Hey'a, friends! As you may have seen, this year, Jenelle Leanne Schmidt brought back February is Fantasy Month, a month-long celebration of all things fantasy! This includes daily posts over on her site, a blog post linkup, giveaways, and an Instagram challenge. And because I love both fantasy and prompts that help me figure out what to post about, I'm borrowing today's Instagram topic, fantasy subgenres, for today's post. Now, I've met very few fantasy subgenres I don't enjoy . . . but I definitely like some more than others, so today, I'm sharing my top five favorites (roughly in order), along with some recommendations in each of those subgenres. 

As a note, I am not including fairy tale retellings as a subgenre because any fairy tale retelling is necessarily also at least one other subgenre. Not that some of these other subgenres don't overlap, but they don't have to overlap, you know? With that out of the way, let's get on with the list.

February Is Fantasy Month:
Favorite Fantasy Subgenres

1. Fantasy mystery. That this makes the top of the list shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Before I discovered fantasy, I devoured mystery books like they were going out of style. It took me a surprisingly long time to discover that the two can be combined — but once I did, I was delighted. The only thing better than a good whodunnit is a good whodunnit in which the culprit might be a dragon and the detective a wizard. Or, you know, vise versa. I am 100% on board with dragon detectives, and if anyone knows of a good such book (other than A Tale of Two Castles), please tell me so I can read it.
   If you want to read this, try . . . The Knight and Rogue series by Hilari Bell was the first fantasy-mystery I encountered, and it has both some very well-crafted mysteries and a really fun dynamic between the two main characters, Michael (a would-be knight errant with a sense of honor to match) and Fisk (a former thief and con artist with a better heart than he lets on). It's more low fantasy, but if you want something more magical, try The Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman, which includes dragons, fae, alternate dimensions, and librarian-spies. And, of course, I have to mention my all-time favorite fantasy mystery, Masque by W.R. Gingell, which turns Beauty and the Beast into a murder mystery.
2. Epic fantasy. While I read less of this than I used to, I still love it. Epic fantasy (especially quest-based epic fantasy) is where I learned to love the genre, and it contains many of the stories that make my heart sing. The greatest heroes and the darkest villains are often found here, and so is some of the most magnificent worldbuilding in all fantasy.
   If you want to read this, try . . . The obvious recommendations here are Tolkien and Sanderson, and I love both of them — The Lord of the Rings was one of the subgenre originators, and The Stormlight Archive is one of the most epic of epic fantasies I've ever read. But Tolkien and Sanderson are also both long and well-known, and so I also want to include a couple more obscure recommendations. Moonscript by H.S.J. Williams is a beautiful, thrilling tale of adventure, salvation, friendship, and the battle between light and darkness, with notes of both The Lord of the Rings and The Tales of Goldstone Wood. And speaking of Goldstone Wood, I love the whole series, but Golden Daughter is both the most epic and one of my favorites in that series.
3. Heist fantasy. Much like fantasy mystery, heist fantasy takes an already awesome genre (who doesn't love a really clever, exciting heist/con story?) and makes it better via the addition of magic, magical beings, and fantastical locations. If you've ever watched Leverage and thought "you know what this needs? a dragon. or a vampire," then you and I are on the same page. On one hand, imagine the schemes a crew can pull when their team could include wizards, fae, or even dragons! On the other hand, imagine the schemes they'll have to come up with when their mark can read minds or famously has (or is) a dragon guarding his treasure! (Oh, wait, that's just The Hobbit. Though that one worked out more due to luck than any clever scheming on Bilbo and the dwarves' part . . .) While I haven't read a ton in this genre, I've enjoyed 95% of what I have read, so it definitely makes the favorites list.
   If you want to read this, try . . . So, I can't get you Leverage with a dragon, but I can get you Leverage with a vampire (or, well, ex-vampire) in the form of Miss Dark's Apparitions by Suzannah Rowntree. I absolutely love this crew of inventors, schemers, and con artists, both for their adventures and for the interactions and dynamics between them. (Obviously, if you want something a little more epic, Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn and Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows are both also excellent. But y'all probably know about those already.)
4. Portal fantasy. Portal fantasy seems to be out of style at the moment — or, at least, I don't see very much of it — which is tragic, as it's so fun. It has all the benefits of epic fantasy, but with the additional plus that you're experiencing everything alongside someone who's as new to it as you are. And, of course, there's all kinds of interesting things you can do with the tension of feeling caught between two worlds, with adapting to back home after your adventure, and so forth.
   If you want to read this, try . . . Probably my favorite portal fantasy (outside of Narnia) is the Legends of Karac Tor by D. Barkley Briggs, a Christian series that blends elements of Norse, Celtic, Welsh, Arthurian, and Native American mythology in its worldbuilding — plus, it has fantastic characters, lots of family dynamics, and a fantastic storytelling voice. Brandon Mull's Beyonders is another excellent trilogy that plays with some tropes and includes some very unique worldbuilding elements. Also, while it's not exactly portal fantasy (more time travel), Kari Maaren's Weave a Circle Round has a lot in common with the subgenre, lots of references to literature and legends, and absolutely no romance.
5. Urban, Historical & Gothic fantasy. I'm combining these three for two reasons. Urban and historical fantasy fit together because I love them both for the same reasons: I enjoy seeing the way authors weave together magic and magical beings with reality, coming up with wondrous secrets behind even the most mundane matters. As for the Gothic fantasy, most of this subgenre is also historical fantasy. Plus, many of my favorite historical fantasies are also Gothic — it's that extra edge of darkness, creepiness, and mystery that makes everything more exciting and provides opportunities for light and redemption to show up even better. That said, these elements do have to be used in moderation, which is where a lot of urban fantasy especially goes wrong.
   If you want to read this, try . . . For urban fantasy, you know I have to recommend W.R. Gingell's City Between. (No surprises there; I yell about it every few months, it seems.) For historical fantasy, try . . . well, literally anything by Suzannah Rowntree, but also Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik, a multi-faceted Rumplestiltskin retelling set in Russia. And if you're after some Gothic fantasy, you can go cozy with The Secrets of Ormdale series by Christina Baehr, or you can aim dark and romantic with Black and Deep Desires by Claire Trella Hill.

What are your favorite fantasy subgenres, and what books in those subgenres do you especially recommend? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

December 2023 Doings!

Here we are — December 1, and for me, at least, the Christmas season is in full swing! As I write this, I'm listening to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (always a delight), and I'm very excited to start both Dickens December (aka, reading The Christmas Carol in day-by-day serial fashion, Dracula Daily-style) and my cheese Advent calendars. But I'm getting ahead of myself — this post is about November, not December. Last month was, unsurprisingly, pretty busy, but it was a good busy . . . mostly. Let's get into the recap and you'll see what I mean.

Writing!

• The month started out with another author event. Heather Halverstadt, L. Jagi Lamplighter, and I shared a table at Doxacon, a very small speculative fiction fan convention associated with the Orthodox and Catholic churches. While navigation was frustrating (I lost my way multiple times trying to find my way around the location — and then ended up at the bottom of a flight of stairs with a cartload of books) and I didn't sell nearly as many books as I hoped, I did meet many cool people, both readers and other authors. Additionally, the vendor hall and the main sessions were in the same place, so I got to listen in on some of the talks for free, which was great. All in all, it was a pretty good day. I think I'll try to go as a vendor again next year . . . though I will probably prepare differently next time!
• As far as actual writing goes: I finished my challenge story (the platonic Beauty and the Beast), and I'm very happy with how it turned out. I took my birthday off for the express purpose of finishing it and working on Bastian Dennel, and that was fun.
• I did not finish Bastian Dennel, PI #4, due to Thanksgiving and my sister being home. However, I am within a chapter or two of being done, so . . . there's that? I could probably finish this weekend if I have time and focus enough, but I'm not sure if I'll have both of those in sufficient supply.
• I've also been doing a lot of brainstorming on possible future stories with a friend of mine. This is not very helpful when it comes to writing present stories, but it's fun, and it's sort of adjacent to being productive, so . . . yes. I swear, if I write anywhere near all the ideas I have, I'm going to end up with a backlist that, at least in terms of quantity, puts the likes of Brandon Sanderson and Bryan Davis to shame. Alas that I can't afford to just spend all my time writing . . .
• I also celebrated five years since Blood in the Snow released and I became an officially published author! And by "celebrated" I mean that I wrote a blog post and an Instagram post about it and mentioned it to my family after a friend reminded me that it was, in fact, kind of a significant anniversary. It still counts as a celebration, right?

Reading!

• This month was almost all rereads — out of eighteen books that I read or finished in November, only four were actually new to me.
• My main rereads were the second half of the  Knight and Rogue series and most of the Delicious in Dungeon manga series. Both were excellent on the reread, I'm happy to say. My Delicious in Dungeon reread culminated in reading the latest two volumes, which were both new to me. I enjoyed both, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the series wraps up when the final volumes release sometime next year. (My favorites are still earlier in the series, but that's not surprising.)
• Dracula Daily and Re:Dracula both wrapped up in early November, which is why Dracula is on there twice. I very much enjoyed experiencing Dracula a second and third time, and I highly recommend both the Substack and the podcast as ways to experience this story! (Also, I thought I was prepared for a certain element of the climax . . . and I was with regards to Dracula Daily, but I definitely was not properly prepared for Re:Dracula.)
• My two new reads, aside from the latest Delicious in Dungeon books, were volume 14 of Fullmetal Alchemist and B. Dylan Hollis's cookbook, Baking Yesteryear. Well, I mostly skimmed the cookbook, but I read enough to be satisfied and to know there are recipes in it that I'd like to try. As for Fullmetal Alchemist . . . well, I got worked up enough over the ending to ask a friend for a very minor spoiler, that being whether or not a character's arc pulls away from the tragedy it seems to be headed towards.
• Also, while it's not listed here, I've been reading Time to Orbit: Unknown, which is a serially posted sci-fi story about a colony ship in which things have gone horribly wrong and one of the colonists gets unexpectedly woken to take on the role of captain . . . and all the other roles as well. I'm about halfway through right now, and while it's not a perfect story (either philosophically, ideologically, or technically), I've been really enjoying it. Delving into some sci-fi is a nice change of pace, there's an excellent mystery element, and the character dynamics are great. I don't remember how it ended up on my radar, but I'm glad it did. (Also, it's making me want to write a space fantasy story, so . . .  we'll see where that goes.)
• And because reading that seems to have put me on a sci-fi kick, I've started a reread of the Illuminae Files. I read Illuminae in the last few days (and stayed up far too late while doing so, but we're not talking about that), and I just started Gemina, and, look, these books are so good. Sometimes, action/suspense-type books don't hold up well on the reread, but these ones? These ones remain amazing. (Plus, I now have the full trilogy, and I'm so happy about that!)

Watching!

• I actually watched a bunch of stuff this month? Somehow? And, surprisingly, only half of it was holiday-related.
• I squeezed in a couple more episodes of my Fairy Tail rewatch and another No Evil episode (I really need to get back to watching that series; I'm actually really close to caught up). I also joined my parents for a couple of episodes of Benson, which is an older sitcom. Surprisingly, I enjoyed the two episodes I watched, even though I usually don't go in for that genre. Not something I'd go out of my way to watch, but I would not object to watching more if other people happened to have it on and I didn't have anything pressing to do at the time. (This is more of a compliment than it probably sounds like, for the record. My family will confirm that I am not afraid to flee the room if a show comes on that I don't like, even if I don't necessarily have something better to do.)
• On the holiday movie front, we of course watched Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (a few days before Thanksgiving), and we also watched The Lemon Drop Kid while my sister was home. On a side note, if you haven't watched The Lemon Drop Kid, do yourself a favor and fix that. It's not a perfect story, but it is so much fun — it's the classic "con man tries a desperate scheme, but accidentally gets Invested" trope, but at Christmas! With lots of humor! I love it.
• We also watched Miracle on 34th Street, and for once, I decided not to find something more pressing to do. I hated this movie for a long while — when I was small (under ten or so), we'd always watch it on Thanksgiving, but most of it went right over my head, and I always ended up bored and annoyed. Eventually I just stopped watching it. This year I decided to give it another chance, and I will say that, surprise, surprise, it's a much better movie when you actually understand the nuances of the characters and what's going on! It's still not something I'd pick out to watch on my own, but I'd potentially watch it again if other people wanted to see it.
• Finally, a new-to-me old movie: It Happened in 5th Avenue. I really wanted to love this one, and I did like it . . . but not as well as I'd hoped. The general concept was fun, and I liked that part of the emotional grounding was the restoration of a family in addition to the romance element. However, one of the major characters very much annoyed me after a while, plus there was instalove romance, and while I could deal with either of those two on their own, the combination was just a little too frustrating for this to be a new favorite (or anywhere close). I'd still watch it again, but yeah. Not as good as I hoped.

Life!

• As I said already, November was a busy month. Doxacon obviously dominated the first weekend of the month — but the following weekend was also busy with lots of running around here, there, and everywhere else.
• Then the weekend after that was my birthday, which was fun! I already mentioned that I took my birthday off from work. When my coworkers asked what I planned to do, I told them that, if it was a good day, I'd spend the whole thing writing, and if it was a very good day, I'd spend half my time writing and the other half either reading or crafting. And as it turns out, it was a very good day! I got in plenty of writing time, and I started working on a short fleece cloak. We also celebrated with homemade chocolate peanut butter tart (basically buckeye filling and chocolate in a graham cracker crust, very tasty) and a trip to my favorite Mexican restaurant on the weekend, so that was a delight.
• For those who want to know: the cloak is still not quite finished, but it's nearly there. I just need to sew on the fasteners and decide if I'm going to attach the hood or not. (I made the hood, but I had to piece it, and I'm not sure if I like how it turned out. Plus, I do have plenty of hats.) I'm also working on crocheting a Mobius shawl with some lovely black-and-silver yarn; despite a few false starts, it's going well, if much slower than I hoped. (Let's be real; "much slower than I hoped" describes pretty much every crafting project I tackle.)
• I also used my birthday as an excuse to try a local-ish crepe restaurant — I'd been meaning to check it out for months, but I hadn't gotten around to it until now. I ordered a salmon benedict crepe and was caught very off-guard by the size. It was even larger than the crepes at the Maryland Renaissance Faire, and that's saying something! I could barely finish the whole thing! It was tasty, though, and I definitely plan to go back sometime.
• Now we come to Thanksgiving! My sister flew in Thanksgiving morning and stayed until Saturday evening, and seeing her again was lovely. We had Thanksgiving dinner with our Bible study, as usual, which was fun. There was an abundance of good food, and my mom and sister spent most of the afternoon working on a puzzle with the friend who was hosting. I contributed to neither food nor puzzle, but ah well.
• One unusual thing we did this year was that we put up the Christmas tree and lights on Thanksgiving day, then did the actual decorating the day after Thanksgiving as usual. While I'm generally very firm about keeping Christmas after Thanksgiving, I think I liked putting the tree up a day early. Doing that meant we weren't already tired when we started putting up the decorations (or, not as tired), and it was a good way to work up an appetite for Thanksgiving dinner!
• At work, everything's abuzz with Advent and Christmas preparations. I spent a significant amount of the month working on the Advent newsletter and marketing materials for the Lessons & Carols and Christmas Eve services — but those are arguably some of my favorite projects of the year. I know I say this every year, but Advent truly is my favorite season to design for. I'm working primarily with my favorite colors (blue, gold, purple, green), the imagery is all filled with lovely lights and stars and candles, and I have the option to either lean into nostalgia and traditional designs (with fancy serif fonts and scrollwork) or go more modern (with silhouettes and minimalist colors and swishy script), with equal justification for either angle. So, yes, I'm busy, but I'm having fun with it.
• And, to be frank, it's a good thing that I'm enjoying my work (mostly), as I am not enjoying my grad school grant writing class. The professor isn't as bad as I feared he would be, but I just do not enjoy the subject matter. Heaven help me if I'm ever in a position where I have to write a grant application for real — and I absolutely do not want to ever have this as my main job. I'd rather freelance — storms, I'd rather work retail. The problem isn't even that it's particularly hard. The workload is actually pretty light. But I can't find anything to enjoy about the work itself, and I just want to be done.

December Plans

• Obviously, all the Christmas stuff will be happening. I'm working on putting together presents and thinking about what cookies I'm going to make  (and what I'm going to request that my mom make). We're trying to figure out which Christmas Eve service to go to — our church has six — and looking forward to my sister coming home again for the holiday (huzzah!), plus hoping that my grandpa will be doing well enough to visit too. I'm debating whether or not to go to the Lessons & Carols service at the church where I work, since I enjoyed it last year. And, of course, I will be listening to all the Christmas music!
• I also have two weeks left in my grant writing class, so I need to survive those and pray that my work ethic holds out long and strong enough that I finish well. I swear, even in my most-disliked high school and undergrad classes — even in my last months of my senior year — I have never felt such a strong desire to just not.
• Speaking of finishing things: I still need to finish Bastian Dennel, PI #4! I'm so close, but the last chapters are always one of the hardest parts of drafting . . . That said, I'm aiming to wrap up this draft by the end of next week. We'll see what happens after that. I need to jump into my Song of the Selkies prequel sooner rather than later, but the weeks before Christmas aren't necessarily the best time to start a new project, plus I need to write my New Year's Eve short story. I'd like to get it written well in advance for once, but who knows if that'll work out. In any case, I'll see how BDPI #4 and my grant writing final project go and figure things out from there.
• Work will continue to be busy, but not unreasonably or unbearably so. At this point, I have a pretty good handle on what needs doing, and a lot is already done. The hardest thing will probably just be making sure everything stays on schedule and cornering people long enough to get the information I need from them. I will be doing three different bulletins the week before Christmas, which will be a lot . . . but honestly, that's not much worse than Holy Week, and I can get bulletins done pretty fast these days as long as people give me the content I need! So as long as I can keep my focus, I should be fine.
• I'm sure I'll also have plenty to do on the crafting front, what with making some Christmas gift items, though I'm not making as much as I have in some past years. Most of what I have planned is stuff I can do relatively quickly; the tricky bit is that not all of it is as portable as I'd like . . .
• Finishing up with a housekeeping note: I will not be posting on the blogs next week or the week after. My next post will most likely be my Winter 2023–2024 Reads post on December 22, and then I'll do the usual month- and year-wrap-up posts on the appropriate dates. The next two weeks are critical for finishing both the grant-writing class and BDPI #4, so I don't want to have to worry about getting blog posts up during that time. Of course, the rest of you might be so busy that you don't even notice I'm not posting.

How was your November? What are you looking forward to in December? Do you tend to make many Christmas presents? Do you find it harder to start projects or finish them? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

 

October 2023 Doings!

October is over, and only two months remain before the end of 2023. No, I can't believe it any more than you can, but there are two calendars right beside me, and both have only two pages left before they run out of days. (Which means I should probably make or buy some new calendars for 2024, now that I think about it.) And those last two months will go fast, given that we're just about to the holiday season . . . but I'm getting ahead of myself. Before we go rushing on ahead, time to recap October's Doings!

Writing!

• We'll start with the good news: Eat Local Read Local went very well. The event had an excellent turnout — over 500 people, if I recall the stats I was given correctly — and I sold a very decent number of books, considering that it was my first time actually doing the selling and that I ended up in the YA/Kids tent instead of the YA/Adult tent (where I think I would have done better). Plus, I got to meet several other authors who I didn't know were local, and several friends came out to see and support me. (One person came all the way from Maryland — that would be the lovely Wyn Owens, who surprised me so much I had to sit down. Then she and I got a late lunch/early dinner after the event and had a chance to chat, and that was fun.)
• On the downside, I didn't accomplish either of my writing goals for this month. Oh, I wrote, certainly! I put down bout 20,000 new words in October, and I had some very good writing days towards the end of the month.
• Unfortunately, only about 4,000 of those words were on Bastian Dennel #4, as first my characters were fighting me, and then other things got in the way of working on it.
• That means I got 16,000 words on my short story challenge piece, and if you can't tell, it's kind of not a short story anymore. It is, in fact, threatening to become a novella. I'm trying to finish it, but these things take time. It's also very character-driven, which means everything takes longer. (On the upside, I am really enjoying the story. It's a platonic Beauty and the Beast wherein the Beast gets stuck with a pair of orphans staying in his manor, and I think you can guess where this is going. Accidental adoption arcs are just delightful.)
• That said, part of the problem is also that there was a week straight where I didn't write because of grad school stuff. But I'll discuss that in the Life! section.
• Even if I didn't hit my goals, though, I did get more words on pages, so I can be pleased with that.

Reading!

• Given that this was October, I had every intention of going all-in on spooky season reads. That . . . did not happen. The closest things I had to spooky reads were my reread of the Miss Sharp's Monsters trilogy (10/10; they were good the first time around, and they're better on the reread) and my foray into the Dresden Files graphic novels, which were surprisingly good. Specifically, I read Welcome to the Jungle and Ghoul Goblin, both of which take place early enough in the series timeline that I'm not going out of order. I wouldn't give them a blanket rec, but they were fast, fun, exciting reads, and they're a bit lighter on the Content that I dislike in the main series.
• Aside from the Dresden graphic novels, my other new reads were almost all at the beginning of the month. I finished Of Fire and Ash fairly early in the month, and my opinions remain the same as what I said in September: it's a good book with cool worldbuilding, but it's not a new favorite.
• I did enjoy Fugitive Telemetry, which is the sixth Murderbot Diaries book. Sci-fi murder mysteries are fun, and Murderbot remains a delightfully snarky and uniquely non-human narrator. As for A Little Persuaded, well, I already posted my thoughts on it, but in short, I liked it.
• As for the rest of my rereads, they were all roughly as good as I expected them to be. I didn't enjoy Magyk quite as much as I did when I first read the series, which was sad, but not a surprise. On the other hand, the first three Knight and Rogue books remain excellent. They're also the series that got me hooked on the fantasy-mystery combo, so revisiting them has been fun.

Watching!

• Time for watching stuff is still hard to come by, but I did block out enough ten-minute chunks of time to rewatch Over the Garden Wall. I started in early October and finished on Halloween, which feels appropriate. I still don't get as into it as other people do, but it's a good show, and it's light enough to watch when I'm tired, but also has enough depth to be satisfying.

Life!

• The highlight of the month was my visit to the Maryland Renaissance festival, at which I had a grand time! I love Ren Faires, and Maryland has an especially good one. I got to see several shows this time, including one on various street gambling cons throughout history that I thought was very interesting. Plus, I watched all three jousts, which were fun. They're not fully scripted like some jousts are, but they also do have a storyline running through them. Sir Keegan, in whose section I sat all three times, didn't win, but he was definitely a crowd favorite!
• Of course, Ren Faires are even better with friends, and getting to see Wyn Estelle Owens at this one was absolutely lovely. She arrived a bit later than intended, but we still had a nice time exploring and chatting.
• Outside of the Ren Faire, the thing that took up most of my time and energy was grad school. If you read last month's Doings!, you may remember that I mentioned that the assignment I was working on then should have been boring but straightforward, but instead ended up far more difficult than expected. That pretty much consumed all my free time (and some of my not-so-free time) for a week and a half, and it got to the point where the professor had to actually tell me to back away, take a day or two off, and calm down so that I wouldn't go mad. Thankfully, I did finally get it done, and done well at that. It just took rather longer than intended.
• Then I had a week's break before my current class started up. Said class is on grant writing. I'm currently in the second week of the class and I really, really don't like it. Basically the only thing going for it is that the workload isn't horrible. Otherwise — the topic stresses me out, the professor has yet to impress me (and also has yet to grade my first week's assignment, which I submitted a week ago), and it's just not a good time.
• On the work front, I've been kept pretty busy with regular weekly stuff, the Advent newsletter (it's almost Advent, y'all; can you believe it?), and all the various October events. At least the livestream issues seem to be staying resolved, and I have some extra tools now to try if they pop back up.
• I also did some baking this month and tried out two new recipes. One is a pumpkin cake that I made for work; it turned out very moist and tasty. I did substitute a maple glaze for the original frosting, and I think that was a good choice. The other new recipe was King Arthur Baking's Rustic Sourdough, and that was also good. It's not as strong a sourdough flavor as my usual recipe, but it's much faster, and it makes two loaves instead of one, both of which are good things. I don't think it'll replace my usual recipe, but it's a good alternative option.
• Oh, and I have to mention the D&D campaign I play in. That's been intense lately. The last several sessions have involved multiple attacks on my character's family, which resulted in certain members of that family (notably, my character's dad) temporarily dying, as well as our party sorcerer fighting a young blue dragon almost one-on-one . . . and the almost is because the dragon called in help. Not the sorcerer. (Our guy won, for the record. It was magnificent.)

November Plans

• I'm starting off the month with another author event. Tomorrow (or November 4, for those not reading this post the day it goes up), I'll be at Doxacon, which is a very small one-day convention for Christian fans of fantasy and sci-fi. I'm sharing a table/booth/something with Heather Halverstadt (who I also shared a table with at Eat Local, Read Local) and L. Jagi Lamplighter, both of whom attended as vendors last year. It should be a good time.
• As for my actual writing, I had hoped to start my Song of the Selkies prequel this month . . . but alas, I have other manuscripts I need to finish first. My new goal is to wrap up both my challenge story and Bastian Dennel, PI #4 by the end of November so I can start the SotS prequel in December. I know I'm close to the end of both of those stories, so I think that's doable.
• Work and grad school will probably continue as they have been. Even though November and December are busy months at work, I am looking forward to getting to do Advent and Christmas designs — I've said this before, and I'll say it again: this season has the best colors and imagery. Hopefully it'll be enough to make up for the frustrations of the grant writing class.
• November is also both my birthday month and Thanksgiving, both of which I'm looking forward to. I'm especially excited for Thanksgiving — we'll have the usual Bible study potluck, but more importantly, my sister should be coming down for a few days. I cannot wait to see her again.
• As for my reading . . . I should be working to catch up on some of my reading goals, but realistically, I'll probably continue my rereads and otherwise mood-read my way through the month.
• And . . . yeah. I think that's everything.

How was your October? What are you looking forward to in November? Did you go to any Renaissance Festivals this year? What are some of your favorite seasonal media (aside from Christmas books or movies)? Do you have more of a problem with your books turning out longer or shorter than expected?
Thanks for reading!

 

End-of-Year Book Freakout 2018!

Aaaaand it's back! The End-of-Year Book Freakout! I'm not calling it a tag anymore because I havne't been tagged and I'm not tagging anyone, haha. I think I've had a reasonably good reading year — my average rating was 4.1, which isn't bad. Though, let's be real, it's been a really long year, and I can barely remember what I read in July. Thank God for Goodreads. (In my defense, I read 107 books this year, and about 45 of those were since July.) And technically 2018 isn't quite over, so I'll probably get another book or two in by the first of January . . . but I wanted to get this up now.

1. Best book you've read in the second half of 2018:

Ok, full disclosure: a lot of my favorite books that I've read this half of the year have been rereads. So that's kind of sad. That said, one of those rereads does count:

 The Worth of a King by Kendra E. Ardnek

Just read my review for all my fangirling, but this is tied with LDTD for my favorite of Kendra's books. Delaney and pre-scale Amberite are the best parts, but political intrigue, masked assassins, and the adorable romance that is Delsida all make the book doubly awesome.

A few other pretty awesome reads:

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Heistyness and sharp-edged friendships and diversity make this super fun. (Plus, the story starts in a Netherlands-esque city, which is really cool.)

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

Not an easy book to read at all times, but an exciting and thought-provoking one. More contemporary than fantasy, but it's so Hank-ish that I'm ok with that.

2. Best sequel you've read in the second half of 2018:

Obsidio by Amie Kaufman

I fully expected this to rip out my heart and crush it into small pieces — that seems to be the trend with series finales — and, I mean, it did. But it also had some moments of pure triumph and relief and happiness that I loved. The gang's all together, plus we've got the con-artist newbies, and Kady's dad is just fathering everyone and I don't know. It made me happy at the same time as it killed me with plot twists.

And the runners-up:

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

Except for one twist that I'm INTENSELY MAD about and the fact that this one is slightly gayer than the first one, I loved Crooked Kingdom just as much as Six of Crows.

The Plastic Magician by Charlie Holmberg

Getting to see another magic type in action was super fun! And it was nice to have a plot that was centered on something a little less high-stakes than black-magic murderers on the loose.

3. New release you haven't read yet but want to: 

The Mortal Word by Genevieve Cogman

This was one of my Christmas gifts this year, and I can't wait to get back to the worlds of the Invisible Library! Now the question is: do I reread the whole series before I read this one? Or just the last book?

Bitter Winter by Jaye L. Knight

Not going to lie, I kinda forgot that this book was coming out until I got the email about the blog tour. And it's anyone's guess if I'll actually read this soon or if I'll wait until it's been out for six months. Based on the past, the latter is more likely.

4. Most anticipated release for next year: 

Return of the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

Eugenides is baaaaaack! And it's the end of the series, which is tragic, but it is what it is. I'm just glad we get one more installment, and I'm super excited to see how it goes.

5. Biggest disappointment:

The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell

I wanted magical heistyness and snarky friendships and time-manipulation magic in an urban historical fantasy setting. And, ok, I got three of those four, but the most important of the four was replaced by angst and suspicion of everyone except the right person and it was just a mess. Why did I read this book.

One runner-up in this category, sadly:

 Dagger's Sleep by Tricia Mingerink

To be fair, this wasn't a bad book as far as characters and plot go — Alexander annoyed me immensely, but otherwise, both those categories were fine. But the worldbuilding drove me crazy in that I couldn't make it make sense in my head.  

  

6. Biggest surprise:

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

I did not expect this to be as much contemporary as it was. I also didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did, given that it is more contemporary and, between the two Green brothers, I prefer John. But I actually really liked the book, even if I did have to put it down for extended periods once or twice because I could see the train wrecks coming.

Another surprise: the fact that Skyward wasn't another instant favorite as Sanderson books usually are. It was a good book, but a bit . . . I don't know. It lacked the Sanderson spark. Still, it's far better than the Alcatraz books, so I plan to stick with the series. 

7. Favorite new-to-you author:

Kathryn McConaughy isn't actually on my Goodreads shelf because I beta-read Overpowered and haven't had a chance to read the final version yet. (By which I mean that she kindly sent me a finished copy, but I haven't had time to read it, not that I don't have it.) But Overpowered, even in its unfinished state, is awesome, and Kathryn knows her stuff when it comes to the Biblical era. I look forward to reading more of her work! 

8. Newest fictional crush/ship:

Sadly, authors continue to pair off all the crush-worthy male characters. On the upside, I have a few new ships to fangirl over!

• Delsida (Delaney and Obsidia) from The Worth of a King.
• Kaz x Inej from Six of Crows.
• Also Nina x Matthias from Six of Crows.
• And Jeremy and Gwen from The Seven Drawers. Those two are adorable.
• Yeah, mostly just those four.

9. Newest favorite character(s):

• Delaney from The Worth of a King.
• The whole crew from Six of Crows.
• Alvie from The Plastic Magician.
• Gwen from The Seven Drawers.
• Daemyn Rand from Dagger's Sleep.

10. A book that made you cry:

A Thousand Perfect Notes by C.G. Drews

No actual tears, true, but definitely pain. Beck needs to be hugged and kidnapped from both his mother and his author.

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

I should not have read the end of this book in a public place, especially since I was already upset and stressed from other causes. That's all I'm saying.

11. A book that made you happy:

The Electrical Menagerie by Mollie E. Reader

This is a delightfully steampunky mystery, and while it does have its share of angst, it also has quite a bit of heart and humor. The main character duo is fabulous, the plot is exciting, and it's just generally a good read all 'round.

 

12. Favorite book to film adaptation you've seen this half of the year:

 Uhhhhh I rewatched Mary Poppins back in August. Does that count?

13. Favorite post(s) you've done this half of the year:

Oooh! I do have a few fun ones to share here.

• PWID Major FAQS (in which I answer the most common questions I get about my major).
• Hero's Perspective: Delaney (in which I interview my favorite character from Worth).
• Why I'm Now Self-Publishing (a response to an early post of mine, explaining the thought process behind my new plan).
• Blood in the Snow Meet the Characters(featuring character art that I love immensely).
• "Types of Tears" (a poem I wrote after noticing how my roommate and I reacted differently to a very similar event). 
• "A Symphony of Thanks" (Thanksgiving special short story featuring Callie from Fight Song).
• "The Promise Star" (Christmas special short story, featuring a legend from the world of Blood in the Snow).

14. Most beautiful book you've bought/received this half of the year:
Can I count Blood in the Snow? I know it's my book, but I am absolutely in love with the cover, and technically I did buy copies of it.

Other than my own book, my aunt bought me Illuminae for my birthday, and it both has an awesome cover and an awesome interior.

And though I haven't read The Enchanted Sonata yet, I love its cover and interior as well.

15. Any other books you want to babble about for any other reason?
Normally, I use this space to talk about the books I still need to read that I've been meaning to read for ages. But this time, I'm going to talk about all the awesome books I've reread lately.

The DragonKeeper Chronicles by Donita K. Paul

Over Christmas break, I've reread all but one of Donita K. Paul's Amara and Chiril books. I wanted to see how they held up, since I loved them and drew so much inspiration from them when I was younger. Thankfully, most of them have been just as good or better than I remembered.

 

The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvate

Some people's stress-fueled college decisions involve alcohol, excessive sleep, and worse. Mine involve rereading books about rich boys and psychic girls and dead Welsh kings. I regret nothing.

 

Scholar's Plot by Hilari Bell

And speaking of college decisions . . . I don't even remember why I reread this book, but I'm glad I did — it was just as good on the reread as the first time around. Also, I miss Michael and Fisk.

What were your favorite 2018 reads? Any favorite rereads? Or major disappointments? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)   

 

The Other Kind of (Relation)Ship

. . . Because Valentine's Day is in two days. And so you'd think that I, as a dedicated fangirl, would be talking about my favorite ships. Except, I already did that. And so I intended to not do any Valentine's posts at all, with the exception of the Beautiful People meme, until Lalaithiel made the genius suggestion that I post about my favorite platonic relationships instead. And so I'm doing just that since, after all, Valentine's Day isn't just about romantic love; it's about love between family and friends as well. And, honestly, I love a good friendship in a story (whether I'm reading it or writing it) even more than a romance. So, today, I'm celebrating the other type of relationship- that between friends- with five of my favorite book friendships.

Friday 5s: Friendships

1. Billy Bannister and Walter Foley (Dragons in Our Midst and sequel series). Best friends and brothers-in-arms, these two couldn't be closer if they were related by blood. (Actually, they're probably closer than some siblings I could think of . . .) They've been through the literal Hell together (and separately, but yeah), fought side-by-side against everything from dragons to demons to semi-ordinary humans, and put their lives on the line for each other (and others) plenty of times. And in the midst of all that, they support, encourage, and pray for- not to mention tease!- one another, no matter what they're facing.
2. Kaladin and Shallan (The Stormlight Archive). I know, for some people this is a romantic ship . . . but honestly, I like them better as friends. They're too like each other in certain ways to work as a couple, but as friends and comrades? Once they (and by they I mostly mean Kaladin) put aside their prejudices, they can relate to each other in ways that many of the other characters can't. I know their friendship hasn't had a whole lot of time to develop, but I look forward to seeing where it goes . . . as long as it doesn't turn into the other kind of ship.
3. Michael and Fisk (Knight and Rogue series). If you ever needed proof that "opposites attract" is true for friends as well as couples, Sir Michael Sevenson and his "squire" Fisk are where the search stops. The two could hardly be more different- Michael is an idealistic, straight-arrow, noble (in both senses of the word) true-blue would-be-knight; Fisk, a streetwise, not-quite-honest (though good at heart), slightly cynical, and definitely sarcastic former thief- yet their friendship is evident. Michael would (and sometimes does) do anything to help Fisk; Fisk, despite himself, is as loyal to Michael and does his best to keep him out of too much trouble. They have arguments on more than one occasion, but they usually come to an agreement in the end . . . but right now, I still need to get my hands on Scholar's Plot, and so thinking about them makes me a bit sad. Just saying. 
4. Halt and Will (Ranger's Apprentice). Ok, this is more mentor-and-student or even (at times) close to father-and-son than just friendship. But I'm including it anyway because, well, how can I not? It's one of my favorite parts of the series: the way Will goes from fearing Halt to respecting him, desiring his approval, and, yes, looking at him as a sort of surrogate father in certain respects; the fact that Halt will sacrifice quite literally everything for Will. The way Halt guides Will, even after Will's technically on his own, but also gives him the space to learn and grow on his own when necessary. It's wonderful, that's all I'm saying.
5. Eragon and Saphira (The Inheritance Cycle). I'd be remiss if I didn't include at least one Rider-dragon pair on here; they're so much fun to both read and write. The relationship between Eragon and Saphira was one of the best parts of The Inheritance Cycle: the closeness, Saphira's wild protectiveness of Eragon- and yet the way she draws him out into adventure, out of his comfort zone- Eragon's care for Saphira, the way they tease each other . . . And the fact that Saphira can legitimately call Eragon "little one" even though she's technically way younger than him. That may or may not amuse me more than it should, but it also makes me go "awwwww."

I will admit: making this list was really, really hard. A few of the friendships that didn't quite make the top five: Frodo and Sam, Wax and Wayne, the Princes Charming, Ham and Breeze, and Abigail and Jackaby. What about you? What are some of you favorite story-friendships? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah

Top Ten Tuesdays: Books/Series I Read in 2014

http://www.brokeandbookish.com/

Book-wise, 2014 was a really awesome year. I discovered new series to love, branched out into a genre I usually wouldn't consider, and added Brandon Sanderson to my top three favorite authors. My reading adventures took me from the Shattered Plains to Middle Earth, from the Gallagher Academy to Adarlan, from Goldstone Wood to Newcago, and so many other places. I met new character-friends and revisited old ones. With all that, choosing my Top Ten Books- or even Top Ten Series- of 2014 will be difficult, but I'm going to try my best. (Though . . . I may go a few over just ten.)

1. Golden Daughter by Anne Elisabeth Stengl.

This book was insanely amazing. There is one Tale that I like better than it, and that one is Heartless. I stayed up until almost midnight on a school night reading it, and I never do that. Never. Except, obviously, for this book. If you want to hear me obsess over it more, you can read my review.

2. The Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson
The Mistborn trilogy was mind-blowing. I'd be reading them, and I'd be like "Ok, this is really cool" one minute, and then the next I'd be like "Oh my pumpernickel what just HAPPENED?" I saw next to nothing coming- and yet I'd think about it and realize that the clues were there; I'd just missed or misinterpreted them.

3. The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson
Like Mistborn, The Stormlight Archive is seriously mind-blowing. The worldbuilding, the twisted and tangled plots and backstories, the characters- it's all seriously incredible and definitely deserving of the title "epic". Also, Words of Radiance evoked the largest emotional reaction of any book I've ever read. I am not exaggerating. 

4. Shadow Hand by Anne Elisabeth Stengl
This wasn't my favorite of the Tales of Goldstone Wood, but it was still awesome. It's hard to say a lot without giving out spoilers, but  . . . Time is a very interesting thing. Also, I never thought I could like Foxbrush as much as I did in this book.

5. The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner
This series isn't quite like anything I've ever read, which is part of what makes it so amazing. I love the characters, especially Eugenides. Also, the author has a way of giving you just enough information that you think you know what's going on and then springing a twist on you with that one piece of information that you didn't know. My favorite in the series was The King of Attolia, but they're all awesome.

6. Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
I've read a lot of books about dragons, but none portray these magnificent (if sadly fictional) beings in quite the same way Seraphina does. Rachel Hartman takes traditional dragonic features, gives them little- but powerful- twists, and then adds in new elements to create a very unique take on dragons, which I loved. I also liked the mystery in the story; it was very well done.

7. Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
Superheroes gone bad? Sounds awesome- but that's only the start. Add in amazing characters- Cody and David in particular- a dystopian city of steel, and Brandon Sanderson's insane plotting skills and you get this amazing book. If you like action or superhero stories (or even if you don't), you should definitely read this book.

8. Cress by Marissa Meyer
These books just keep getting better! Cress is definitely my favorite Lunar Chronicles heroine- maybe because she's so much like me. I loved just about all of this, particularly the ending- no spoilers, but it was beautiful. Except for the cliffhanger, which was . . . not so beautiful. But it was worth it. 

9. The Knight and Rogue series by Hilari Bell
A good fantasy-mystery can be hard to find, which makes the Knight and Rogue books that much better. I heard about this series several times from a friend of mine, but never tried it until this year. Oh, am I glad I finally picked it up! Really getting into the first book took a chapter or two, but once I'd picked up a few things about the characters and setting, I really enjoyed it, and the next two books are awesome.

10. The Word Changers by Ashlee Willis
Bookish girl gets stuck inside a book? It sounded like it would be right up my alley, and it was! I especially loved the idea of characters in books having lives of their own (and the explanation of why, in some books, you're always discovering details that you didn't remember before), and of what might happen if they rebelled
against their Author.


11. The Hollow Kingdom trilogy by Clare B. Dunkle
This trilogy reminds me of Howl's Moving Castle in some ways. It's lighthearted, humorous fantasy with just the right twist of unexpected romance. The characters were great, particularly Marak, and I liked the somewhat unusual take on goblins and elves and their rivalry.

12. Five Glass Slippers by Elisabeth Brown, Emma Clifton, Rachel Heffington, Stephanie Ricker, and Clare Diane Thompson
Five unique Cinderella retellings in one book? What's not to like? Each of the five stories is awesome in its own way. My favorite is "The Windy Side of Care"- I love the dialogue, the characters' plotting, and the twist of humor.

Honorable mentions go to the Girl of Fire and Thorns series and the Throne of Glass series, both of which are also awesome but have some romantic stuff that's borderline on what I'm comfortable with. (I had to skip one scene in particular in the second Throne of Glass book.) What about you? What were your favorite books of 2014? Please tell me in the comments, or feel free to make your own Top Ten Tuesdays post!

Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)