Books! Or, How yuki_onna tells me what to read
It's time for a books post! Wiscon is a literary con, and I bought books. Oh, did I buy books. I basically walked into the dealer's room and said "Here is all my monies, thank you." So, listing what I got, with some annotations.
Friday, the Gathering (for those that don't go, it's like a party with different sections of stuff going on and you wander around and talk to people and have snacks and there's cool stuff to do)- Galley Table. Oh my stars, what a great idea. Four tables forming a square, and inside that square are two ladies putting out ARCs as fast as they can. That table is SWARMED, because those ARCs are a dollar each, and you can get up to ten. I got five.
Demon Princess: Reign or Shine, by Michelle Rowan- first in a new YA series, girl finds out she's special. I started this one at the con and finished it on the way home, so I can actually talk about it a little. First, I have to admit that I'm starting to get sick of "adolescent finds out he/she is special" stories. This was probably compounded by the fact that I started another such book at the same time I started this one, but still. I did like that instead of being a fairy or a witch or something, she finds out she's half demon (this is not a spoiler. The name of the series is DEMON PRINCESS. That is a hint). It was an interesting twist on it, and while yes, she gets to be beautiful and popular and now she has KEWL POWERS, there's this whole thing where the Main Character (Nikki) has to freak out because demons are icky and evil. Fun and different, and could be interesting! It's. . .well, it's not awful, ok? It's a fun and entertaining book, but some of the dialogue was awful. Like, ok, the demon royal family in the other dimension, sure, they're going to be a little stilted, I guess, but some of the teen dialogue wasn't much better. I'm going to be passing this over to shadesong's 14-yr old girl soon to see if her opinion matches mine, but there were definitely places where the writing needed some work. There are also some minor Twilight issues, by which I mean Nikki falls for guys because they're creepy over-protective stalkers. I think by the end of the book the relationship is becoming a bit more equitable, and Nikki definitely has agency where Bella never did, but it still squicked me out a little to see her thinking, "Why I am so attracted to the creepy overprotective stalker dude? That's hot!" But at least she has the decency to be a little creeped out by her own feelings until she gets to know the guy better. Oh, and there's an attempted rape, which she thwarts with her KEWL POWERS, which is fine, but then she goes straight into saving the day in the other dimension. And the attempted assault is used as one of the ways she figures out what's going on, because hey, that guy seemed nice and sucked, so maybe *other* people that seem nice actually suck too! So that was a little weird. I'm also not sure how much play the author's going to get out of this concept and set of characters, and there's a minor hint that we might be headed into Laurell K. Hamilton-different-supernatural-boyfriend-every-book territory, which I SINCERELY hope I'm wrong about. But it was fun, and cute, and a dollar, and I'll probably at least check out the next book from the library when it comes out next year.
The Convent of the Pure, Sara M. Harvey- ZOMG I'VE BEEN WANTING TO READ THIS ONE FOR A WHILE! I couldn't believe it when I saw it on the galley table, and grabbed it immediately. This is saraphina_marie's book, and you can see a trailer for it here. DUDE. So yeah, that went on the pile.
Azrael Loves Chocolate- Michael's a Jock; An Insider's Guide to What Your Angels Are Really Like, Chantel Lysette- Have heard nothing about this, but it was on the YA side of the tables and looked like it could be an interesting and fun story, or it could be utter crap if it takes itself seriously. We'll see.
Gaijin Girl- Dreams of the Dead, Thomas Randall- another beginning to a series, also YA, about an American teenager living in Japan, weird shit starts to go down. Looks interesting.
Beastly, Alex Flinn- More YA, modern urban fairytale version of Beauty and the Beast from the Beast's PoV, in NYC. We'll see.
Dealer's Room stuff!
Percy Jackson and the Olympians Book 1- The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan- Yup, YA, yup, first in a series. I've been hearing about these books for a while now, and finally decided to give them a try. This is the other book I started at the con, and yes, a young boy finds out he's special. Once again, this is practically in the title, so it's not like I'm spoiling anything to say Percy finds out he's the son of a Greek god. OH BUT WHICH ONE? It is a mystery. Not really, I'm kidding. I finished this one last night, and can say that I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be picking up more books in the series as soon as I can. Harry Potter (hah, typed Pooter accidentally) + Greek myth + better writing (and I LIKE HP, is what I'm saying)= lots of fun, even if it does feel really, really similar to HP in places. But who cares?
the alchemy of stone and the secret history of moscow, both by Ekaterina Sedia- Another author I've been meaning to get into for a while now, actually. Look, yuki_onna tells me what to read, ok? And Miss Sedia was at Wiscon, actually sitting at the table where I bought her books, so both are signed and I got to have a lovely chat with the author. These both look really, really good and may be the next things I read. secret history has a blurb from Neil Motherfuckin' Gaiman on the cover comparing it to Neverwhere, so that's hot, and alchemy of stone has "a novel of automated anarchy and clockwork lust" as a tagline, so really, these both ought to push a LOT of buttons for me.
Filter House, Nisi Shawl- A short story collection that won the Tiptree, and once again, Cat just tells me what to read and I buy it, ok? When I'm chatting with the author and Cat MFN Valente (trend it on Twitter!) tells me that one of the stories in this book is pretty much her favorite short story of all time, I listen. So I got it signed and also had a nice chat with the author's mother, who is very proud of her daughter and fun to talk to.
Zahrah the Windseeker, Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu- Nnedi read at the same reading yuki_onna was in, and I LOVED the story she was reading, so when I got to the dealer's room and found her book, I snagged it without question. Should have gotten her to sign it, but I never had it with me when I saw her the rest of the weekend. Ok, girl finds out she's special, but on another planet! And a lot of it is based on Nigerian folklore, which should be interesting and from what I've seen so far, pretty different from what I've read before. Plus everyone who's read this book that I talked to has absolutely loved it, and Nnedi is going to be one of the GoH's at next year's Wiscon! Yay!
Interfictions, an Anthology of Interstitial Writing, edited by Delia Sherman and Theodora Goss- You may have heard me talk about the Interstitial Arts Foundation before, and if you haven't, you should go look them up. I LOVE what they're doing, and this is last year's anthology, which Cat is in (continuing the theme that Cat tells me what to read. . .and we're not done with it yet). shadesong is going to be in this year's upcoming anthology, which I think comes out in November? Which I will be making art for. Art that made this year's editors sigh happily at me, and which ktempest (also in this volume that I have sitting next to me) also totally agreed was awesome. So I kind of have a crush on this whole organization right now, is what I'm saying. Probably be collecting autographs on this one next chance I get.
Pretty much everything Jim C. Hines has written so far: I'm totally not kidding about this, either. The list is- The Stepsister Scheme, Goblin Quest, Goblin Hero, and Goblin War. I got hooked on Jim's stuff when PodCastle (fantasy short story podcast) did a short story of his based in the same world (and with some of the same characters) as the Goblin books, and then I found out he wrote Stepsister Scheme and read that, and ZOMG LOVED IT. I wanted to give shadesong her ARC of that back so I figured I'd better get my own copy. It was one of the three books I used for my final booktalk in my YA Services class last semester, and I really, really love his writing. Oh, and yuki_onna recommends him too, so there we are again. Someday he will be at a con that I'm at and I will fangirl all over him.
And lastly, another anthology, Federations, edited by John Joseph Adams. yuki_onna's first SF story is in here! Along with stories from Orson Scott Card, Lois McMaster Bujold, George R. R. Martin, Anne McCaffrey, Robert Silverberg, Harry Turtledove, ktempest, and even more awesome people. Very excited about this one.
So yes, that is my book haul that involved two trips to the ATM for more cash. Very pleased with my haul.
Friday, the Gathering (for those that don't go, it's like a party with different sections of stuff going on and you wander around and talk to people and have snacks and there's cool stuff to do)- Galley Table. Oh my stars, what a great idea. Four tables forming a square, and inside that square are two ladies putting out ARCs as fast as they can. That table is SWARMED, because those ARCs are a dollar each, and you can get up to ten. I got five.
Demon Princess: Reign or Shine, by Michelle Rowan- first in a new YA series, girl finds out she's special. I started this one at the con and finished it on the way home, so I can actually talk about it a little. First, I have to admit that I'm starting to get sick of "adolescent finds out he/she is special" stories. This was probably compounded by the fact that I started another such book at the same time I started this one, but still. I did like that instead of being a fairy or a witch or something, she finds out she's half demon (this is not a spoiler. The name of the series is DEMON PRINCESS. That is a hint). It was an interesting twist on it, and while yes, she gets to be beautiful and popular and now she has KEWL POWERS, there's this whole thing where the Main Character (Nikki) has to freak out because demons are icky and evil. Fun and different, and could be interesting! It's. . .well, it's not awful, ok? It's a fun and entertaining book, but some of the dialogue was awful. Like, ok, the demon royal family in the other dimension, sure, they're going to be a little stilted, I guess, but some of the teen dialogue wasn't much better. I'm going to be passing this over to shadesong's 14-yr old girl soon to see if her opinion matches mine, but there were definitely places where the writing needed some work. There are also some minor Twilight issues, by which I mean Nikki falls for guys because they're creepy over-protective stalkers. I think by the end of the book the relationship is becoming a bit more equitable, and Nikki definitely has agency where Bella never did, but it still squicked me out a little to see her thinking, "Why I am so attracted to the creepy overprotective stalker dude? That's hot!" But at least she has the decency to be a little creeped out by her own feelings until she gets to know the guy better. Oh, and there's an attempted rape, which she thwarts with her KEWL POWERS, which is fine, but then she goes straight into saving the day in the other dimension. And the attempted assault is used as one of the ways she figures out what's going on, because hey, that guy seemed nice and sucked, so maybe *other* people that seem nice actually suck too! So that was a little weird. I'm also not sure how much play the author's going to get out of this concept and set of characters, and there's a minor hint that we might be headed into Laurell K. Hamilton-different-supernatural-boyfriend-every-book territory, which I SINCERELY hope I'm wrong about. But it was fun, and cute, and a dollar, and I'll probably at least check out the next book from the library when it comes out next year.
The Convent of the Pure, Sara M. Harvey- ZOMG I'VE BEEN WANTING TO READ THIS ONE FOR A WHILE! I couldn't believe it when I saw it on the galley table, and grabbed it immediately. This is saraphina_marie's book, and you can see a trailer for it here. DUDE. So yeah, that went on the pile.
Azrael Loves Chocolate- Michael's a Jock; An Insider's Guide to What Your Angels Are Really Like, Chantel Lysette- Have heard nothing about this, but it was on the YA side of the tables and looked like it could be an interesting and fun story, or it could be utter crap if it takes itself seriously. We'll see.
Gaijin Girl- Dreams of the Dead, Thomas Randall- another beginning to a series, also YA, about an American teenager living in Japan, weird shit starts to go down. Looks interesting.
Beastly, Alex Flinn- More YA, modern urban fairytale version of Beauty and the Beast from the Beast's PoV, in NYC. We'll see.
Dealer's Room stuff!
Percy Jackson and the Olympians Book 1- The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan- Yup, YA, yup, first in a series. I've been hearing about these books for a while now, and finally decided to give them a try. This is the other book I started at the con, and yes, a young boy finds out he's special. Once again, this is practically in the title, so it's not like I'm spoiling anything to say Percy finds out he's the son of a Greek god. OH BUT WHICH ONE? It is a mystery. Not really, I'm kidding. I finished this one last night, and can say that I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be picking up more books in the series as soon as I can. Harry Potter (hah, typed Pooter accidentally) + Greek myth + better writing (and I LIKE HP, is what I'm saying)= lots of fun, even if it does feel really, really similar to HP in places. But who cares?
the alchemy of stone and the secret history of moscow, both by Ekaterina Sedia- Another author I've been meaning to get into for a while now, actually. Look, yuki_onna tells me what to read, ok? And Miss Sedia was at Wiscon, actually sitting at the table where I bought her books, so both are signed and I got to have a lovely chat with the author. These both look really, really good and may be the next things I read. secret history has a blurb from Neil Motherfuckin' Gaiman on the cover comparing it to Neverwhere, so that's hot, and alchemy of stone has "a novel of automated anarchy and clockwork lust" as a tagline, so really, these both ought to push a LOT of buttons for me.
Filter House, Nisi Shawl- A short story collection that won the Tiptree, and once again, Cat just tells me what to read and I buy it, ok? When I'm chatting with the author and Cat MFN Valente (trend it on Twitter!) tells me that one of the stories in this book is pretty much her favorite short story of all time, I listen. So I got it signed and also had a nice chat with the author's mother, who is very proud of her daughter and fun to talk to.
Zahrah the Windseeker, Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu- Nnedi read at the same reading yuki_onna was in, and I LOVED the story she was reading, so when I got to the dealer's room and found her book, I snagged it without question. Should have gotten her to sign it, but I never had it with me when I saw her the rest of the weekend. Ok, girl finds out she's special, but on another planet! And a lot of it is based on Nigerian folklore, which should be interesting and from what I've seen so far, pretty different from what I've read before. Plus everyone who's read this book that I talked to has absolutely loved it, and Nnedi is going to be one of the GoH's at next year's Wiscon! Yay!
Interfictions, an Anthology of Interstitial Writing, edited by Delia Sherman and Theodora Goss- You may have heard me talk about the Interstitial Arts Foundation before, and if you haven't, you should go look them up. I LOVE what they're doing, and this is last year's anthology, which Cat is in (continuing the theme that Cat tells me what to read. . .and we're not done with it yet). shadesong is going to be in this year's upcoming anthology, which I think comes out in November? Which I will be making art for. Art that made this year's editors sigh happily at me, and which ktempest (also in this volume that I have sitting next to me) also totally agreed was awesome. So I kind of have a crush on this whole organization right now, is what I'm saying. Probably be collecting autographs on this one next chance I get.
Pretty much everything Jim C. Hines has written so far: I'm totally not kidding about this, either. The list is- The Stepsister Scheme, Goblin Quest, Goblin Hero, and Goblin War. I got hooked on Jim's stuff when PodCastle (fantasy short story podcast) did a short story of his based in the same world (and with some of the same characters) as the Goblin books, and then I found out he wrote Stepsister Scheme and read that, and ZOMG LOVED IT. I wanted to give shadesong her ARC of that back so I figured I'd better get my own copy. It was one of the three books I used for my final booktalk in my YA Services class last semester, and I really, really love his writing. Oh, and yuki_onna recommends him too, so there we are again. Someday he will be at a con that I'm at and I will fangirl all over him.
And lastly, another anthology, Federations, edited by John Joseph Adams. yuki_onna's first SF story is in here! Along with stories from Orson Scott Card, Lois McMaster Bujold, George R. R. Martin, Anne McCaffrey, Robert Silverberg, Harry Turtledove, ktempest, and even more awesome people. Very excited about this one.
So yes, that is my book haul that involved two trips to the ATM for more cash. Very pleased with my haul.