Alright, here we are, back for more reading recommendations from the long months between last May and now. I may or may not have been reading a LOT. And writing a lot. NaNoWriMo was in there somewhere, along with a move, starting a new career as a full time writer and educator, and so so so much more. Who knew staying home during a pandemic could be this busy?!

If you can’t find these in a library and want to buy a copy, I highly recommend ordering through Bookshop.org to help support independent booksellers during this time. It’s where I’m getting most of my physical copies of books now, though I’m reading more and more virtually (easier to read laying down for bed).

All of these books I found riveting, inspiring, and/or nerve-wracking. I’ve grouped them into categories roughly around where you’d find them in a library, but don’t let that stop you from picking any of these up. I enjoyed all of them immensely. Presented in no particular order:

About Writing

• Pocket Workshop from Clarion West edited by Tod McCoy and M. Huw Evans – a series of essays from Clarion West instructors past
• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamont – About the writing life, and exactly what I needed in the moment
• The Emotional Craft of Fiction by Donald Maass – Talking about emotion in writing, beautifully done
• Monster She Wrote by Lisa Kroger – the history of female horror/speculative fiction authors

Nonfiction

• The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery – about working with octopuses and a lot of their biology; I may be on an octopus kick
• Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty – about the cremation and funeral industry, absolutely fascinating

YA Speculative Fiction

• Updraft by Fran Wilde – truly unique fantasy
• Wilder Girls by Rory Power – fair warning, this is terrifying, at least for me
• A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow – about Black sirens, super fun
• A Dream So Dark by L.L. McKinney – a modern Black Alice in Wonderland gone punk
• The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud and Andrew Donkin – If Robert Aspirin had written his MYTH series for kids

Other Speculative Fiction

• Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi – high fantasy, without the elves and Tolkien influence
• Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb – and sequels, high fantasy
• All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders – Almost surreal modern high fantasy (?) Hard to describe other than excellent
• Shadowrun Novellas by Jennifer Brozek – set in the TTRPG setting of Shadowrun and very fun
• Ordinary Magic series by Devon Monk – Lovely, light hearted urban fantasy
• Putting the Fun in Funeral by Diana Pharaoh Francis – slightly darker urban fantasy

Series I always return to

• Smoke Bitten by Patricia Briggs – I always pre-order these urban fantasy shifter books
• The Thief Knot and Bluecrowne by Kate Milford (of Greenglass House series) – I just adore these books set in the same magically-real smugglers town
• Come Tumbling Down and Imaginary Numbers by Seanan McGuire – I never get tired of McGuire’s breadth and depth of skill; something for everyone in her various series
• Most recent in the Lizzie Grace series by Keri Arthur – fluffy popcorn urban fantasy, the best kind!
• Most recent in the Blood Trails series by Jennifer Blackstream – I am so invested in this witch urban fantasy series; I always preorder them
• The most recent in the Miss Fortune Mysteries series by Jana DeLeon – Okay, so, EVERYONE I recommend these to adores the crap out of them. 18 strong and counting. If you don’t pick up any other books from this list, go get Louisiana Longshot. I cry laughing reading them, and they are universally excellent. My husband was super skeptical. It took him a grand total of two weeks to read the first 17. Fluffy, funny, exciting, sexy, all of it, with a main character I can really connect with and two old ladies who I wish were my neighbors. Well, maybe a street over so when Gertie burns down her shed, again, I can enjoy the amusement, but not worry about property damage.

That’s it for now folks! I’ll come back with a roundup again sometime when I have the wherewithal to catalog my reading again. TTFN!