First off, obligatory PRE-ORDER/UPCOMING RELEASE note. The new ebook editions will be out on July 9th.
Despite being very busy (trip to Italy – yes, pictures will come – family visit, general stuff), I managed to read 30 books. I suppose the two long plane flights did help.
FICTION
The Grief of Stones, by Katherine Addison. One of the things I love about Addison’s work is that she just pitches you into the world and somehow you figure out what you need to know. Lots of things are never explained because the explanation doesn’t matter to the story. Ok, I admit, this is the second book about Witness for the Dead Thara Celehar but I can’t be expected to remember all the world details. Anyway, another fine additional to a compassionate series.
Saint Death’s Daughter, by C.S.E. Corey. Winner of the 2023 World Fantasy Award. The protagonist comes from a long line of court-appointed assassins with wonderful names like Abandon Hope, Irradiant, and Unnatural. When misfortunes befalls her feckless family, she finds herself up against the Blackbird Bride and her flock of wizards. Rich and funny and dark all at the same time.
The Thrice-Drowned Saint, by C.S.E. Corey. I didn’t like this as much as Saint Death’s Daughter, but I did love the angels (remember kids, every angel is terrible) and the uncles.
Refuge, by Merilyn SImonds. This one had lingered on my list until I finally decided to read it. I thought the structure worked well and was even willing to forgive a few too many “Forest Gump” cameos. I do love a crotchety older narrator, and Cassandra MacCallum, her island solitude interrupted by a young Burmese refugee claiming to be her great-granddaughter, is a fine one.
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, by T. Kingfisher. A lovely romp that’s guaranteed to make you hungry.
Rose/House, by Arkady Martine. Another audiobook. This novella is part mystery novella, part commentary on architecture and the worship of ‘art monsters’, part meditation on AI, and part homage to “The Haunting of Hill House”. Since I like all of those things, I thoroughly enjoyed this.
NON-FICTION
The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World, by Jeff Goodell. Continuing my upbeat reading with this timely one. Glad I live in Ontario.
City of Fortune: How Venice Won and Lost a Naval Empire, by Roger Crowley. Sadly, this one didn’t come in until I was home from Venice, but it was a good read just the same. It focuses on the period of Venice’s naval dominance (vs. an entire history) and provides the right balance of love and clear-sightedness about the history, strengths, and weaknesses, in this unique place. Venice is one of my favorite cities in the world and I think it generally gets a bum rap (particularly in fantasy fiction). As Crowley points out, Venice’s only resource was naval and mercantile prowess – if they didn’t trade, they didn’t eat. They had to be good – and ruthless – at both of those things.
Knife, by Salman Rushdie. I listened to the audiobook (read by Rushdie) of this collections of “Meditations After An Attempted Murder”. I have read some Rushdie, but not in a while, and I found his thoughts about life, love, creativity, and the writing life interesting.
Move Like Water, by Hannah Stowe. Subtitled “My Story of the Sea”, this recounts Stowe’s life around, in, and studying the ocean. Lyrically written and immersive (ha!).
Well, I’m not sure about the art, the prestige or the spite parts, but I did like this piece by John Waters from the 2017 Venice Biennale.
New e-books editions with gorgeous new covers come out July 9th but you can pre-order now, if that strikes your fancy. Here’s more information from the good people at Open Road Media.
In theory. I’m on version #3 right now, which is somewhat frustrating. I know what has to happen, but I’m struggling with the balance of ‘show vs. tell’ (no, Nancy, you cannot just narrate all the sections you don’t feel like writing …. or can I?) and finding the final paragraphs.
One of my challenges is that the first draft actually came quite easily, and I enjoyed writing it, which is the kiss of death. I got carried away and thought “no, bad thing X doesn’t need to happen, it’ll be fine….” but that was definitely not the case. One of my test readers pointed this out immediately and I had to admit it was a ‘fair cop’ (to quote Monty Python). I’m quite happy to go back to the original version but it does make some of the denouement much harder to manage.
I’ve generally known how each of my novels ends from fairly early in the process, though I don’t always know the mechanics of how the characters get there. For THE NIGHT INSIDE, I remember telling someone that I had the two main characters walking up a set of stairs to confront the antagonist and I had no idea what was going to happen when they got to the top. They found this baffling, but they weren’t a writer.
A TERRIBLE BEAUTY was probably the easiest one – after all, it’s Beauty and the Beast. It could just end with a kiss (so to speak).
With COLD HILLSIDE, I knew I wanted to leave certain things ambiguous and that the climax was really a discovery rather than an action.
I have to have faith that I’ll get this one sorted, but I hope it won’t require many more drafts.
JUST A REMINDER: All four novels will be available in beautiful new e-books editions on JULY 9TH. Pre-orders are open. Thanks!
Back to blue again. I love the vibe of this one and it works for me, even if all the little details aren’t right. It’s eye-catching, which is what you want in a cover.
A switch from blue to red… I think this book poses the biggest challenge to a cover artist. It’s not easy to convey the mix of fairy tale and period horror and to showcase the importance of the setting to the story. This one is evocative without being explicit and it looks great.
I just got back from a trip to Italy (to get my travel legs back and see art and eat delicious food – update to come) and discovered that pre-orders are now available for all four novels in their new Open Road Media editions. Release date is July 9, 2024. Pre-orders are important in the publishing world, so if you’re interested, now’s the time to go to any of the usual suspects (Amazon, Apple, B&N, Kobo, etc) and place your order.
Because the covers are too pretty to show all at once, I’m going to post one a day. First up: THE NIGHT INSIDE. The original cover is so beautiful that it set the template for all the other versions. The designers wisely chose to simply give the concept a modern, clear update and I think it looks gorgeous.
Here’s the best of what I read in the first three months of this year. Sadly, the ‘to read’ list gets no shorter.
FICTION
The Buccaneers, Edith Wharton. The Wharton-fest continues (I’m currently working on The House of Mirth). This edition just has the actual Wharton text, without the later happy ending. And yes, I did watch the Apple TV miniseries and enjoyed it for what it was.
Mrs. Bridge, Evan McConnell. This one came out of having read the author’s book on General Custer last year. I did not expect to love this book as much as I did, given that it has no fantastical element at all, and instead consists of vignettes, images, conversations and short chapters about the life of a family in mid-1900s America. But it’s brilliant.
The Grace of Wild Things, Heather Fawcett. Anne of Green Gables with magic. An enjoyable middle grade novel by the author of Emily’s Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Fairies.
Three Eight One, Aliya Whiteley. A future scholar finds a text written in 2024 and tries to determine it’s veracity and meaning. An interesting mix of fantasy, sf, and technical challenge.
Menewood, Nicola Griffith. The long-awaited sequel to Hild, and worth the wait. Beautiful, immersive, exciting, and brutal by turns.
Nettle & Bone, T. Kingfisher. The first book I’ve read by this author and it’s a winner (of the Hugo, no less). I quickly devoured her shorter work What Moves the Dead as well.
Nights of Plague, Orhan Pamuk. Sprawling fiction about an island that’s part of the fading Ottoman empire, complete with plague, plots, love stories, corrupt politicians, princesses, and more.
NON-FICTION
On Looking: A Walker’s Guide to the Art of Observation, Alexandra Horowitz. I listened to this as an audiobook, which was the perfect way to absorb the observations of various experts as they wander the streets of New York, noticing trees, rocks, fonts, and more. The best bit was when the naturalist was describing a squirrel’s nest just as I looked up to see a squirrel entering exactly that above me.
The Kingdom, The Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in the age of Extremism, Tim Alberta. This was very hard to read, both for the threats it outlined and for the genuine faith of the author (not being religious myself, this made me somewhat uncomfortable). But it’s well worth it, because the threat is just as genuine.
Sandy Hook: An American Tragedy and The Battle for Truth, Elizabeth Williamson. This one was also hard to read. It reflects the terrible grief of the parents and the horrifying choice by certain actors (Alex Jones, who is utterly loathsome) to exploit and commodify the tragedy.
Things are moving along towards the reissue of the four novels from Open Road Media. I’ve seen both the covers (gorgeous, once the top hat is gone!) and the promotional ‘jacket copy’ (is that what you call it when there are no jackets?).
It’s always fascinating to see how different artists approach the covers. I’ve been fortunate to have some amazing covers (the first three by the same artist, Stuart Knox). I’m not hung up the cover being ‘realistic’ (some of my favourite books have hideous covers that qualify that way) but focus on whether the vibe is right. Does the cover ‘feel’ like the book? And, of course, will it look good on a computer/ipad/phone screen, since that’s how readers will be buying it now?
I’m happy to say the new covers fit the bill. The Night Inside and Blood and Chrysanthemums have the same style, which clearly signals their relationship. The first one is actually very close to both existing versions of the cover (original Penguin paperback and CZP ebook reissue). Cold Hillside is visually arresting, even if the details (hair, clothes) aren’t accurate. A Terrible Beauty seemed to pose the biggest challenge, but will work with a tweak or two (no hats!). I’m excited to share them when I get the final versions.
