#NYTimes published their best historical fiction of 2023 list.
Interesting choices, but don't expect anything set before, I think, the 1700s. I guess in 2023, (great) "historical fiction" didn't include novels with settings similar to Clan of the Cave Bear (Auel), Pillars of the Earth (Follett), or Under Heaven (Kay - during the Tang Dynasty).
FWIW, here are my favorite SFFH books of the year, in the order I read them, not by preference:
Novels:
The Terraformers - Annalee Newitz
Furious Heaven - Kate Elliott
Lone Women - Victor LaValle
Dual Memory - Sue Burke
The Water Outlaws - S. L. Huang
Exit Ghost - Jennifer R. Donohue
Novellas:
Lost in the Moment and Found - Seanan McGuire
The Mimicking of Known Successes - Malka Older
Rose/House - Arkady Martine
Mammoths at the Gates - Premee Mohamed
Featuring works from Dianne Alvine, Kristen Joy Balyeat, Lisa Braxton, Clare Chai, Sian Clutton, Mackenzie Davis, Jazzy Goncalves, Louis Hill, Jacob Kolasch, Ash Lima, Maureen Y. Palmer, Marley Ramon, @MarjoleinRotsteeg, & Ba Seoighe. (Only $1.99!)
Featuring works from Dianne Alvine, Kristen Joy Balyeat, Lisa Braxton, Clare Chai, Sian Clutton, Mackenzie Davis, Jazzy Goncalves, Louis Hill, Jacob Kolasch, Ash Lima, Maureen Y. Palmer, Marley Ramon, @MarjoleinRotsteeg, & Ba Seoighe. (Only $1.99!)
Featuring works from Dianne Alvine, Kristen Joy Balyeat, Lisa Braxton, Clare Chai, Sian Clutton, Mackenzie Davis, Jazzy Goncalves, Louis Hill, Jacob Kolasch, Ash Lima, Maureen Y. Palmer, Marley Ramon, @MarjoleinRotsteeg, & Ba Seoighe. (Only $1.99!)
Join Ronald McGillvray & yours truly as we wrap up 2023 with an all-new author spotlight, a bunch of talk about books, movies, TV, games, music, and so much more!
@bookstodon New and notable books in the U.S. for December 5, 2023.
Dazzling, Chịkọdịlị Emelụmadụ. [West African mythology collides with modern Nigeria, in this tale centered on two girls who struggle to bend magic to their wills.]
After World, Debbie Urbanski. [AI, one last human on Earth, the recovery of the climate, and the surprising connections that arise.]
A River of Golden Bones, A.K. Mulford. [Sleeping Beauty retelling with queer rep AND Werewolves.]
Five Bad Deeds, Caz Frear. [Perhaps we are all badly-behaved, esp. society's privileged suburban set. This story is suspenseful, vengeful, and super twisty.]
Orbital, Samantha Harvey. [A thoughtful look at ourselves. If we could observe our planet from great remove, how would it change our perspective, our focus, even our priorities?]
Airplane Mode, Shanaz Habib. [Through the lens of travel, the author has a lot to say about our history of racism and ethnocentrism, and about our post-colonial world. Witty, funny, and incisive. Long-listed for the Andrew Carnegie Medals of Excellence.]
The End of The World is a Cul-de-sac, Louise Kennedy. [Smartly written short stories. Crisp, wry, clarion, and contemporary.]
The Folly, Gemma Amor. [Give me your secluded creepy Gothic mystery!]
Yours For The Taking, Gabrielle Korn. [Climate fiction future. Progress has a dark side.]
Javier Gomá: "Somos los menos imperfectos, pero vivimos en la era de mayor descontento"
El filósofo ha publicado recientemente 'Universal concreto' (Taurus), un breve y conceptual ensayo que sintetiza sus ideas filosóficas y que es tan útil como una caja de herramientas
Review — The Digital Aesthete: Human Musings on the Intersection of Art and AI
This compilation of stories examining the intersection of art, creativity, and AI is eye-opening, entertaining, and thought-provoking says Haley Zapal at the @NerdsofaFeather blog
#BookReview Boy Parts by Eliza Clark
Read on audio, performed by the author
Influx Press
2020
After reading a run of classics I was looking for something different and this certainly fit the bill!
Irina’s a bartender/artist from Newcastle who graduated with an MA from The Royal College of Art and is in an awkward phase where she’s partying but also wants to be taken seriously as an artist. Her style of photography lands her in tricky situations as she scouts teenage boys and men to photograph. Talented, beautiful and manipulative, she uses her power to persuade them to bend to her demands, with her explicit photos being bought by wealthy private collectors who’re into fetish art. She attracted praise as a student including a profile in Vice and has 1000s of Instagram followers who she couldn’t care less about.
We follow Irina as she prepares for a group show in London; she’s looking through her archive for her best images and reminisces, resulting in some memories she’d prefer not to drag back into her consciousness.
I’m surprised I had the stomach for this book but that’s down to the clever writing which makes you weirdly relate to Irina. Her life just seems chaotic, details begin to be drip fed into the narrative and by that time you’re hooked!
There’s some great writing about the pretensions of art school students and feeling shunned as a ‘northern’ artist. And plenty of messy nights at house parties, with a cocktail of drink, drugs and vomiting.
In a similar way to the protagonist in I’m A Fan the author’s created a unique voice and pushes behaviour to the extreme. Just be warned that here these extremes include self harm, mental illness, sexual abuse and violence.
I was impressed how Eliza Clark explores a certain kind of modern art which is celebrated as edgy but which makes you wonder about consent and the twisted mind of the artist; playing with this in complex and surprising ways. #Bookstodon@bookstodon
I reviewed Twilight of the Gods by Scott Oden for Grimdark Magazine! This is the second book in the dark historical fantasy Grimnir Saga, about the last living orc in medieval Scandinavia. Book 3 arrives later this month!
Looking for new additions to your TBR pile or gift list? LitHub's Natalie Zutter is recommending seven sci-fi and fantasy books that are published this month, including Chịkọdịlị Emelụmadụ's debut novel, "Dazzling," which is about two girls coming of age at a Nigerian boarding school, and Geoff Ryman's "Him," which muses on what would have happened if Jesus Christ was born a girl.
What is this "mask", what do y'all mean by "masking"?
Like, what's the difference between a mask and a public persona?
Both my parents are pretty autistic and in total denial about it. Lacking siblings, cousins, a culture, or human contact, I really have no frame of reference for this stuff.
Jeśli ktoś szuka kryminału w tej komedii kryminalnej, to będzie się cieszył z zawiązania oraz rozwinięcia akcji, ale mniej z samego rozwiązania. Natomiast tutaj bardziej chodzi o humor, a i autor coraz śmielej uprawia satyrę, szczególnie z nowobogackich Warszawiaków, którzy mają spaczone poczucie rzeczywistości. Ta seria ma swój urok.
Starting my thread with this essay about my books & my cats. I created it a few years ago & keep it updated. It's whimsical, it makes me happy, and it's a good intro to my writing. I hope you enjoy it.
Note: All images in the blog post had alt-text last I checked. Book pages on my site should all have alt descriptions as well. Should. It's a work in progress.
Today in things I'm proud of making: this brand-new blurb graphic for my ongoing series, the Rollover Files.
TL;DR pitch: midlife crisis superpowers. Contains swearwords, moms & teens saving the world, idealism, and good people dealing with bad situations as best they can. https://books2read.com/kmherkes
"After introducing plural logic and its main applications, the book provides a systematic analysis of the relation between this logic and other theoretical frameworks such as set theory, mereology, higher-order logic, and modal logic."
"This book provides the first full history of phrenitis. In doing so, it surveys ancient ideas about the interactions between body and soul, both in health and in disease. It also addresses ancient ideas about bodily health, mental soundness and moral 'goodness', and their heritage in contemporary psychiatric ideas."