A Quokka Dreeds its Weird

I have been reading a lot but reviewing little. Want to help me change that?

Note: I deliberately put off reviewing Revelator and the Planetfall series because I loved them but a lot of what I loved is hugely spoilery, and I wanted to discuss them with people who've read them. So if anyone is likely to read them in the very near future or has already read them, please tell me.

Revelator is brilliant historical folk horror on two time tracks with a bootlegger heroine and generations of girls and women who commune with the God in the Mountain. It has a very compelling, morally gray, sometimes very likable set of characters, a fantastic narrative voice, and one of the best monsters I've ever encountered. Not particularly gory but contains complicated, world-specific, well-handled issues of child abuse, cults, and consent.

Planetfall has fantastic, extremely detailed and believable worldbuilding in the classic sense of "how this technology impacts the world," very compelling narratives, and complex main characters. It's very dark and the world is AWFUL in ways with upsetting resonances to multiple current events, but not without hope. I loved it but literally all the trigger warnings.



Has anyone read any of these? What did you think?

Please rec me some how-to books on sex. Please read my criteria carefully!

1. I am looking for ALL of the following: general how-to books on sex that are queer/trans-centric or queer/trans-inclusive, AND books that are aimed at specific audiences like gay, lesbian, transmasc, autistic, disabled, genderfluid, etc, while still at least acknowledging the existence of other groups.

2. I am not looking for academic books. These books should be aimed at a general audience of people who are looking for sex ed.

3. The more recent or recently updated, the better. Please don't rec something published in 1990 and never updated unless it's REALLY great and does not feel dated.

Please feel free to pass this on!

I have an Audible Plus membership, Amazon Prime is putting a bunch of audiobooks on sale right now, and I'm doing a lot of driving.

Please recommend me some audiobooks! I'm looking for books that are enjoyable as audiobooks, not just good books that have an audio edition. My favorite audiobooks include The Only Good Indians, Wylding Hall, Chiwetel Ejiofor reading Piranesi, Rob Inglis reading Lord of the Rings, and Donna Tartt reading True Grit.

Now that I am fully immunized (two weeks past the last Moderna shot) I set out to enjoy my freedom. The closest large(ish) city to me is Fresno (an hour and a half drive), so that's where I went.

I went to a glorious used bookshop, which would have been excellent by any standard but was especially sweet under the circumstances, the Book Barn in Clovis, and obtained these:



Anyone read any of these? Any votes for which you'd really like to read reviews of?



Then I went to a Filipino restaurant which was, alas, terrible. The best I can say about the meal was that it was sufficiently edible that I ate some of it. Well, and that it was a restaurant and I sat at a table (outside). Of the taro boba tea, the less said the better.

Then I went to a truly glorious ice cream parlor, La Michoacana PLUS. Page down to see the interior, yes it really looks like that. Only it additionally had a million spherical lights that changed color.

It is PLUS, all right. Look at their paletas! I had a mangolada and it made up for the wretched lunch. It looked exactly like the photos. I also got paletas to go (took home in a freezer). I have horchata, pecan, watermelon, coconut water, and one that isn't labeled and got slightly melted in transit and I have no idea what it is. I ate a strawberry cheesecake one last night and it was so fucking good.

Finally, I went to Trader Joe's, an ordinary pleasure which I haven't had in year. Just like eating at a restaurant or going to a bookshop or ice cream parlor. Glorious.

One of the most frustrating aspects of the pandemic was that for the first time in my life, it became very difficult for me to read books. Short stories, articles, manuscripts for review, audiobooks, sure. Actual published books on paper/Kindle for my own enjoyment? My eyes would glaze over after two pages.

Thankfully, I managed to break that streak by reading a combination of trashy horror, legit good horror, and excruciatingly depressing yet strangely compelling books. THANK GOD. Help me continue breaking my reading block!

I'm in the middle of three books, one of which I will be in the middle of for ages as it's a ridiculously long web novel which the author is also in the middle of, unless he finished it recently and I missed it. That's Ward by Wildbow, the sequel to Worm, his engrossing million-word epic about a girl who can control bugs. If the format makes your eyes bleed, some judicious googling will turn up downloadable versions. Please do contribute to the author's Patreon or PayPal him some cash if you read.

The other books I'm in the middle of are a pair of re-reads, Fitzempress' Law by Diana Norman and Doomsday Book by Connie Willis.

Please don't comment to inform me that my links are problematic. I'm aware. My recent attempts to create less problematic book links only resulted in a cascade of milkshake ducks.

Also, please don't comment to say that you would never read what I'm reading. I get a lot of comments like that. I understand that you don't mean it in a judgy way, but it sounds judgy. I am well aware that the majority of my readers prefer to read escapist fluffy stuff when their lives are depressing.

I too sometimes have that impulse. But I just as often have the impulse to read books for a different sort of comfort: the comfort of hearing, "I've been there too. I understand. And after all that, books will still be written; the one you're reading now is proof."

Have you been reading my reviews of obscure kids' books or obscure science fiction or obscure whatever and wishing you could lay your hands on them?

Via telophase: "In case you haven't seen it yet, the Open Library is now the National Emergency Library, which means you can borrow ebooks with no waitlist. They've got over a million books--I did a broad search last night for science fiction and fantasy, and they've got a ton of books, both well-known and obscure, from the mid-1990s and further back; adult, YA, middle grade, and kids. Especially when I got to the 1970s and 80s, it was like scanning the shelves at my childhood library and bookstore trips.

Formats tend to be epub, PDF, and encrypted daisy for print-disabled users."

If you need a different format, you can get them converted via this free and very easy service.

You can filter by genre and year (and other ways as well). I did a search filtering for "juvenile fiction" and "1980," and got the most astonishing transport back in time. Especially since they show the original covers!

Here are the books I recognized, most of which I don't own and haven't thought of in 40 years: No Such Thing as a Witch by Ruth Chew, Mr. Chatterbox, Bruno and Boots: Beware the Fish and Who is Bugs Potter? by Gordon Korman, Fables by Arnold Lobel, Choose Your Own Adventure: Space and Beyond, and Flutterby.

I was also disappointed to discover that The Girl Who Lived on The Ferris Wheel was not about a girl who lived on a Ferris wheel. The Ferris wheel was a metaphor for her abusive mother's moods. BOOOOO.

The whole experience was like stumbling upon the world's greatest thrift store bookshelf.

Here is my challenge to you, in a time when I think a lot of us have time on our hands and could use a distraction and community challenge:

1. Look up a year of your choice, and report back to me in comments about books you remember.

2. Download a book, read it, and report back on it in your own DW or here, as you wish.

3. Challenge me to read and report on something of your choice!

4. Post this in your DW, and let your readers challenge you.

I am on a solo writing retreat/Thanksgiving in the cabin on my parents' property in Mariposa, with my cats. The forecast promises snow (oh please please please let there be snow) so today I drove down to the library bookstore to check out what people have donated, and got an absolutely wonderful haul.





A few snippets from the back covers:

No Clock in the Forest by Paul J. Willis. For William, a cynical and aimless 'serious' climber abandoned in a breathtaking alpine wilderness, the strange old man's gift if a key to a magical realm--where marmots speak and terrible beasts dwell.

Me: ...MARMOTS?

Driver's Ed: The only life and death course in school.

Fatality: Everyone has a secret...

Flight # 116 Is Down: Plane Crash!

Twins: Two girls... one life.

I enjoy reading trashy, vintage, and weird books, I guess as you can see. I have not read any of these, though in some cases I have read others by the same author. Please tell me about them and suggest which I should read and review for your pleasure while I'm snowed in and being stepped on by cats.

scioscribe reviews a surprisingly kind of good pulp porno novel with an even more surprising author.

We had this exchange in comments:

Me: I love reading reviews of books like this, that are surprisingly interesting, virtually unknown, and not reviewed anywhere else.

scioscribe: I also love finding these virtually unknown books--it's like saving some little piece of history that would otherwise be lost.

Me: Yes, exactly. It's also why I love reviewing them.

Which is why I am still trying to review everything I read and still encourage you to join in, and why I was so delighted with the weird books several of you have sent me and have them on my very large to-read stack. If not for my willingness to pick up random stuff, I would never have experienced the joys of Sit on my face, Miss Lippman, and know the enamel reality of my teeth or the recipe book with instructions for surviving a cobalt bomb.

What weird and unknown books have you read lately, or ever?

A column in Publishers Weekly by a bookseller objects to YA books depicting girl warriors. To bolster her case that this is TERRIBLE, she includes a graphic showing a bunch of book covers showing badass girls, many of whom are people of color in books written by writers of color, and two of whom are not holding a weapon at all but does have a super cool prosthetic arm or is riding a phoenix. (Girls! Just say no to prosthetic limbs and the dangerous sport of phoenix riding!)

Anyway, those books look great! I would like to read some of them, and I bet you would too. Anyone want to join me in buying or getting a couple from the library, then reviewing them (good, bad, or indifferent) to give them more visibility?

(Also, it took me fricking forever to put this post together, so please make me feel like my time wasn't unwisely spent.)

It's still very hard for writers of color to break into YA publishing, and it's still unusual for girls of color to be featured on book covers at all, let alone genre book covers showing them as totally awesome rather than pregnant and in a gang. So thanks, column author, for bringing these books to our attention given that many of them are unlikely to have a big marketing budget and booksellers like you won't sell them, thus contributing to publishers' beliefs that those kinds of books don't sell.

I haven't read any of them, so please let me know if you have and what you thought. I promise to buy and review whichever books get the most votes in comments. You can vote for more than one. If a series book other than # 1 wins, I will start with # 1 of that series.

Rage: A Stormheart Novel, by Cora Carmack. Princess or adventurer. Duty or freedom. Her Kingdom or the Stormhunter she loves.

Beasts of the Frozen Sun (The Frozen Sun Saga Book 1), by Jill Criswell. Burn brightly. Love fiercely. For all else is dust.

Deathcaster (Shattered Realms Book 4), by Cinda Williams Chima. Warrior Alyssa ana’Raisa would do anything to protect her home, the Fells, and her legacy, the Gray Wolf line.

Princess Ninjas, by Dave Francini (author) and Eduardo Garcia (artist). When the kingdom is under attack who do we turn to? The king and his guards? A knight of myth and legend? Or the prophesized, chosen Princess Ninjas who battle evil and will save the day? I think we all know who! [They have an adorably fierce turtle-bear sidekick!]

The Afterward, by E. K. Johnston. Romantic high fantasy from the bestselling author of Star Wars: Ahsoka and Exit, Pursued by a Bear.

A River of Royal Blood, by Amanda Joy. Set in a North African-inspired fantasy world where two sisters must fight to the death to win the crown.

The Triumphant (Valiant Book 3), by Leslie Livingston. The final book in the Valiant series takes Fallon and her warrior sisters on an epic journey from the corrupt Roman Republic to the wonder of the ancient world: Alexandria, Egypt.

War Girls, by Tochi Onyebuchi. Two sisters are torn apart by war and must fight their way back to each other in a futuristic, Black Panther-inspired Nigeria. [This is the one with no weapons, but a cool prosthetic arm.]

Crown of Feathers, by Nicki Pau Preto. A debut fantasy novel about a girl who disguises herself as a boy to join a secret group of warriors that ride phoenixes into battle.

Dealing in Dreams, by Lilliam Rivera. The Outsiders meets Mad Max: Fury Road in this fast-paced dystopian novel about sisterhood and the cruel choices people are forced to make in order to survive.

Sorcery of Thorns, by Margaret Rogerson. An imaginative fantasy about an apprentice at a magical library who must battle a powerful sorcerer to save her kingdom.

Trinity of Bones, by Caitlin Seal. The much-anticipated second title of the Necromancer's Song trilogy. Naya Garth will do whatever it takes to bring Corten back from the shores of death.

Bright Star, by Erin Swan. The girl who was once an outcast must somehow become the leader Paerolia needs. But she is stronger than she believes—and with the help of a fiercely loyal dragon, she may just be the one to lead them all to victory.

Red Mantle: The Red Abbey Chronicles Book 3, by Maria Turtschaninoff. An epistolary novel told through the letters Maresi writes back to her friends and mentors at the Abbey. Turtschanino has been awarded the Finlandia Junior Prize, the Swedish YLE Literature Prize, and the Society of Swedish Literature Prize

Shatter the Sky, by Rebecca Kim Wells. A determined young woman sets out to rescue her kidnapped girlfriend by stealing a dragon from the corrupt emperor. [KIDNAPPED GIRLFRIEND. STEALING A DRAGON.]

Ship of Smoke and Steel (The Wells of Sorcery Trilogy Book 1), by Django Wexler. In the lower wards of Kahnzoka, the great port city of the Blessed Empire, eighteen-year-old ward boss Isoka enforces the will of her criminal masters with the power of Melos, the Well of Combat. [That is a whole lot of capitals, I have to say. But it also says "She doesn't expect to have to contend with feelings for a charismatic fighter who shares her combat magic, or for a fearless princess who wields an even darker power" so maybe there's FF?]

The Girl the Sea Gave Back, by Adrienne Young. For as long as she can remember, Tova has lived among the Svell, the people who found her washed ashore as a child and use her for her gift as a Truthtongue.

The Girl King, by Mimi Yu. Two sisters become unwitting rivals in a war to claim the title of Emperor in this richly imagined, Asian-inspired fantasy. [Hey! This is only $1.99. BOUGHT.]