Tag: A to Z series 2

Phillips, Pierce, Priest

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Keeping with the theme of short works, today I present one children’s book (Middle grade? The term wasn’t in use when the book came out.) and two short stories, the work of Holly Phillips, Tamora Pierce, and Cherie Priest. If the work of any of the authors sounds interesting to you, please do check them out — and if you have enjoyed something by them that I haven’t mentioned, let me know in the comments. Continue reading

Okorafor, Ore, Ozeki

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Today’s post includes Nnedi Okorafor, Rebecca Ore, and Ruth Ozeki. As mentioned in my overview post last week, more short stories. In fact, all three of today’s reviews are of short stories. If the work of any of the authors sounds interesting to you, please do check them out — and if you have enjoyed something by them that I haven’t mentioned, let me know in the comments. Continue reading

A to M, a retrospective

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First half of the alphabet done, and I’ve got a couple of things I’d do differently if I do another such series. Things I might do differently going forward into the second half of the alphabet, for that matter.

Starting with: It’s hard to read 3-4 books a week — plus my other reading (I haven’t given up reading other authors, after all!), and my writing, my work, and my family all take time as well. I’ll be including more short fiction or books I’ve already read going forward. And if I do this again, I’ll probably either do only 1 per week, or do it every other week. It’s a lot to keep up with, and I’m really impressed with review sites who do this all the time.

I might take more suggestions for stories and authors for the future, or for future A to Z topics. I’m not sure. (You can always give me suggestions; I won’t guarantee to take them!)

You’ve probably noticed that I don’t always have a quote from the author to go with my review. That can be from any number of reasons: the author might be dead, the author might have no Website (or no contact info on the Website), I might have contacted the author too late, my contact e-mail might have wound up in the author’s spam folder (I did receive one note about this two weeks after a particular post had gone live), or the author might have been swamped by real world considerations. The only one of these I have any control over is how early I contact the author, so I don’t anticipate a lot of change in this area.

One thing I’ve particularly enjoyed about this series so far is the breadth I’m covering. (No surprise there, right?) My coverage is, of necessity, not encyclopedic. I can’t talk about everyone, but I try to cover as much of the speculative range as I can.

Odd thing I wasn’t expecting: one author specifically requested I not include her. I honored her wish, but I was surprised.

Here we are, now, half the alphabet to go yet. I’m anticipating finishing up the last week of the year (probably combining X and Y into a single week). I hope you’re enjoying this as much as I am.

McKillip, McKinley, Moon

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This week’s set of authors (Patricia McKillip, Robin McKinley, and Elizabeth Moon) is a group of old favorites. Growing up, I think I checked out all the books in the Riddle Master trilogy often enough that the library considered purchasing another set. And of course I adored The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown, even if I thought Aerin didn’t spell her name quite right. 😉 Then there are the Deed of Paksenarrion (wonderful reading for cross-country flights) and The Speed of Dark . . . The challenge for this week wasn’t coming up with authors, but deciding which books that I hadn’t already read I would pick up. If any of their work sounds interesting to you, please do check them out — and if you have enjoyed something by them that I haven’t mentioned, let me know in the comments. Continue reading

Kenyon, Kiernan, Kress

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Today, I’m talking about books by Kay Kenyon, Nancy Kress, and Caitlín R. Kiernan: two science-fiction works and one not-quite-ghost-story. If anything sounds good to you, be sure to check out the book and other work by that author — and if you have enjoyed something by them that I haven’t mentioned, let me know in the comments. Continue reading

Ian, Ibbotson, Ingalls

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Putting together today’s post was a bit of a challenge; there just aren’t that many I authors out there, and when you limit it to women authors of speculative fiction, the number dwindles further. (Yes, I am aware that Q and X will also be difficult. Stay tuned to see my approach, which will either be brilliant or a brilliant failure.) Today’s authors include Janis Ian, Eva Ibbotson, and Rachel Ingalls. I would also have included Sue Isles, but I couldn’t find any of her books locally.
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Hale, Haley, Hambly, Hurley

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Today’s contributions in the ongoing series of women authors in science fiction and fantasy are Ginn Hale, Carolyn Haley, Barbara Hambly, and Kameron Hurley. The books reviewed range from classic fantasy to recently released science fiction, and the characters are just as diverse. If something sounds interesting to you, please check the book and the author out.
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