Want to try out some really good books
ridiculously cheaply? Head over to Wizard's Tower Books, an ebookstore
specialising on speculative fiction and run by the wonderful Cheryl
Morgan. Give it a try, it is easy. The books are DRM free, and you
can read them on any platform you like. I've got them on my phone,
laptop and Jukka's iPad and they work swimmingly. I'll even give you
tech support if this is your first time at the ebook rodeo.
There is a Finnish shopping spree thing today, which is why I
will head on over there to get some more much needed reading
materials, but first I like to recommend stuff that I already have,
most of it bought from Wizard Tower Books.
I have read Karin's swedish collection
of short stories "Vem är Arvid Pekon?", and fell instantly
in love. To put it mildly, short stories are not my thing, but
Karin's weird and wonderful stories instantly grabbed my imagination.
There has been nothing this wonderful published in the genre for
ages. Karin has translated the stories to English herself, so you get
an authentic experience even with the english stories.
2. Sherwood Smith: Stranger to Command
OK, the cover is not inviting, I grant
you, but inside is a great YAish growing up novel about a young noble
who has to reorient his life when he goes to school to a neighbouring
kingdom's rough military academy. I have a soft spot for school
stories, and this prequel to Court Duel and Crown Duel (no previous
knowledge needed, though) is a corker. The dynamics between
character, the politics of the situation and the learning process of
the students are all well depicted and there is even a dark menace
lurking in the backround.
3. Melissa Scott and Lisa Barnett:
Point of Hopes, Melissa Scott: Point of Knives
These are the best fantasy detective
stories I know. I love the world, I love the story telling and I am
not let down with the mystery. The murders and other crimes are all
solved within the rules of the fantasy world (which includes
astrology, ghosts and alchemy), and the reader never feels cheated.
Besides, Rathe and Eslingen are great detective team and their
romance is wonderfully understatedly real.
4. Lucy Sussex: Thief of Lives
Some of Sussex stories are so
borderline genre that they aren't. But they are all interesting, well
written tales of womens lives, relatable even when they tell about
ancient Babylon or soulsucking vampiric writers. Again, even thought
short stories aren't my thing, these were well worth the time.
5. Helen Merrick: The Secret Feminist
Cabal
You know how fannish histories
sometimes are a bit grandiose? Seven people have an argument and
three of them go to another hotel room and you have a major fannish
split? (I am exaggerating but not that much…) This isn't one of
them. Merricks book is important, well written, engaging, thought
provoking look at feminisms in Science Fiction through writers, fans,
editors.
6. R.A MacAvoy: Death and Resurrection
One of my favourite writers returns
after a painful illness with this well written story about an
artist who dies for a bit, and finds he can travel the land between
life and death. What I have always loved about McAvoy's writing is
how she writes about big fantastical, life changing action stuff in a
way that makes it seem real and even mundane. I believe her.
Also you can support editor
Neil Clarke by buying his Clarkesworld magazines from Wizard Tower
Books. It is a very good magazine, I appreciate especially because
its commitment to great non-fiction articles about the genre
(remember what I said about the short stories…). I'd go for example for issues 70 (Ekaterine Sedia: The Exceptional Smurfette), 60 (Daniel Abraham: Another World: Assimilation, Multiculturalism and Me), 58 (Daniel M Kimmell: So This is the Way the World ended) , 44 (Ryan Britt: Stranger than Science Fiction: Into the Alternative Dimension of Mainstream Literature) or 31 (Joyce Frohn: Where Is My Flying Car? The Future of Personal Aviation)
Eating Muffins 