2023 brought me some of the most remarkable reading experiences of the last several years. A few, like The Mountain In the Sea and When Woman Were Dragons were published in 2022, but there were plenty that I was able to read in the year of publication. So here are my 10 favorite SFF novels […]
Menewood by Nicola Griffith
As Nicola Griffith, author of Menewood, second in her Hild series, said in a recent interview, she expects to be writing about this seventh century British saint (the abbess of Whitby in her later years) for the rest of her life. The character of Hild she has created through 20 years of research is unforgettably […]
Favorite Fantasy Characters – #Wyrd&Wonder
Thanks to imyril, I wanted to pick up on her tag, Fantasy Characters of the Year, which she first saw at Space & Sorcery. I’m adapting it to Favorite Fantasy Characters of the past year or more without identifying a favorite male, female, villain, etc. – just fictional people that I find unforgettable. This theme […]
Locus Ballot 2023: Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels and More
Time to pick from the long list of nominees for the Locus ballot 2023, covering work published in 2022. It’s a big list, since it represents the consensus judgment of a large group of reviewers at Locus magazine, and I can’t pretend to have read it all. I think part of the purpose of such […]
9 Favorite Fantasy Fiction Books I Read in 2022
Though I’ve usually thought of myself as a science fiction reader primarily, this year’s favorite fantasy fiction has shown me how diverse and vital this vast category can be. None of the nine books in this list resorts to the tired conventions of Eurocentric medieval-style settings and hero questing. Each one takes a completely original […]
Five Favorite Fantasy Novels Read This Past Year: Wyrd & Wonder
It’s Wyrd & Wonder time again and, though I’ll have other kinds of posts this month as well, I thought I’d start with this Fantastic Five meme. I’ve read a lot more than five great fantasies since last May, but here are the most recent ones (actually six) that haven’t yet been in any other […]
