#need to read more t. kingfisher

[storieschats]

Getting a full-time job really makes you realize how much those 40-hour weeks eat into your reading time. 😂

Anyway, I’m starting Paladin’s Grace—my first T. Kingfisher book! I heard it’s funny, and after eight hours in an office, I need funny. I’ll check back in a few days to let you all know if it delivers.

T.Kingfisher... Do not fail me!

[vulpinesaint]

thinking about wolf among the wild hunt again. i truly did love reading it... beautifully written and the illustrations were gorgeous and god... queer characters... can you imagine such a beautiful world...

[regicidal-defenestration]

Okay so does anyone have recommendations (particularly books or podcast but tbf I'm open for anything) that might reasonably be described as "horror caused by the fungi getting a bit fucked up"

[silhouettecrow]

365 Days of Poems: Day 9 (January 9th)

Macabre Dawn

I remember it like it was yesterday

I remember the sunlight

beginning to seep through my closed eyelids

coaxing me awake

I remember the freezing numbness

that had settled deep in my limbs

as I lifted my body off the grass

I remember the stench of death and decay

radiating from the hundreds of bodies

littered across the field

I remember the glow of the fresh morning

illuminating the pale faces

of both friend and enemy

I remember the glinting shine

reflecting off of every pool and drop of blood

settled on skin and soaking into soil

I remember the startling calm I felt

just before the shaking of fear

rattled and contaminated my bones

I remember nearly tripping

to plummet my way back to the ground

as my body needed to flee

I remember not so much my coming home

but rather the waves of guilt that hit me with each step

screaming, “why me?”

I remember it like it was yesterday

and it might as well have been

- - - - -

Here's the link to the corresponding writing prompt post

[awhekate]

recently finished reading T Kingfisher's "Paladin's Strength" and I absolutely loved Clara, cleric of St. Ursa!! the book was lots of fun, I really need to make more fanart of it

[theinquisitxor]

2025 Anticipated Book Releases

I have a number of anticipated book releases for 2025, but not as many as last year I think. Which is kinda good, because I can work on reading what I have on my physical tbr and backlist tbr too. I love new releases, but I need time to read other stuff too!

January:

Breath of the Dragon by Fonda Lee and Shannon Lee (Jan 7th): YA asian fantasy with dragons, featuring a martial arts tournament. I'll read anything by Fonda Lee I think, and this seems fun!

Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear (Wayward Children 10) by Seanan McGuire (Jan 7th): I think this is the last book? I remember reading somewhere that Seanan said it's only going to be 10 books? Either way, I'll cry when it's over.

Motheater by Linda H. Codega (Jan 21st) this seems to be some sort of witchy queer appalachian folklore story, and I am all here for it. I want all the rural gothic vibes please.

Carving Shadows into Gold by Brigid Kemmerer (Jan 28th) I've been waiting for the sequel to Spinning Silver into Stars for a while now, and I'm super excited to finally get this. I might need to reread book 1 in January

February:

Black Woods, Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey (Feb 4th): I've been waiting for a new Eowyn Ivey book for years, and we're getting a beauty and the best retelling set in Alaska that is literary fiction/magical realism, I couldn't be happier

Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales (Emily Wilde 3) by Heather Fawcett (Feb 11th), one of my most anticipated releases of the year, and the final book to one of my favorite on-going series. A lot of people are excited for this one.

March:

Fable for the End of the World by Ava Reid (March 4th): I'll read everything Ava Reid writes, and this is her first queer dystopian book. The covers are beautiful, and I need to read Lady Macbeth before this comes out!

Oathbound (Legendborn 3) by Tracy Deonn (March 4th) Another one of my most anticipated releases of the year. Legendborn is just fantastic, and I would consider taking the day off of work just to start reading this

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (March 4th) A mystery thriller set on an island near Antartica, with nature and climate themes like McConagly's other books. I need to read her Once there were wolves before this comes out

May:

The Sun Blessed Prince by Lindsey Byrd (May 1st), this looks like a queer fantasy and characters who have life/death powers. Seems like something I'd be interested in.

The Incandescent by Emily Tesh (May 13th) A queer dark academia book about the director of a magical school.

The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig (May 20th) I wasn't a huge fan of Gillig's other book, but I'm 100% willing to give this a try. A heretic knight and a prophetess must team up to save her missing sisters. The cover is beautiful too.

June:

The Tower of the Tyrant by JT Greathouse (June 19th) This seems like the start of a new epic fantasy about a sorceress going on a quest. I'm interested in this author's other published books too.

A Far Better Thing by HG Parry (June 17th): I'll read anything Parry writes, and this a portal fantasy during the French Revolution.

The Listeners by Maggie Stiefavter (June 3rd), Maggie's first adult book, and historical fiction set in Appalachia during ww2.

Second half of 2025 or Release Date to be determined:

While the Dark Remains by Joanna Ruth Meyer

Hot Wax by ML Rio

Hemlock and Silver by T Kingfisher

A Land So Wide by Erin Craig

Katabasis by RF Kuang

That's all for now! Release dates are susceptible to change, and there will probably be more books I add over the new year. If you comments/thoughts please share them with me!

[iztarshi]

Reading T. Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon's Saint of Steel/Clocktaur Wars books one fascinating thing about the worldbuilding is that the basic decency and chivalry of paladins seems to supersede the various moralities of the different gods.

A paladin is a weapon in a god's hands, but a god that would use them for anything but defending the weak doesn't call paladins. You'd think the Hanged Mother - her purview seems to be destroying heretics - would love to have a cadre of holy warriors at her desposal, but no. The Dreaming God uses them exclusively against demons, which is the most paladinly thing to use your paladins for.

The Saint of Steel used them against humans but, while one of the brighter paladins does question the morality of having submitted entirely to a god's judgement on who needs to die, he seems to have used them entirely in situations that would have been massacres if a bunch of beserker paladins hadn't been aimed at the side about to do the massacring. The Saint of Steel is refered to as a war god, so there's a possibility that he was prayed to by soldiers in more normal armies, but in situations where there was no obvious right and wrong he kept his paladins out of it.

I have the impression that the Forge God is a pretty decent person, and him having paladins seems to go with that. He's a god of craftsmanship, he doesn't really need to have holy warriors under his command (and since they entered his ranks as blacksmiths they mostly don't want to be holy warriors either) but sometimes people need to be protected by a big guy with a hammer. It feels like the same kind of thing as the time he moved one of his priests to serving the White Rat because a particular temple desperately needed an architect to help the homeless.

Not all the gods that are decent have paladins - the Rat doesn't - and the process of making paladins seems a little brutal in itself, shaping thinking beings into perfect weapons in your hands. If nothing else brushing up against divinity like that seems to leave them with a perpetual anxiety about not being good enough (everyone who has to deal with them has opinions about goddamn paladins and their goddamn guilt complexes). But we definitely never see a paladin used for evil.

[bookcub]

Do you have any suggestions of appropriate books for 14 to 16 year olds that have "dragons but no romance"? My young friend would enjoy the romantasy genre, if only it would avoid the romance part. I don't know for certain that she will end up identifying as aro/ace, but it's looking like a good assumption at this point and I'd really like to be able to give some recommendations that would be supportive of that as much as being a standard YA fantasy story.

Thanks for all your fabulous book recs!

thank you so much! unfortunately no romance and dragons are difficult parameters to fill so here is what i found in different categories

no romance and dragons

to shape a dragons breath by moniquill blackgoose

i have only started this book, it is a fantasy that reads like historical fiction. a girl finds a dragon egg and attends the colonizer institution that trains dragons and humans. im pretty sure there is no romance (if there is it is definitely not central) and great for teens who want more dragons!

tea dragon society by kay o'neill

a graphic novel series about a young girl who becomes a member of a society that protects small dragons who make tea from the leaves they grow. very sweet and whimsical, the only romance are established romances.

the dragon of ynys by minerva cerridwen

a fairytale like story about a knight who keeps going to the dragon to ask for the town's treasures back. if i remember correctly, all romances are already established before the story starts and does serve as motivation but not a focus of the story.

dragons and a little bit of romance

the girl who drank the moon by kelly barnhill

this is on the younger side but reads like a fairy tale. it is about a town forced to sacrifice a baby to the witch in the woods except the witch doesn't know why the town abandons the baby and takes them to another village. and one year she feeds the baby moonlight and needs to raise her. there is a dragon and other magic and both children and adults act as narrators. one of the characters goes on a quest for his wife and child but that's all the romance there is.

fantasy with no romance

thornhedge by t kingfisher

a retelling of sleeping beauty from the fairys perspective, except sleeping beauty is a changeling. a short novella with no romance.

every heart a doorway by seanan mcguire

children after they have traveled to a magical world, struggle to adjust to their former worlds and attend a boarding school together. half fantasy, half murder mystery, this is the first in a series of novellas that are great adult books that really work well for a teen audience. the main character of this one is aroace and there are different mcs in each novella and the romance never takes center stage if there is any.

sisters of the neversea by cynthia leitich smith

this is more middle grade but as an adult, i found it really interesting and engaging. this is peter pan but through a feminist and post colonialism lens. wendy and lily are stepsisters and they go to neverland with their brother micheal with the untrustworthy peter pan.

i hope this helps and i hope your young friend finds something she can enjoy on the list!!

[radishanatomy]

Hi! Just wanted to say I'm OBSESSED with The exorcist of Venice, it's by far the best Bellesco fic I've read and one of my favorites in the fandom!!! They way you integrate bible verses and poetry so seamlessly in the prose is fascinating, and so are the mistery of the cases, the mythology, the tension (both spiritual and sexual), the internal reflection, the crisis of faith... it's perfectly tailored to my tastes, truly I've gotten a 5 star meal FOR FREE!!! I can't thank you enough for your work!

Your characterization of both Aldo and Goffredo is fantastic as well, I love how they aren't exactly friends but aren't enemies anymore, what an akward situation to be. Truly their dynamic is most interesting, I'm at the edge of my seat whenever they discuss or at the end of each case when they share strangely intimate moments.

I'm very excited to see in which direction you'll take the story, I'm sure it will exceed my expectations, as usual! But please take your time, rest well and be kind to yourself in the process!! I - and everyone else - will wait patiently! Sending you lots of love and admiration from Brazil! ❤

P.s.: Do you have any book recs? I love your repertoire and your writing, it really shows how skilled you are. I've been meaning to read Dante Alighieri for some time, maybe this will finally convice me to gather my courage and try.

Take care!

- 🐝

hi there, bestie! thank you so much for your sweet message, i'm so happy to hear my story hits the spot for you 🤭

tbh the bible verses require a lot of research, because with that book there's always something different than you expect behind the words (and i'm sure i've gotten things wrong before) but it's also very fun and i often end up reading a whole chapter or three (you know how some people have yearly goal of reading the whole bible? yeah i might accomplish that--just out of order lol)

bellesco is soo fun to play around with, it's so awkward and angsty and i love their worstie dynamic... when castellitto said there was an angry sensuality to tedesco? i felt that... deeply (maybe a little too deeply 👀)

awh thank you so much for the well wishes! my recent break has really helped my mental energy and i'm trying to take things slowly rn--but it's also very fulfilling to finish each part!

sending lots of love to brazil! 💚💛💙

p. s. oh wow reading recs... depends what you're looking for i guess? i read mostly speculative fiction, but let's see what i can come up with!

i don't think you're here for me recommending If We Were Viallains, The Locked Tomb Trilogy, Bunny or Rebecca, since they are already so beloved (this is me sneaking them into my rec list anyway haha)

let's see what i can dig up from my brain that i haven't seen talked about enough (i'll try 10):

This House Is Haunted by John Boyne (historical horror--fucken spooky)

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger (ya low fantasy--top tier plot and world building)

Dead Silence by S. A. Barnes (sifi horror--the suspense made me nauseous)

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (afrofuturism--beatiful worldbuilding & narration)

The Saint of Steel series by T. Kingfisher (cosy romantasy with mystery--perfect series in all aspects: plot, characters, WORLDBUILDING; i recommend the audio book narrated by Joel Richards)

The Clown by Heinrich Böll (general fiction--simultaneously pathetic and funny, riled up the german catholic church in the 60s)

Into The Drowning Deep by Mira Grant (scifi horror--i recommend this to everyone who wants more creepy merfolk and speculative fiction grounded in reality, FANTASTIC ENDING. i don't want to spoil the book, but there's an element CLEARLY inspired by it in my version of the merperson)

Folding Beijing by Hao Jingfang (scifi dystopia novelette--fascinating concept)

Emergency Skin by N. K. Jemisin (scifi short story)

The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland (fantasy horror--girl magic need i say more?)

[chocolatepot]

Saw a post about how you need to read original fiction and not just fic to write books, and I had some thoughts but they're not so much a direct response so I figured I'd make my own post ...

You do need to be conversant with original fiction to write it, but also - that doesn't mean that your fiction diet as you write needs to be primarily original fiction. If you want to write a book, you've probably spent a lot of your life reading original fiction even if you're in fandom now. That all counts. (Assuming what you want to write bears at least some resemblance to what you've read.)

Fanfiction really doesn't teach you to develop characters and settings on your own, it's true. It particularly lets you be lazy about not describing them physically, and not having to do any work for walk-on characters who exist in canon. You also can get used to writing romantic short stories that would be completely unmarketable if they were not fic.

However, fanfiction still can teach you a lot of transferable skills, if you want it to. You can write novels to stretch your ability to plot a longform story and follow through on 60k+ words. You can consciously work to improve your prose, your pacing, and/or your physical/emotional descriptions no matter what your subject matter. You can write a story that focuses on how a character changes and develops, and you can focus on a minor character from canon and do the work to make them three-dimensional. If you're into AUs, you can also work on worldbuilding or writing a believable historical setting. Literally the only thing you don't really have the opportunity to do is create your own main characters from scratch.

And I feel like that's actually the easiest part of writing. Sitting down and writing a story that lasts over 80k words or so, is compelling all the way through, has defined character arcs, etc. is way harder than making up the initial concept. If you're in fandom, you clearly Do Stories whether they're on the paper or onscreen, and so you probably have a lot of character types in your head already to start messing around with.

There was also a point in the post about how if you don't read you're not going to understand where your story fits genre-wise, and you're probably going to think that it's new and genre-breaking when it isn't - and that leads me to two thoughts. One is that not feeling able to place your own story if it crosses genres might be more common to writers than you think: it just came up in a Bestseller Experiment podcast ep I listened to the other day as a normal thing due to the writer being too close to their story. I have good comps for my novel (there's a T. Kingfisher that is incredibly similar in concept and key characters) and I still feel like "oooh ... is it more fantasy or more historical ..."

The other is that fic makes it so you're more likely to actually write something that genuinely doesn't quite fit in the boxes. That's something I've been thinking about since Winter's Orbit. That book, if you don't know, was originally written on fail_fandomanon's spinoff writing meme and posted on AO3. It was always original fiction, but it has a fic-like sensibility: there's a strong political intrigue plot alongside a strong queer romance plot between a playboy who's not really a playboy and a smol bean with trauma. If you read the GoodReads reviews from when it was published, you can find many sf fans complaining that the romance takes up too much space and romance fans complaining that there's too much plot outside the romance. I think now with the rise of "romantasy" there's more tolerance for that, but that label feels like it's getting less useful as it broadens to mean "fiction written by a woman that includes a romance" (and it feels very m/f to me but we don't have time for that now). Because so much of ficwriting fandom focuses on stories that heavily foreground romance but don't hit the traditional romance beats and also writing the characters figuring out who's committing industrial espionage or whatever. In a romance novel, the romance is absolutely the A plot and the whatever is very much B plot (if not somehow C). In sf/f and thrillers, the whatever is the A plot and the romance is around the edges. Fic teaches us to do them both equally, because the point of the story is to see the characters getting together (often not like canon, when it comes to m/m and f/f) while having a plot to deal with (like they have in canon). Also, in a lot of cases of genre-mixing, determining which one it "counts as" is really determining which one it will sell better under, and that's not something a person outside of the industry can generally tell, regardless of what they're reading on their own.

[the---hermit]

Recent read and my new pencilcase!

19|09|2024

I have been reading obsessively in the past few days, it seems to be the only thing working to make my brain shut up. When I am not listening to the lotr audiobook, I have my nose in a book. I have recently fallen in love with T. Kingfisher's horror novels, the contrast between these narrating voices that don't take themselves to seriosly and the unique horror elements of these books is exactly what I needed. I have also been reading the stories that have inspired these novel, rereading The Fall Of The House Of Usher after years put me in the perfect spooky season mood, and the fact that it's been raining makes it feel like it's autumn already. I also read for the first time Machen's The White People, which was a very interesting read after having read Kingfisher's novel. I have been doing a bit more uni planning, and I decided that next week is going to be my first week of proper studying. I still have to send a couple of emails and figure out a few things for a class, but those will be tasks for next week. Right now I did enough planning to have my brain be relaxed for the next few days. I am actually excited to start studying, even tho as usual the start of the semester hasn't been as smooth as I hoped for. Knowing I will be self studying for the first semester is actually quite comforting, and I feel good about finding a good balance between studying and taking care of myself. Actually starting to have approachable study goals might help my mental health right now because it will give me something material to focus on.

[ninja-muse]

Somehow, for being the shortest month, February felt long. This is partly work chaos and partly … current events. (I've just spent a lot of time staring slack-jawed at the news.)

Astute followers will notice I didn't post a review this month. That's because the only book I really felt like saying anything about—The Prague Cemetery—was excellent in many ways but also something I cannot in good conscience recommend, at least in this current political climate, to a generalized audience. It's a brilliant take-down of antisemitic, authoritarian, conservative, cis-white-male thinking (yay) but narrated by someone who is all of those things and simply in it for the money (urf). Not the funnest thing to have read shortly after a certain inauguration but probably good for me in the long run.

And sure, I could've reviewed the third Emily Wilde book (but how to, without spoiling?) or Tokyo Ueno Station (sad, doing some smart things within its genre) or My Kind of Trouble (gender-swapped Music Man!) or any of the others but there wasn't much to say about any of those and/or I didn't have the energy.

In more personal news, I've been writing again, at least a little! I'm maybe a scene and a half from being done the chapter I've been on since November and for one of those scenes I can cannibalize something I cut months ago. Then it's a matter of wrapping things up, so I think five chapters left, maybe less. This could be my year! I've done better blocking out all the current events stuff, which usually stymies my writing, on an emotional level than I usually do. I hope that can continue.

I've also been trying my best to boycott US products and companies, though I'm not doing so great with, like, social media and email and also I probably shouldn't have bought Aftermarket Afterlife but in my defense, Seanan McGuire is a good egg and deserves royalties. For whatever that's worth. I've been helped in the not-buying-of-books by having no other books in need of buying, and also library holds! So many! I have been spoiled, which probably means I'll have to wait another month or more before anything else comes in for me. (Have I added, like, eight books to my holds queue though? Maybe.)

How have your Februaries and your readings been? Let me know if you've got recs for me!

And now, here's what I read this month in order of personal enjoyment…

The Tragedy of Heterosexuality - Jane Ward

The social and relationship problems caused by heterosexuality and ways they can be addressed.

8/10

🏳️‍🌈 author

warning: deals with misogyny in all its forms

library book

Tokyo Ueno Station - Yu Miri The ghost of a migrant labourer recalls his life story from an encampment of unhoused people.

7.5/10

Japanese cast, Korean-Japanese author

library ebook

Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales - Heather Fawcett

Emily and Wendell set off to take the throne of a faerie kingdom.

7.5/10

🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (achillean), Afro-Irish secondary character, blind secondary character, 🇨🇦

reading copy

My Kind of Trouble - L.A. Schwartz Harmony has arrived in Brookville to promote a fake musical festival that will take down the mayor. But first she needs to win over the librarian she’ll “rent” the land from.

7/10

fat POV character, autistic POV character, autistic secondary character, 🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (lesbian, sapphic), fat and autistic author

warning: homophobic antagonists

library book

Swordheart - T. Kingfisher

Halla has inherited an estate and a bunch of greedy relatives she needs to escape, fast. Fortunately, there’s a man—in a sword?—who’s happy to help her.

7/10

ADHD-coded main character, 🏳️‍🌈 secondary character (nonbinary)

warning: suicidal thoughts, suicide, violence

library ebook

The Last Sun - K.D. Edwards

Rune Saint John is hired to find a missing Atlantean scion and uncovers a conspiracy.

7/10

🏳️‍🌈 main character (achillean), 🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (achillean)

library book

Rise - Mira Grant

Stories of the Rising and its aftermath that didn’t make it into the Newsflesh trilogy.

7/10

reasonably diverse cast (BIPOC, 🏳️‍🌈, differing abilities)

library ebook

The Prague Cemetery - Umberto Eco

A forger in 19th century Europe recounts the social upheavals he has witnessed and his hand in the conspiracies underpinning them. A polemic exposing the hypocrisy, contradictions, greed, and evil of antisemites and others determined to keep their place atop existing power structures.

8/10

warning: antisemitic protagonist and secondary characters, xenophobic and misogynist protagonist, homophobic characters, sexual assault and rape, murder

off my TBR

DNF

Love and Other Paradoxes - Catriona Spivey

Joe is dreaming of being a famous poet when he meets Esi, a time traveller on a mission. She agrees to help him meet his destined muse; he promises to help her save her mum.

Black British secondary character

reading copy

Currently reading

The Gilda Stories - Jewelle Gomez

A girl escaping slavery finds refuge in a bawdy house run by the elegant Gilda, and immortality in Gilda’s shared vampirism, allowing her to give witness to 200 years of history and Black American life.

Black protagonist, Black secondary characters, Lakota secondary character, 🏳️‍🌈 protagonist (sapphic), 🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (sapphic, achillean), 🏳️‍🌈 author, Black author

library ebook

Spooky Lakes - Geo Rutherford

A sumptuously illustrated microtour of strange and scary lakes of the world.

library book

The Penguin Complete Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle

Victorian detective stories

disabled POV character (limb injury), occasional Indian secondary characters

warning: racism, colonialism

Monthly total: 8 Yearly total: 18 Queer books: 2 Authors of colour: 1 Books by women: 6 Authors outside the binary: 0 Canadian authors: 1 Classics: 0 Off the TBR shelves: 1 Books hauled: 1 ARCs acquired: 2 ARCs unhauled: 3 DNFs: 1

January

[novelconcepts]

Another year, another absurd amount of books read (296, because if I wasn't reading or writing this year, my brain was on fire). I was asked again for my top books of the year, so here we go: 2023's top 10, in no particular order.

This was the first book I read of the year--literally, vacated the hangout with my wife and sibling-in-laws to sit on their couch upstairs and eat through it. Do you love The Fall of the House of Usher, but wish for a nonbinary protagonist and a lot more mushrooms? This is the book for you! (T. Kingfisher is fucking rad, I made a concerted effort to only list ONE of her books on here, but honorable mention goes to The Twisted Ones for fucking me upppp.)

A gay, post-apocolyptic Pinocchio retelling involving copious robots, found family elements, and a cool-ass treehouse. Klune always hits for me with his unrepentant queer family dynamics and sense of humor. Honorable mention to the first two in the Green Creek series (although that's got a lot more...adult elements in among the werewolves, you've been warned).

I thiiiink I found this through The Homo Schedule podcast (PSA: if you missed out on Jasmin Savoy Brown and Liv Hewson doing a podcast together, now you know better), and it wrecked my shit. Tons of trigger warnings, as this is a memoir about abuse within a queer relationship, but it's so beautifully written. I personally suggest listening to the audiobook first, then standing anxiously behind someone at a book warehouse sale, hoping they'll set down the only paperback copy so you can swipe it.

A fantastical-historical reimagining in which the KKK is filled with literal monsters, and Black women are resistance fighters armed to take them out. Visceral and intense, and truly an excellent horror story.

Just. Such a soft time travel story about a daughter and her father and cherishing the time you get with loved ones. I was thoroughly unprepared for how lovely I found this one. It's very kind.

Spooky house, take-no-shit redhead, protective sibling elements, bisexual recluse with a sword who really just needs a nap. I haven't found a Harrow book yet I haven't slapped five stars on. She's so good at character and atmosphere, and I'm always surprised at how fast her stories race by.

The whole Daevabad trilogy (of which this is the first book) is just magical. A girl from the mortal world finds herself embroiled with the centuries-long prejudices and wars of djinn in a fantastical city. It's one of the rare stories of its kind that does have a love triangle, but doesn't feel like a love triangle; it's far less interested in the insufferable "who gets picked" than it is in the actual horrors these people are both perpetrating and coping with. It's an intoxicating ride.

Fuck You, TERFS: the book. Given that fact, there's obviously quite a lot of transphobia to deal with, but it's very clear that those people are wrong, and it's a super-engaging (and super-oh-god-what-comes-next) witchy time populated with queer, protective, interesting characters I'm excited to see again in the follow-up.

Have you ever wanted a haunted house story with visceral imagery and a rather lovely twist? Gailey has you covered. As much as I enjoyed The Echo Wife, I think I actually loved this one more, and it makes me so excited to see what else they've got up their sleeve.

One of my final reads for the year, when I was just churning through hardcovers at the speed of sound. I love this book. I recognize it won't be for everyone, but it takes so much of what I love about IT (one of my all-time favorite books, despite its flaws) and twists it through the lens of an author who escaped the Mormon church. It's horrific, it's fantastically abstract in places, it explores childhood and memory, imagination and abuse, and almost every character is queer. It's a great "I simply cannot sleep until I've finished" read.

[msunitedstatesjames]

Frances Hardinge is a criminally underrated author. If you've never heard of her, I'm not surprised. Even though I'm in several fantasy book groups on Facebook with thousands of members, I've only ever seen one or two other members post about her. And yet, since I first read one of her books in 2020, I've bought every book she's published and read most of them.

Frances Hardinge, for those who've missed out, writes fantasy young adult books. Her books are extremely well written, romance free, unfailingly unique, and somewhat dark, all of which are qualities I find to be more and more rare in today's YA fantasy market (not to hate on YA, I've read tons of it). If you need a comparison, I would say aspects of her books remind me of YA/middle grade books by T. Kingfisher.

If I haven't convinced you yet, here's a little preview of some of her books that I've read:

A Face Like Glass (my personal favorite): A girl named Neverfell lives in a world where people have to be taught how to show emotion in their facial expressions. She has to wear a mask at all times because, mysteriously, she naturally shows facial expressions and if people found out they would freak. If that's not unique enough, this society is underground and produces magical artisinal goods, such as cheeses, wines, and perfumes that can do some wild things. If that still hasn't convinced you, the book critiques the privelege of the wealthy, as in this world only the rich can afford to hire Facesmiths to teach them expression, while the poor languish along with one or two facial expressions for their entire lives.

Fly by Night and Fly Trap (these might have different titles depending on where you are in the world): In a world where reading is illegal and seen as revolutionary activity, Mosca Mye escapes her awful life with her aunt and uncle by forcing an infamous conman (Eponymous Clent, this world has cool naming conventions) to take her under his wing. Joining them is Mosca's only friend, Saracen, the murderous goose. Yeah, you read that right. Highlights of the series include a heartwarming found family tale, an accidental revolution, a city that literally changes its population, personality, and shape when day changes to night, and, of course, an extremely violent goose. I mean, if you've read Pratchett, Saracen the goose is basically the Luggage. There's more than one scene in these books where all hope seems lost, and Mosca is like, "I guess it's up to you now Saracen," and she just straight up lobs her goose at the enemy and he utterly wrecks their shit. If I recall correctly, this happens once during a pitched river boat battle over an illegal printing press.

The Lie Tree: Faith's father, who refused to recognize her potential as a scientist, mysteriously dies. Faith discovers a tree he kept hidden that grows when you tell lies and reveals secrets in its fruit. The bigger the lie you tell the world, the bigger the secret that will be revealed. You can imagine the chaos that eventually ensues. This book critiques gender roles and discrimination, and tackles both the dangers and the necessity of telling lies.

Cuckoo Song: When Triss wakes up after apparently falling in a lake, everything seems wrong. She's missing memories, she has an insatiable hunger, dead leaves are mysteriously appearing in her room, and her sister claims she's a monster. Triss must piece together what's happening to her before it's too late. This book deals with the complexities of life with overbearing parents, siblings who've been pitted against one another, and families that have been torn apart by tragedy.

Verdigris Deep (another one that goes by different titles): A group of friends are cursed by a well witch after they take some coins from her well. She forces them to work for her by granting her wishes. Working with the witch gives them powers, but the wishes are getting increasingly complex. Does that guy really want a motorcycle or does he want to be someone else? And if he wants to be someone else, does that mean what he really wants is not to exist at all? This book deals with issues of self worth, power and control, and toxic friendships.

She has a bunch of other great books as well. So if you're looking for a unique fantasy story with adventure and no romance, definitely check some of Frances Hardinge's books out!

[spaceofentropy]

When I stumbled upon @batmanisagatewaydrug's 2025 Book Bingo, I knew it was the right tool to make myself read more books and a bit less fanfiction, this year. I have chosen a few of the books I will use for the various squares, but honestly I don't know how it will go for others (what do I chose for literary fiction?! Argh!).

Anyway, I just finished the first book of the year, and it's my fill for the prompt 2024 award winner. Lucky me I had the perfect book in my wishlist and received it as a Christmas present even before I knew the bingo existed, woohoo!

T. Kingfisher's "A House with Good Bones" won the Locus Award last year for best horror novel, and it totally deserved it. It's creepy and horrifying in all the right places, makes you laugh where it needs to, and leaves you holding your breath in more than one occasion. I loved Sam, and her mom, and Phil, and Gail. Not Gran Mae, no, Gran Mae could re-die, preferably in a ditch outside walmart.

Hermes is the best pancake boy, MVP, 10/10, no notes.

I'm happy to report that I added "be EXTREMELY wary of the roses" to my list of trauma-fueled life lessons learned from Ursula's books. Yay?

Now, on to the next book! 🎉

[cinnamontails-ff]

New Year Writing Tag

Happy New Year everyone!

I love this time of year for how it invites reflection and a general (re)assessment of where I am as a writer. I've seen a few "new year writing" tags floating around, but didn't love their focus on numbers, so I decided to make my own. Feel free to use the template if you're interested, leave stuff out, etc!

What's been your biggest learning point this past year?

Readers are fickle, and winning yourself an audience is not the same as maintaining it. Still, there will always be people who love your work, exactly the way it is.

How has your writing developed this past year?

I think my grasp on the English language has definitely improved! I find I'm more comfortable with varying my sentence structure, and the fact that I'm finally getting the hang of punctuation also definitely helps haha That said, I've been leaning into my overwriting tendencies. MA was supposed to be 150k words and now it's gonna clock in at nearly 200k. And that's ok because it was a difficult project and I'm proud of myself for pulling through, but I definitely need to rein myself in, moving forward.

Good writing habits?

Finally installing automatic backups through my writing software! Also, investing in a nice keyboard for the first time in my life. Life-changing.

Bad writing habits?

Pushing too hard rather than taking a break because my general modus operandi in life is "Work hard now, so you can relax later" - except, I never let myself get to the "later" part.

Favorite thing you wrote?

Chapter 20 of "Magistrate's Advocate". If you know, you know, but it was a very unusual, very challenging chapter for me, and I love how it came out.

Favorite reads?

"A Sorceress Comes to Call" by T. Kingfisher

"Yellowface" by R.F. Kuang

And my re-reads of "Guards, Guards" and "Small Gods" by Terry Pratchett, but what else is new :D

Biggest win?

Making friends through writing. Connecting with people in a way that goes so much further than storytelling. Getting to go to the wedding of someone I met through fandom (and then try to explain to the other guests how you met :D). Sitting on a riverbank in a European city with a lovely reader for 4h straight, receiving the most beautiful fountain pen as a gift. Really, everyone who's made me feel like they care about me just as much as they care my stories ❤

Goals for the new year?

Finish the translation of my original novel.

Stop beating myself up over the things I have not achieved.

Forget AO3 statistics exist.

Shamelessly re-read my own fics over and over again.

Your favorite words of the year, aka the words you check each chapter for, making sure you didn't repeat them 788 times?

"little", "gaze", "look", "smile", "quite", "absolutely", anything to do with "shoulders", "hands" and "eyes".

Seriously, what is it with me and shoulders?

What are you excited for in the new year?

I've just recently started a writing group with a handful of lovely people I met through fandom, and I am extremely excited for it! It's hard to find a group of like-minded people, and while I love the focus on positivity in fandom, I really miss being told where my writing still needs work :D

No-pressure tags (and feel free to pick and choose your favorite questions!): @davenswitcher @obsessedwhyyes @larvasmoon @wobblyweasels @roguishcat @amoremagnificentbastard @lady-vincent @ladyduellist @canon-in-too-deep @khywren @karinamay @bananaiguana and everyone else who loves their new year's reflections!