Favorite Books and Current Reads

[Kinokokao]

fuck you

that shit got banned in Australia it was so awful

[Sampson]

Honestly, its squick factor is the only thing it has going for it. Its prose is pretty mediocre.

[Illuminage]

badfics, eh? I heard there was one for Sailor Moon that was notorious, too.

[Kinokokao]

there's a few for everything, I'm sure

[Illuminage]

Oh, btw, I did read Agony in Pink, and I plan to go on with his Leia fic or whatever. Atrocious as it may be, it's pretty down right hilarious when you look at it. Especially with his redundancy.

[Kinokokao]

[Illuminage]

[Kinokokao]

<3

I did re-read A Strong and Sudden Thaw last night (or, rather, about 200 pages of relevant recap) so I could start Out of the Ashes, but Magebound arrived and I started reading that instead.

I rather like it so far! Main character is a slave. There's a mix of sci-fi elements (he mentions being tugged through warps to other worlds) but it's mostly fantasy, although it's... I dunno, different than your typical sword 'n sorcery sort! The main character's been bought a mage to work in his shop; he sells small spells and charms, herbal tinctures, and things like raven's feather and eyes of newts. Only about 22 pages in so far.

[Kinokokao]

So, finished Magebound. I can't tell if it's leaving things open for a sequel, or just leaving things open.

On the whole, very good. Imaginative world, and it uses magic in original ways. There's a scene in which Lark and Naeven must capture a salamander, and, goodness, it's a good scene. I will definitely be interested in any sequels, and very much hope there is one. Where the book ended did feel natural, but not completed. I would heartily recommend it, though. Much better than other books on my shelf I've recently completed.

On to Out of the Ashes, then.

[beekee]

Kino, I have decided that I very much need to start taking your recommendations on books and reading some of all this shiz. I have never heard of or seen most of the fantasy books that you've discussed, but they all sound pretty great.

My usual complaint is that I don't know what new books to try and I never seem to see anything interesting at stores.

I haven't read an honest-to-goodness novel in forever, and I think that's part of why my passion for fiction writing has been rolling around unconscious and drooling for the past few years.

[Starfe]

Read The Blue Hotel by Stephen Crane yesterday and reread The Metamorphosis by Kafka so that I could write a paper on the two.

Proceeded to overshoot the page limit on the paper by 2 pages, turned it in anyway. I don't think you should be allowed to take Introduction to Fiction when you already have nearly credits in literature based English classes.

[Kinokokao]

[beekee]

I've always wanted to find some fantasy novels that featured male-male romance, so it's pretty gratifying that there are some that are also good. Thanks.

Perhaps part of my interest in fantasy dropping off has been from finding fewer books that spoke to my worldview or interests at the time. I began to find anime and manga more appealing. Lack of a LGBT presence in literature was a big element of all of that, I think.

Heck, in many cases you might not find good books featuring women, let alone a gay man or trans person.

[Kinokokao]

Tanya Huff has a few series with strong female and/or lesbian protagonists; her Confederate Valor series (space marines) has a woman lead or I think might be lesbian. I haven't read them. Sing the Four Quarters (trad. fantasy) featured a bisexual woman for the lead, but the central romance was with a female partner. Two sequels, 5th Quarter and No Quarter, featured a strong female protagonist with a het romance, last book (Quartered Sea) was m/m. Her Keeper Chronicles (urban/modern fantasy, comedic) has a female leads, too, with both gay, straight and lesbian romances.

Lynn Flewelling's Tamir Triad (Bone Doll's Twin, Hidden Warrior, Oracle's Queen) is a fantasy twist on trans issues. Main character is a girl who must be disguised as a boy to be kept safe from her mad king Uncle, but what happens is that her male twin is killed and forbidden magic is used to actually make the girl a boy. He's raised completely male for the first part of his life; no idea of his true identity. Like I said, it isn't entirely trans, but rather a twist on it.

Hand of Prophecy is a science-fiction novel by Severna Park with a female protagonist and numerous lesbian characters, plus a couple of steamy lesbian sex scenes. I'd highly recommend it, actually, but I'm not sure how easy it is to find.

There are some other fantasy books out there that I'm aware of that either deal with lesbian, strong women, or trans issues, but I've never hunted them down like I do my beloved gay wizard books, sooo... I'll certainly start keeping my eyes open for anything I see trans related, though, if you'd like!

[Illuminage]

Rose Potter: The Girl who Lived Septology.

It's so bad, it's good...almost.