Today I learned that Mary Stewart has died. Given she was 97, it shouldn't really be a shock, but emotion surged within me and I found I could not think about anything else. The hours and hours of reading pleasure... The influence of her novels on my travels... The letters we once exchanged... The numerous … Continue reading Tribute to Mary Stewart
After discovering author Harper Fox in March, I spent April working my way through a chunk of her backlist. Seriously, I haven't been able to get enough of her books. It's been a revelation, because the male/male romance genre is not one I usually read in, or indeed expected to like. Were it not for … Continue reading April reading: The Salisbury Key and more Harper Fox
My March reading experience has been rather interesting. I kicked it off with a read-through of the messy first draft of mine own work in progress. I ploughed through a good chunk of it during a retreat weekend at the start of the month, then finished it off over the ensuing week. I've already discussed … Continue reading March reading: psychics, farmers and superhumans
The main book I read during February was A companion to wolves by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear -- a fantasy novel published in around 2008 (first of a trilogy). I found it a fascinating book, certainly memorable, in some ways familiar and in other ways not. It's about a youth (Isolfr) who is tithed … Continue reading Book review: A companion to wolves
I haven't come up with many 'I' words to do with fantasy, but IMAGINATION must be one of the big ones. Imagination -- the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses. Fantasy comes in many guises -- but no matter whether you're talking … Continue reading A-Z of fantasy: I is for Imagination
I've finished reading three fantasy novels this month -- that's much more like it! The slight drawback to this has been the wrecking of my sleep patterns. In my determination to find books to immerse myself in, I forgot the part where this means I keep reading to 3 or 4 or 5am... which in … Continue reading Three fantasy books by Aussie women for January
It’s been good to finally get my teeth into some contemporary epic fantasy in the form of Australian author Jo Spurrier's Winter be my shield (Children of the Black Sun - Book 1). From the very start this novel gripped me in its icy vices and – even if perhaps it faded a little in the … Continue reading Book Review: Winter be my shield
It's becoming a habit of mine at the end of each year to reflect back on the books I've read in the past 12 months -- and invariably I decide the list is not long enough, or diverse enough, or recent enough and I resolve to do better. (Here's what I read in 2012.) This … Continue reading What I read in 2013
I recently read Jo Walton's Among Others, winner of the 2012 Nebula, Hugo and British Fantasy Awards for best novel. Since it's one of the few recent SF novels I've read of late, I thought I would share some of my thoughts. [Mild spoilers...] Among Others has been described as many things: a fairy story, … Continue reading Thoughts on Among Others by Jo Walton
Today I'm launching the Friday with Friends series, which is (as the name suggests) a series of guest posts from fellow bloggers. Today we have the fabulous S.M. Nonnemacher, who's working on her first Young Adult (YA) novel (see full bio below). I asked her to share with us some of her top reading tips: … Continue reading Fridays with Friends: S.M. Nonnemacher
Ellen Gregory 