As some of you already know, I’ve been working on a story for SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) that is being used as a fundraiser for the organization. It’s a 30 day storytelling journey, where you receive an update about what you, a crew member on a journey to explore an exoplanet, have been up to. There’s the possibility of being randomly assigned the Captain, a scientist on the ship, a scientist on the away mission to the planet’s surface, or a marine sent as backup with the away mission. Fair warning, your character can, and just might, die on this mission. There are a limited number of tickets, so if you want one, get it now! Only $19 and it goes to fund more amazing research. 

So! Fun news first: for the first time in a year and a half, I have a day job again. Yay! Trust me, the nonprofit world is BRUTAL right now for trying to get a gig in Seattle specifically. Don’t bother. There were 600 applicants for every 1 position in some cases. So. I went back to the corporate world (boo!) but for a truly cutting edge sci-fi company (yay!) doing people-y things (I understand the first few sentences of the theory before my brain goes to mush.)

With that said, my writing may slow down a bit, I won’t be quite as available to teach or coach, but I think this is the right move for me in this time. It’s a great team, at a really darn cool place, and we’ll see how long I can ride that wave. I HAVE sold 6 new stories, have a bunch that are in second round reading right now, and at last count…2 plays, 8 novels, and 5 novellas in the works, so don’t count me out just yet!

But now you want to know what I’ve been reading over the long silence since my last post. Well:

I recently read all of Charlie Jane Anders’ work, even the ARC of the sequel of her YA, and let me tell you…I’m working on a whole post just about her. For now, the rest of what I’ve been reading and enjoying is below. As always, any books I read and can’t stand go quietly into the night…

Nonfiction

• Lady Killers by Tori Telfer
• Never Say You Can’t Survive by Charlie Jane Anders
• Writer to Writer by Gail Carson Levine
• The Emotional Craft of Fiction by Donald Maas
• Spellbound by Beauty by Donald Spoto
• The Heroine’s Journey by Gail Carriger

Spec Fic

• The Thorn and the Blossom by Theodora Goss
• The Awesome by Eva Darrows
• S by JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst
• Warlock Holmes by G.S. Denning
• Parasol Protectorate by Gail Carriger
• Waypoint Kangaroo by Curtis C. Chen
• Killing Floor by Lee Child
• Little Thieves by Margaret Owen
• Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys
• An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green
• Victories Greater than Death and Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak by Charlie Jane Anders
• A Dead Djinn in Cairo and the sequels by P. Djeli Clark
• You Sexy Thing by Cat Rambo
• The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders
• The Hearts we Sold by Emily Lloyd Jones
• Prime Deceptions by Valerie Valdes
• Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark
• Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones
• Miranda and Caliban by Jacqueline Carey
• Rocks Fall Everyone Dies by Lindsay Ribar
• Curses by Lish McBride
• Stephen King’s The Shining
• Oil and Dust by Jami Fairleigh
• The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

I know I owe you some book recommendations (and I have a LOT pending right now) but it still needs to wait as I have been dealing with house-hunting, starting a new job, my husband starting a new job, closing on a house, fixing said house so it’s not a fire trap, packing to move into said house, and keeping up with edits from the SIX, that’s right, six stories that have been purchased recently.

The first one out is “Marinel” with Starry-Eyed Press’ new anthology Cosmic Convocation.

To put a cherry on top, I’m first up in the collection! I’ve also got an interview on their blog talking about my writing process and a little bit about the story if you are so inclined to read.

I’ll keep you posted about the other stories and when they go up. And as soon as we’ve moved, I’ll get this next round of book suggestions posted!

Hello again, fellow readers! Welcome back to Rebecca Reads a Thing and Tells You To Read It, Too! It’s been a fun adventure the last few months and I haven’t been able to read quite as much as I might otherwise have liked, but here’s a selection of books I think you should add to your list.

First off, there is Oil and Dust: The Elemental Artist by Jami Fairleigh. I want to call this one out especially, as Jami is a good friend of mine and I had the chance to read the ARC of Oil and Dust before it hit the market. I have since purchased a copy, but want to lay my prejudice out right up front. I’ve known Jami for almost a year now, we met last NaNoWriMo when she attended the write-ins I was hosting on behalf of the Neverending Bookshop, and we just keep doing events together! Not only is she an incredibly pleasant human being, she is also a great writer, and it shows in this debut novel. Oil and Dust is a post-apocalypse story wherein the world (well, the American continent at least) has somewhat recovered into a society of loosely interconnected small towns. Our main character, Matthew Sugiyama, is an Artist, which, in this reality, means he can bend physics to his will with the stroke of his paintbrush. Freshly graduated from the Abbey where he was trained, he sets off into the world to figure out who his family is and find answers to the questions that have plagued him his whole life.

Fairleigh does a fantastic job in this novel with worldbuilding and description. She definitely has an artist’s eye and sensibility when it comes to scene-setting, and she makes the act of painting exciting and intriguing. The artistic bent of the magic system is unique, and very well executed. I get testy if magic systems aren’t fully fleshed out and internally consistent, but Fairleigh does a masterful job of creating and utilizing the art=magic equation. Matthew is a sympathetic character, and though he at times is as self-centered as any 19 year old young man would be, it only adds to the realistic portrait she paints. My only qualm with the protagonist is that he at times seems too aware of his own emotions and analyzes his mental state and motivations better than most therapists. I personally like a bit more of that left up to the reader. Regardless, the struggle and adventure Matthew and his compatriots embark upon is delightful, a true page-turner that left me asking what on alternaEarth was going to happen next. Definitely worth the read!

Now, on to the other books I’ve read recently…

• Domesticating Dragons by Dan Koboldt was a hilarious novel where Jurassic Park meets West World. Definitely a popcorn read, but very enjoyable.
• The Black God’s Drums by P. Djèlí Clark was a fantastic novella in an alternate history New Orleans with a steampunk flair. Read this. Right now.
• Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir was a different read for me. Felt like Dune meets Hold Me Closer, Necromancer. Super far flung post-apocalyptic sci-fi with a predominant necromantic society.  It was weird, but awesome. At one point I told my husband it mostly just had the fun bits of Necromancy in it and his response was, “What the **** are the fun bits?!”
• The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune was the best darn middle-aged gay romance story I’ve ever read. I know there is a lot of discussion out there around how the author handled commenting on their inspiration for the story, but, regardless, it’s a gosh darn good book. I have no right to comment on the trauma of the folks who have the problem with book, but I will say that the situations which are fictionalized in the story were happening all over the world at various times, and not just in one place and time. Yes, Klune’s imagination was sparked off of a particularly horrid example of these institutions, but he was also informed by many, many more situations.
• I picked up Banned by the BBC! by Arnold M.D. Levine as research for the new direction my radio play is taking, and was pleasantly surprised by how delightful this book is. I’m usually not one for memoirs, but Levine has a hilarious way with words that had me laughing out loud multiple times. This book takes a look at Levine’s experiences as a land-based pirate radio operator in 1970s London, and how Radio Concord was formed, functioned, and finally, dissipated, through the eyes of the people that loved and nurtured its illegal endeavors. It is clever, and witty, and eye-opening into a sub-culture of London that I was only peripherally aware of prior to reading. Definitely worth the time!
• Blackwing War by K.B. Spangler is a sequel to Stoneskin the only two books Spangler has published that are outside their “Girl and her Fed” storyverse. And not gonna lie, I would read anything by Spangler, it’s always delightful, and I loved Blackwing War as much as all the rest of her writing!
• Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvie Moreno-Garcia is a supernatural romp with Mayan Gods through 1920s Mexico. The lens into Mayan mythology was fantastic, but I did find it a little slow. Could have used more agency on the part of the protagonist, but I still think it’s worth it.
• Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor was great, I always love Okorafor’s work, but this was not her strongest story. Good, enjoyable, but she’s also done better. Start with Binti if you haven’t read her work yet.
• The Ruthless Ladies Guide to Wizardry and Unnatural Magic by C.M. Waggoner are Waggoner’s first two books. They are hilarious, and are in the same vein as Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. A fantastically tongue-in-cheek fantasy world that pokes at our culture’s beliefs and actions through the lens of trolls and magic. I can’t wait for the next!
• Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes came to me by way of Ada Technical Books’ Feminist Science Fiction Book Subscription, which has been sending me amazing books all year. So worth the cost. But back to Chilling Effect. This is an absolutely hilarious romp in space, put me in mind a lot of Firefly/Serenity, if the captain was a Latinx woman who accidentally ends up with a ship full of psychic cats. Yeah. That. It’s a beaut.

But that’s all for now! Go get these books, give them a read, and let me know what you think!

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!

And if you missed it, I’ll post the youtube link when it goes up! If you’re looking for some of the resources I talk about, there are links below. Hope you found it igniting!

• For worksheets to help spur your writing, visit my website.
• For information about volunteering with or bringing your kids to the Bureau of Fearless Ideas writing center in Greenwood, visit their website.
• Feeling motivated? Join millions of people as they try to write a novel in November! (The Seattle chapter mascot is the rubber duck!)
• Want writing classes for adults? Check your local community colleges, adult continuing education, and if you are local to Seattle, Hugo House has an excellent roster of classes.

So I was recently mugged by inspiration while touring Smith Tower here in Seattle (thanks for the tickets, Tiff!). For those of you who have no idea what Smith Tower is, it was once the tallest sky scraper west of the Mississippi (when it was build back in the 19-teens) and it has a lovely and eventful history, including housing an assortment of people associated with rumrunning and bootlegging back during prohibition. If you know much about prohibition in the west OR constitutional law, you probably know the name Roy Olmstead. He was a rumrunner up here in Seattle who was known for being anti-violence and being one of the area’s largest employers during that time period as well as being the first person to challenge wire tapping as a legal source of evidence at the supreme court. However, I am much more interested in his wife, Elise aka Elsie Caroline Parché aka Campbell who was a British WWI intelligence officer before marrying Roy. But when one goes to find information about the ladies of the time period, the research is thin on the ground.

As I was flailing around for resources, I ran across a book that is actually coming out next month: Seattle Prohibition: Bootleggers, Rumrunners, and Graft in the Queen City by Brad Holden. I promptly pre-ordered it, but didn’t want to wait a month to read it (oh the urgency of the muse /s) and instead reached out to Brad on his Instagram account where he posts Seattle relics. He happily agreed to send me over a PDF of his book which I promised to review in return for sending me the advance copy, so here we go! He did specify a completely HONEST review of the book, so I guess I’ll start with what I didn’t like.

I wish there was more on Elise, but considering he was covering all of prohibition in a concise and easy to read book, I can’t be too hard on him for that. I could have also wished for more precise dates on some events as I laid out the timeline my work will cover, but again, not sure those are even available. And that’s the end of what I can complain about.

Holden has put together a beautifully researched and written book about the nature of Prohibition and its criminal element with copious photographs to bring the laundry list of names and events to life. His writing is lively and engaging, which I personally have had difficulty finding in non-fiction works. If you look through my list of reviews here, you’ll see I tend to stick heavily to speculative fiction, so actually enjoying a non-fiction book is something of a departure for me. Most of the other works I’ve found about this era are deadly boring and I find myself skimming and just looking for mentions of the names I am concerned with. Not so with H0lden’s work. It’s a masterfully woven tale that explores all the major players and events in Seattle during the 1920’s and early 30’s and how Prohibition entered and exited the scene.

The book has provided me with a wealth of knowledge about the time period my story will be set in, and the events and people that will serve as a backdrop to the play. It was charming, eloquent, and had a rakish sense of humor, much like the people it featured. If you have a passing interest in Seattle, history, Prohibition, gentleman criminals, or a mix of the above, definitely pick this up for your to-read shelf. And this isn’t just me taking sugar from another local author, I whole-heartedly recommend this intriguing book.

My husband picked up a book from the library, Amber Dawn’s Sub Rosa, and on the way home I read the back out of curiosity. The title, given what I know of the phrase, intrigued me, and the synopsis even more so. I mean, who doesn’t want to read about magical prostitutes?

Little is the newest girl to become a Glory on Sub Rosa, a street that doesn’t exist, full of houses and businesses that cater to live ones (us normie city folks) who need a respite and an experience full of joy to relieve the humdrum life they lead. It’s a novel that explores a lot of interesting topics from love to the importance of memory, and how people experience life and sex. It was riveting, and though there were a lot of racy scenes, none of them felt gratuitous, which is definitely rare. They were all an important part of the plot, and were written with tact and finesse, leaving your experience of them much like what I would expect from a Sub Rosa Glory herself.

The part that stuck most in my mind, though, was the theme of names through the novel. This was the second novel that I’ve read, in a row, where we do not know the protagonist’s given name until nearly the end of the story. Names and naming things plays a huge role in both Alif the Unseen and Sub Rosa and it got me thinking about my own reticence around names. I find myself avoiding using people’s names almost always, unless there is no other way to get their attention in a crowd or something similar, and I wonder why that is. Something to ponder; thanks for the push, Dawn!

Anyway, I highly recommend picking this up to read. It’s a beautiful and glorious word romp through some difficult topics and leaves you different at the end, just like any good trip to Sub Rosa.