creative Well, it's no secret I like books. I also like talking about books. (Ask poor 
aryasura, who prefers nonfiction but is occasionally forced to listen to me babble about why I liked what this author did or why I didn't buy that character's actions at all. Sometimes I challenge myself to break the record of how quickly his eyes glaze over.)
So while waiting for the impending snowfall that they claim will send us all into hiding, I'll talk a bit about books. In particular, three I'd love to see receive more attention.
1. The first is a short story collection by one of my writing heroines, Theodora Goss. I first learned about Ms. Goss from Small Beer Press, who inspired me to run out and hunt for a copy of the chapbook A Rose in Twelve Petals. (Hope you're enjoying it,seaya!) I loved the stories so much that I immediately ordered In the Forest of Forgetting. (Is that a great title, or what?)
aryasura, who prefers nonfiction but is occasionally forced to listen to me babble about why I liked what this author did or why I didn't buy that character's actions at all. Sometimes I challenge myself to break the record of how quickly his eyes glaze over.)So while waiting for the impending snowfall that they claim will send us all into hiding, I'll talk a bit about books. In particular, three I'd love to see receive more attention.
1. The first is a short story collection by one of my writing heroines, Theodora Goss. I first learned about Ms. Goss from Small Beer Press, who inspired me to run out and hunt for a copy of the chapbook A Rose in Twelve Petals. (Hope you're enjoying it,
seaya!) I loved the stories so much that I immediately ordered In the Forest of Forgetting. (Is that a great title, or what?)
Goss's tales are something else, lush and rich and strange, full of Eastern European flavor and woven through with a delicate but spider silk–strong sensibility. I so yearn to write like her one day. If you haven't tried her work already, you must—and you can start with "The Rapid Advance of Sorrow."
2. Next up is Ekaterina Sedia's The House of Discarded Dreams (another fantastic title). I was fortunate enough to read an early draft of this and just loved it. Kathy writes some of the most inventive adult speculative fiction out there, and this novel is no exception.
Oh, right; I should tell you what the book is about.
Trying to escape her embarrassing immigrant mother, Vimbai moves into a dilapidated house in the dunes. . .and discovers that one of her new roommates has a pocket universe instead of hair, there's a psychic energy baby living in the telephone wires, and her dead Zimbabwean grandmother is doing dishes in the kitchen. When the house gets lost at sea and creatures of African urban legends all but take it over, Vimbai turns to horseshoe crabs in the ocean to ask for their help in getting home to New Jersey.
2. Next up is Ekaterina Sedia's The House of Discarded Dreams (another fantastic title). I was fortunate enough to read an early draft of this and just loved it. Kathy writes some of the most inventive adult speculative fiction out there, and this novel is no exception.
Oh, right; I should tell you what the book is about.
Trying to escape her embarrassing immigrant mother, Vimbai moves into a dilapidated house in the dunes. . .and discovers that one of her new roommates has a pocket universe instead of hair, there's a psychic energy baby living in the telephone wires, and her dead Zimbabwean grandmother is doing dishes in the kitchen. When the house gets lost at sea and creatures of African urban legends all but take it over, Vimbai turns to horseshoe crabs in the ocean to ask for their help in getting home to New Jersey.
Just. . .just go read it, already. I mean, dwellings that float on the ocean and house people with portals for hair and ancestral ghosts! African urban legends! A main character of color! What are you waiting for?
3. Finally, I'd like to introduce you to Jazz in Love, Neesha Meminger's follow-up to her young adult debut, Shine, Coconut Moon. Neesha writes what she wants to see, YA fiction starring South Asians, and she does it well.
Jasbir, otherwise known as Jazz, has always been a stellar student and obedient, albeit wise-cracking, daughter. Everything has gone along just fine--she has good friends in the "genius" program she's been in since kindergarten, her teachers and principal adore her, and her parents dote on her. But now, in her junior year of high school, her mother hears that Jazz was seen hugging a boy on the street, and goes ballistic. Mom immediately implements the Guided Dating Plan, which includes setting up blind dates with "suitable," pre-screened Indian candidates. There's only one problem: the new boy at school, the very UNsuitable hottie, is the one who gets Jazz's blood boiling. When Jazz makes a few out-of-the-ordinary decisions, everything explodes, and she realizes she'll need a lot more than her genius education to get out of the huge mess she's created. Can Jazz find a way to follow her own heart, and still stay in the good graces of her parents?
3. Finally, I'd like to introduce you to Jazz in Love, Neesha Meminger's follow-up to her young adult debut, Shine, Coconut Moon. Neesha writes what she wants to see, YA fiction starring South Asians, and she does it well.
Jasbir, otherwise known as Jazz, has always been a stellar student and obedient, albeit wise-cracking, daughter. Everything has gone along just fine--she has good friends in the "genius" program she's been in since kindergarten, her teachers and principal adore her, and her parents dote on her. But now, in her junior year of high school, her mother hears that Jazz was seen hugging a boy on the street, and goes ballistic. Mom immediately implements the Guided Dating Plan, which includes setting up blind dates with "suitable," pre-screened Indian candidates. There's only one problem: the new boy at school, the very UNsuitable hottie, is the one who gets Jazz's blood boiling. When Jazz makes a few out-of-the-ordinary decisions, everything explodes, and she realizes she'll need a lot more than her genius education to get out of the huge mess she's created. Can Jazz find a way to follow her own heart, and still stay in the good graces of her parents?
I'm pleased to say Neesha's given me a copy to pass on to one of you lucky readers, so please check back tomorrow for a mini-interview and giveaway!