Hello! Did you miss me last month? I missed you too! I had a story published, among other things. It’s short, and it’s about family and magic and secrets. I’m going to make the link it’s own line, so your eyes will be drawn to it. Read the story! It’s fun.
10 Spells the Glasbläser Family Is Not Sharing With Each Other, In Order of Secrecy
Now, for your regularly scheduled Content(TM). My wife and I finally (finally!!!!) finished my four month move, and now officially live in an apartment in Essen, Germany. This move started in May, and really dragged out in the middle there, thanks to the pandemic cancelling our flights multiple times (fun!). Finding an apartment, dealing with bureaucracy, signing up for University…all made more complicated by new rules. But it’s okay! WE MADE IT, PLAGUE BE DAMNED.
Books, short stories, and the science fiction community have been key to keeping me sane. So, let me present to you: an October Newsletter, filled with recommendations.
Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow (novel)
Look, it’s spooky season. You know you want a book about witches; why not also have a book about sisterhood, hope and change? This book is so kind to it’s flawed and frustrating characters — it understands that sometimes, staying alive is it’s own struggle. And yet it’s also a hopeful, angry, desperate rallying cry to fit against forces bigger than ourselves, and to believe in the power of sisterhood to help us get there. And not just that — the emotional climax feels absolutely perfect! The defeat of the evil is complicated and chilling and satisfying. Come for the historical accuracy, stay for the queers and the way this story about sisterhood challenges its own essentialism.
Silver as the Devil’s Necklace, by Isabel Canas (short story)
More spooky season stuff! This one is a short story from PseudoPod - again, at its core, about sisterhood - that is angry, hopeful and defiant. Canas’ use of metaphors is always stunning, and I’m so glad we got blessed by an Autumnal story by her.
The Unspoken Name by AK Larkwood (novel)
Queer genre-bending fantasy that challenges its heroine to fit against the status-quo as she understands it in order for her to save her cool, all-powerful girlfriend? Yes please. I read a library copy and then immediately bought my own — that’s how much I loved it.
The Wandering City by Usman Malik (short story)
Malik is one of those writers whose work I auto-read. It doesn’t matter where it’s published or how long it is — I’ll read it. This story did not disappoint - the edge of irony in its description of the different character’s actions was funny, and the edge of horror that always edges along his work made the uncanny feel of this story so much better.
Beloved and Deserted by Nicole Tan (short story)
I learned the term “wuxia” this year, so I hope I’m using it right, but this story felt wuxia inspired to me. It reminded me a lot of Zen Cho’s excellent novella The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water, though Tan’s short story had a more established (and fascinating) magic system. The tension between the two heros was excellently wrought in such a short story, and I thought the ending was perfect.
And so: I hope you have an excellent October friends. It’s my birthday month, so it’s got to be good, right?
Bird du mois: Barn swallows (who have now left us for the winter! Goodbye swallows! See you in spring!)
Tree du mois: Beech trees (aren’t they looking vibrant and orange this fall?)