through parts of the story, but there's also some great themes about power and tradition and culture and lines that you shouldn't cross, so I feel it balances out.

Have you read any Discworld books? If so, what are your favorites? And will you be doing anything to participate in March Magics? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!