From the Backlist: Seasonal Reading Recommendations

Hello, Sup community,

This time from the backlist, we are turning back the clock to one of Helen Lowe's cosy book recommendations for reading 'in season.'

Join us as we explore her suggestions, get comfy and read!

Illustrator Yaoyao Ma Van As.

Solstice Favorites

by Helen Lowe

Tis the deep midwinter here on the far side of the world – which is absolutely the best time to pull up a chair by the fire and indulge in some solstice reading. 

 

And of course I want the kind of books that fit the season, all about secrets, mystery, adventure  – and cookies, which absolutely brings me to the first read on the fireside table: Robin McKinley's Sunshine.

 

 

Sunshine, given the heroine, Sunny, is a baker, delivers cookies a-plenty, as well as vampires, demons, and mystery in an adventure where Sunny herself may be the biggest secret... A great read for when the evenings start closing in.

Another pick, on the basis of name alone, has to be Patricia McKillip's Solstice Wood, which explores the boundary between the real world and the faerie realm.

 

There's a quilting circle that is more than what it seems, living on the verge of an "other" world, which delivers up sufficient changelings, undines, and witches to populate any respectable set of fireside shadows, plus forbidden love and misunderstood duty to keep things interesting ...

Read the complete article HERE and let us know what book you have by the bedside right now! 

Enjoy! 

 

* * *  

About Helen Lowe

Helen Lowe is an award-winning novelist, poet, and lover of story. With four books published to date, she is currently completing the final instalment in The Wall Of Night series.
.
Helen posts regularly on her “…on Anything, Really” blog, monthly on the Supernatural Underground, and tweets @helenl0we.

 

* * *

Speculative Fiction (Fantasy/Thriller/Sci-Fi/Urban Fantasy) for adults and teens.

 

 

We're a group of best-selling authors providing news, reviews and interviews from the darker, more speculative side of fiction.

Fiction that makes the heart beat faster...

Reading Fantasy Rocks

 

Reading About Dragons is a piece of digital artwork by Daniel Eskridge

Hello Sup readers! It's 2021, and my plan for you this year is to post, every month, something to lift the spirits. Let's make this a wondrous New Year, every way we can!

With that in mind, today I want to highlight the benefits of reading Fantasy Fiction and share a few titles on my TBR list.

If you read regularly, you already know some of the perks: quiet time with yourself and your own thoughts. The joys and sorrows of imagined worlds. The feeling of accomplishment, of being part of a larger community...

And there is more! Check out these amazing benefits:

1) Reading Makes you Smarter - Research shows that reading enhances fluid intelligence. That means it helps build new neuro-pathways in your brain, neurons that are available for smart decision making in the future. There is also an increase in emotional intelligence and empathy toward others. You make more creative decisions about yourself and those around you.

2) Reading Makes Life Better -  Readers are less stressed and less depressed. They sleep better and have lower blood pressure, steadier heart rhythms. Higher levels of self-esteem are reported by readers and, compared with non-readers, they also report feeling close to friends and their community, with more awareness of social issues and cultural diversity.

3) Readers Age Better - Reading keeps your mind active and engaged while improving memory as you grow older. One study showed that those who read more than 3 1/2 hours every week were 23% more likely to live longer than non-readers. 

4) Joy - All studies aside, reading brings us joy as we escape into the metaphorical spaces of the mind, and engage in the ancient and time-honoured experience of storytelling. 

* * * 

In the spirit of more reading for everyone, here are some books on my TBR list I'd like to recommend. Please feel free to jump into the comments and offer up some of your own!

And Sup Authors, here is your chance to let us know about your next, upcoming release!

Image by @littlebookelf92

The Once And Future Witches by Alex E. Harrow, is set in In 1893, a time when there's no such thing as witches. 

There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box.

When the Eastwood sisters--James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna--join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women's movement into the witch's movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote-and perhaps not even to live-the sisters will need to delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive.

There's no such thing as witches. But there will be.

I'm reading this now!

* * * 

Image by @abookwormwriter

Another on my TBR is Wicked Saints (Something Dark and Holy #1) by Emily A. Duncan. I know a few people who loved it! Here's the blurb:

A girl who can speak to gods must save her people without destroying herself.

A prince in danger must decide who to trust.

A boy with a monstrous secret waits in the wings.

Together, they must assassinate the king and stop the war.

In a centuries-long war where beauty and brutality meet, their three paths entwine in a shadowy world of spilled blood and mysterious saints, where a forbidden romance threatens to tip the scales between dark and light. Wicked Saints is the thrilling start to Emily A. Duncan’s devastatingly Gothic Something Dark and Holy trilogy.

* * * 

Image by @obscure.pages

The Angel of the Crows comes highly recommended by a reader and editor I trust. It's on my TBR for sure! Here is the blurb:

This is not the story you think it is. These are not the characters you think they are. This is not the book you are expecting.

In an alternate 1880s London, angels inhabit every public building, and vampires and werewolves walk the streets with human beings under a well-regulated truce. A fantastic utopia, except for a few things: Angels can Fall, and that Fall is like a nuclear bomb in both the physical and metaphysical worlds. And human beings remain human, with all their kindness and greed and passions and murderous intent.

Jack the Ripper stalks the streets of this London too. But this London has an Angel. The Angel of the Crows.

* * * 

Image by @tyffany.h

Black Sun by Rebecca Roahhorse is another I am excited to read. Some of my Insta friends are raving about it.

A god will return

When the earth and sky converge

Under the black sun

In the holy city of Tova, the winter solstice is usually a time for celebration and renewal, but this year it coincides with a solar eclipse, a rare celestial event proscribed by the Sun Priest as an unbalancing of the world.

Meanwhile, a ship launches from a distant city bound for Tova and set to arrive on the solstice. The captain of the ship, Xiala, is a disgraced Teek whose song can calm the waters around her as easily as it can warp a man’s mind. Her ship carries one passenger. Described as harmless, the passenger, Serapio, is a young man, blind, scarred, and cloaked in destiny. As Xiala well knows, when a man is described as harmless, he usually ends up being a villain.

Crafted with unforgettable characters, Rebecca Roanhorse has created an epic adventure exploring the decadence of power amidst the weight of history and the struggle of individuals swimming against the confines of society and their broken pasts in the most original series debut of the decade.

Now it's your turn. What are you going to read next? 

Let's share our ideas and make for a better year, by reading more books!

xxKim

* * * 

Kim Falconer, currently writing as A K Wilder, has just released Crown of Bones, a YA Epic Fantasy.

She can be found on  Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 

Or pop over to throw the bones or Raise Your Phantom on the AKWilder.com site

See you there!

Own Voices to Meet

Image by by Vinicius Henrique on Unsplash

Heyo Everyone,

I hope you are all safe and well, taking this crazy journey one day at a time. 

Meanwhile, in my reading room, there are some amazing 'Own Voices' books on my radar and I wanted to share them with you.

NOTE: #Ownvoices is a subgenre of writing found in almost every kind of literature. The only exception I can think of is Memoir because that's 'own voice' by default, right? 

Nope. Just checked. There are #ownvoices Memoirs too. 

Own Voices is defined as writing where the protagonist and the author share a marginalised identity. I realize my chance to write in this category will depend on creative a main character over 65, facing a world that glorifies youth. Not sure if that counts, but I'm thinking about it. LOL

for now, let's look at some titles in this genre that light me up.

Dating Makes Perfect by Pintip Dunn

First on my list is Dating Makes Perfect by Pintip Dunn. In this story, the Tech sisters don’t date in high school. Not because they’re not asked. Not because they’re not interested. Not even because no one can pronounce their long, Thai last name—hence the shortened, awkward moniker. But simply because they’re not allowed...

DMP is an #ownvoices novel, written by a first-generation Thai American. Pintip Dunn grew up in a tiny town in Kansas and went on to graduate from Harvard University, magna cum laude, with an A.B. and to receive her J.D. at Yale Law School. I'm so glad she spends at least SOME of her time writing novels (Forget Tomorrow Series being one of my favorites). Can't wait to read this one.

* * *

The Library of Fates by Aditi Khorana

From Abigail Clarkin Jan 22, 2019 - In a horrifying turn of events, Princess Amrita watches as her family and friends are enslaved and slayed by her fiancé. Shocked into action, the princess escapes from the palace and embarks on a journey to find the Library of All Things. If she can find it, she grasps the one way to change the past and reforge the future.

Aditi Khorana wrote both Hindu and Indian traditions into Library of Fates. Born in India herself, the inclusion of the vetal creatures and reincarnation were a nod to Indian folklore and faith.

I'm on my tiptoes, ready to read this one!

* * *

Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden

You've heard me rave about the extraordinary worldbuilding in this book (Ships that Sing), and the magic of the human to non-human sentience, but I'm not sure I mentioned it was an #ownvoices and #Afrofuturism title.

From the back blurb - Escaping Exodus is a story of a young woman named Seske Kaleigh, heir to the command of a biological, city-size starship carved up from the insides of a spacefaring beast. Her clan has just now culled their latest ship and the workers are busy stripping down the bonework for building materials, rerouting the circulatory system for mass transit, and preparing the cavernous creature for the onslaught of the general populous still in stasis. It’s all a part of the cycle her clan had instituted centuries ago—excavate the new beast, expand into its barely-living carcass, extinguish its resources over the course of a decade, then escape in a highly coordinated exodus back into stasis until they cull the next beast from the diminishing herd...

Again, the worldbuilding is mindblowing!

* * * 

Detective by Day Series by Kellye Garrett

Kelley Garrett is an Award-winning #ownvoices crime fiction author (http://amzn.to/2vhS3wt). 
@CrimeWoC cofounder; #PitchWars & @SincNational board. So multitalented I think she's a Gemini, or maybe Gem rising?

Her Detective by Day books are "...lightweight mysteries that draw on my experiences working in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles. I often encountered the various people chasing fame, be it a sprint, a marathon or a journey that never quite reaches the finish line. These are the people who populate Dayna Anderson’s world. If you’d like to meet them, read on... 

I sure will!

* * *

The Art of Saving the World by Corinne Duyvis

And finally, the woman who coined the term #ownvoices on Twitter, Corinne Duyvis' upcoming release, The Art of Saving the World.  @corinneduyvis Sci-fi scribe, award accepter, disabled delight, #ownvoices originator.

From Goodreads: When Hazel Stanczak was born, an interdimensional rift tore open near her family’s home, which prompted immediate government attention. They soon learned that if Hazel strayed too far, the rift would become volatile and fling things from other dimensions onto their front lawn—or it could swallow up their whole town

"If you like the idea of anxious, asexual lesbians saving the world from an interdimensional rift alongside a grumpy lady dragon mentor - my next YA novel THE ART OF SAVING THE WORLD releases September 15..."

Now, how about your suggestions? I'd love to hear them.


Take care, everyone!
xxKim
* * *

Kim Falconer's New YA Fantasy Series is out January 5, 2020 - Crown of Bones. (Writing asr A.K. Wilder) 


Also, check her urban fantasy  - The Blood in the Beginning - an Ava Sykes Novel and the SFF Quantum Enchantment Series. 

You can find Kim on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Or pop over and throw the bones on the AKWilder.com site.

Reads That Delight -- A Few Recent Highlights

.
Firstly, I'd like you to know that you have fellow Supernatural Undergrounder, Merrie Destefano, to thank for this post. "Hmm," I mused on Twitter, "today is my Supernatural Underground day. But what shall I post?"

"The best book you've read recently that surprised you, and why?" Merrie replied -- and the ideas were promptly flowing!

I couldn't think of a book that outright surprised me (because I am a pretty hard sell in that respect), but delight is a form of surprise, so I'm going to tell you what delighted me about some of my recent reads. Do feel free to chip in with some of your own "surprised" or "surprised by delights" in the comments, too. :)

And just so you know I'm not playing favorites, this list is in alphabetical order, yo! ;-)
.

The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

Post apocalyptic, near future Science Fiction (Reading copy loaned by a friend.)

I love the main character of Lauren Olamina: her youth, determination, courage, cussedness, and devotion to her family and friends. I love that in the midst of surviving her post climate change world, Lauren is also founding her own religion, Earthseed. To find out all the ins and outs of that, though, you’ll have to read the book—I’m not even going to attempt to explain it to you beyond the central tenet: "God is Change."
.

 A Turn Of Light by Julie Czerneda

Fantasy (Reading copy supplied by the author.)

I was delighted by A Turn Of Light's historically informed worldbuilding, with the settlement of Marrowdell capturing a real flavor of pioneering Canada, complete to the technological realities of mills -- but also by the way the author weaves that together with a fantastical folklore that, while drawing on real-life sources, manages to be unique to the fantastic world of not only Marrowdell, but also the Verge...
.

The Blood In the Beginning by Kim Falconer*

Urban Fantasy (Reading copy supplied by the publisher.)

I believe I've made no secret about what I love most about The Blood In The Beginning -- it's the feisty, take-no-prisoners, and literally kickass heroine, Ava Sykes.

Ava has what we writers refer to as a great "voice", which instantly drew me in through her authenticity and realism. From the get-go, Ava and I connected, always a delight when you open up a new book.
.

The Los Nefilim Trilogy by Teresa Frohock*

Historical Urban Fantasy (Reading copy purchased.)

.
Urban, because this cycle of linked novellas is set in Barcelona; historical because it's the Barcelona of the immediately pre-Spanish Civil war period -- with angels and demons at war, and the nefilim as their foot soldiers. 

So if you like urban fantasy’s juxtaposition of the real and the supernatural, or the interweaving of real history with a parallel fantastic story, then I suspect you will share my delight in Los Nefilim.
.

Hild by Nicola Griffiths

Historical Fiction (Reading copy purchased.)

When I finished reading Hild, I decided just about everything about it is fabulous: a great historical sense of seventh century, Anglo-Saxon Britain, excellent characterization—especially of Hild herself; another awesome "voice."

But there’s a whole raft of other great characters, and just a wonderful richness of storytelling overall. 'nuff said?
.
.

Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel

Post-apocalyptic, near future Science Fiction  (Reading copy supplied by the publisher.)

For me, Station Eleven was another exceptional read—but I loved most about the book was its exploration of a variety of different people, what makes us tick as human beings, and how we respond to life and circumstances (often very differently, obviously), at a range of different levels, from the personal to the societal.

I also really liked that this was, despite the post-apocalyptic premise, a hopeful book.
.

The Whitefire Crossing by Courtney Schafer

Epic Fantasy (Reading copy supplied by the author.)

I have just finished The Labyrinth of Flame, the third and final novel in The Shattered Sigil series -- but the reason I'm citing The Whitefire Crossing, the opening book in the trilogy, is because it encapsulates what delights me most about the series: this is adventurous fantasy par excellence, with the author's love of mountain climbing integral to the story.

If worldbuilding infused with American West landscapes, juxtaposed with a very well thought out magic system, appeals -- I rest my case.

Happy—book-reading—September!
.

* a fellow Supernatural Undergound author

---

Helen Lowe is a novelist, poet, interviewer and blogger whose first novel, Thornspell (Knopf), was published to critical praise in 2008. Her second, The Heir of Night (The Wall Of Night Series, Book One) won the Gemmell Morningstar Award 2012. The sequel, The Gathering Of The Lost, was shortlisted for the Gemmell Legend Award in 2013. Daughter Of Blood, (The Wall Of Night, Book Three) was published on January 26, 2016. 

Helen posts regularly on her “…on Anything, Really” blog and is also on Twitter: @helenl0we

How do you decide what book to read next?

If you’re like me, you love to read. In fact, it’s quite possible I spend more time looking for the next book to read than actually reading. Part of that might be because I’m picky reader. I want a book to consume me. I want to fall in love, I want to be enchanted, I want to be transported. (I don’t ask for much, do I?) The writing needs to be beautiful, the characters must be both believable and tormented, and the story must be compelling.

I want a book that I can’t put down. I want to start reading in the afternoon and collapse somewhere around 2 or 3 in the morning, because I can’t force myself to stay awake any longer.

As a result, it isn’t always easy for me to find the next, fantastic book to read. So these are some things I’ve started doing...

Find Like Minds:
About a year ago, I joined a Meet Up group where the members first read a book, then we all go see the movie version of that book together. After viewing the film, we eat lunch and chat about the two versions of the “same” story. I’d never gotten together with a group of people like this before and it really opened my horizons. Since then, I’ve started checking out books that have been made into movies (and TV shows). Here’s a list of amazing books that I discovered along the way: Gone Girl, Child 44, Z for Zacharia, Wayward Pines, Outlander, Cold Mountain, Into the Heart of the Sea, The Strain, The Road, and The Vampire Diaries.

Follow Your Heart:
I already have a list of authors that I adore, so I started following them online (mainly on Twitter) to find out when/if they had a new book coming out soon. I found this list of books, all written by my favorite authors, that way: Doll Bones, The Darkest Part of the Forest, The Raven Boys, The Young Elites, 17 & Gone, Six of Crows, and Ismeni.

Ask For Help:
This can be done face-to-face, like when chatting with a like-minded friend or with a local librarian or bookstore employee, or even with a friend online. The results can be off-the-chart amazing, because you might find yourself reading something you never would have considered otherwise. Books that fall in this category for me are: The Road, Bone Gap, and Ironskin.

Random Chance:
This one can be the most fun, because it feels like a treasure hunt. You might stumble upon a book review on Goodreads or a blog; you might notice a book acquired by an editor/agent you admire; or you could type in a search (like I did below) looking for a particular book, only to discover a long list of books worth checking out. From the list below, I ended up buying/reading The Girl Who Loved Tom Gorden, but I plan to read more from that random list too.

How about you? Do you have any special techniques for finding the next book you want to read? And what was the last book you read that totally and completely consumed you?

Merrie Destefano reads more often than she writes. You can follow her online on Twitter and Facebook and you can view her website here.

Solstice Favorites

.
Tis the deep midwinter here on the far side of the world – which is absolutely the best time to pull up a chair by the fire and indulge in some solstice reading.

And of course I want the kind of books that fit the season, all about secrets, mystery, adventure  – and cookies, which absolutely brings me to the first read on the fireside table: Robin McKinley's Sunshine.

Sunshine, given the heroine, Sunny, is a baker, delivers cookies a-plenty, as well as vampires, demons, and mystery in an adventure where Sunny herself may be the biggest secret... A great read for when the evenings start closing in.

Another pick, on the basis of name alone, has to be Patricia McKillip's Solstice Wood, which explores the boundary between the real world and the faerie realm.

There's a quilting circle that is more than what it seems, living on the verge of an "other" world,

which delivers up sufficient changelings, undines, and witches to populate any respectable set of fireside shadows, plus forbidden love and misunderstood duty to keep things interesting.

For secrets, adventure, and the exploration of consequences, I definitely can't go past Kristin Cashore's Bitterblue. The cyphers and mysteries Bitterblue must unravel make great winternight reading, as does the heroine's first foray into the ups and downs of romantic love...

Of course, if you're on the balmy, midsummer side of the world, you'll still enjoy these reads – but what others would you put on your summer or winter reading table?