Books!
This is an awesome week for me. First, I won Muse and Reverie by Charles de Lint from Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review, which Tor kindly and speedily shipped to me in a squishy envelope (thanks Graeme!). If you haven’t visited Graeme’s web home, you ought to. He gives away books! All the time!
Second, Lucy Snyder (book list) offered my husband and me a copy of Spellbent (I published one of her short stories. The woman can write.), which also arrived promptly and in good condition, (and which he, knowing me, promptly put into my hot little hands, though it will go on his keeper shelf after I’m done. He’s already read it, the bastard).
I first discovered Charles de Lint in 1987, I think. I was the single mother of a 2 year old and had recently started taking classes at the local junior college. I don’t think I’d read anything of his before, but I remember picking up Jack the Giant Killer from the sci-fi and fantasy new books carousel at my local library. The one with the Thomas Canty cover (the only cover artist whose name I remembered until Michael Parkes came along, and then suddenly I was finding many fantasy artists whose names I needed to know). But I digress.
It was a very small town, and a very small library. The adult books room was about the size of my current library’s bathroom, maybe two bathrooms put together. The walls were lined to the ceiling with books, and sci-fi and fantasy had its own little corner, two shelves and a carousel (I realize now that was really quite a lot, considering the amount of room they had. I love librarians). I first met James Tiptree Jr. there, and Nick Bantock, and Borderland, began my obsession with all things Terri Windling, and began to realize that there were certain publishers I could trust to give me a great book.
I think it was those books, that library, that crystallized the ongoing possibility of a particular kind of book. Beautiful books, both in story and in design. Mythic fiction. (Though it took me a long time to realize I could be one of those people who made available to others a particular kind of beautiful book.) Anyone who knows anything about me knows that I read (and still read) fairy tales long after my mother thought I should have outgrown them (though she introduced me to Mary Stewart when I was about 14, so…). I was content, though, until that library, that moment in time, to read what I could find. Mysteries, thrillers, spy novels (my love of Mrs. Pollifax was born here too), science fiction, fantasy, general fiction, romance, horror. I loved, and still do love, them all, but they weren’t always My Books.
I’m not a collector. I want the experience of the book, am delighted by the design elements, the cover art, the cover copy (most of the time) the art (some of the time) but mostly, the story. After I’ve experienced those things, (’experienced’ is a pale word) immersed myself in those things, most of the time I don’t need the book anymore, which is one of the reasons ebooks are so great for me. That’s not to say I don’t love print and owning books, I do, and my shelves have a few keepers on them, but I have high standards for keepers, and I love the portability of ebooks (but again, digression).
Muse and Reverie is a keeper. I can tell already by the incredible cover art (by John Jude Palencar, one of my favorites), and the feel of it. (I creep my husband out [the horror librarian] with my insistence that the cover of a keeper ought to have a particular tactile sensation. To feel right.) By the fact that it’s by Charles de Lint and he revisits Newford in it (my one true city, and I’m a country girl at heart).
I’m not a cover snob though. There are some other books I love. Baen books, ROC books, Del Rey, the ones with the somewhat lurid covers in bright colors, by female authors who write strong protagonists who kick improbable ass. I believe Spellbent is one of these. I mean, look at that cover. A shotgun, a big snake, a ferret, and fire. What’s not to love? (Art by Don Dos Santos.) I wouldn’t mind more clothes on the girl but she certainly gets your attention and, loving Luis Royo, I can’t really be hypocritical about a sports bra.
I haven’t read these books yet. I have a lot of work to do before the end of January, but they’re on my desk, taunting me. I am going to reward myself for finishing the next Dreaded Task (DT) (Dreaded Task, the one(s) that keeps being put off for more fun work that are going to kick my ass more than probably if I don’t get them done soon) by reading one of them. And, despite my love of Charles de Lint and most things Newford, I’m not sure which one will be first. I love Newford, but Lucy Snyder’s an author who writes women who kick serious ass. Man, that’s hard to pass up. I’ll let you know which one I chose, and what I think of it, soon…ish.
The links to artists are just to show you pretty pictures. The link’s to the author sites are because they’re great authors, to Lucy’s booklist because that’s my husband’s website so I have to (also a really great resource), and to Graeme’s website because he gives away books. Free books! The links to books are affiliate Amazon links, and if you buy something by going to Amazon through that link, I’ll get a wee percentage, but I don’t care if you buy the book there, elsewhere, or get it from your local library. If you do use that link, I use the money to support my obsession: publishing more books. It’s a thing.
Mirrored from dlmfisher.com.