spatz | Entries tagged with books

Oops, I read this last month but just rediscovered the txt file I made with some random notes/thoughts. Presented in no particular order:

( spoilers )

Dang, Murderbot fandom absolutely exploded this year. Last time I really checked in on the fic situation, there were maybe a few dozen fics? ...Actually, no, let's be ~~nerdy~~ precise about this: the last fic I recognize is from Yuletide 2019. From the publication of ASR in May 2017 to the end of 2019, there are 53 fics on AO3. From 2020, there are also exactly 53. But just in the six months of 2021 so far, there are *223 fics*. Nice! That's too few datapoints to call it exponential growth, but it sure looks like exponential growth.

I also got sidetracked doing surname research, because a) I like figuring out more of Preservation's heritage and b) I like being able to picture the characters, and Murderbot is almost totally uninterested in describing people, so we gotta take our hints where we find them

( names )

So the upside of not having power is that I finally sat down and read my shiny hardback copy of Winter's Orbit! (The bit in the mountains was very #relatable, lemme tell you) I loved it, but I had some thoughts about how it's changed since I read the first version The Course of Honour on AO3 (as a WIP even! That was delicious agony waiting for updates, let me tell you).

( spoilers )

marthawells posted: Murderbot and ART interview

This is EVEN FUNNIER after reading Network Effect!

marthawells posted: Murderbot Ebook Giveaway

Tor.com is giving away the four Murderbot novellas in anticipation of Network Effect coming out on May 5th! If you haven't read them yet, I highly recommend them!

Starting with the THREE awesome stories I received this year!!!

(Silver in the Wood) Butterflies - a gorgeous Henry POV set post-canon, featuring strong feelings about stories (of course) and some sweet, playful Tobias/Henry.

(Silver in the Wood) Conversations on Trains and Libraries - in which Tobias is rusty at life outside the woods as well as human connections, but he’s trying. <3

(Banlieue 13) Dépaysement - anyone who has ever mentioned parkour within hearing range of me will know how much I love these ridiculous, gay af action movies, and this is a FANTASTIC post-canon story with Damien and Leïto working together and (naturally) falling in love. Worldbuilding! Banter *and* unspoken understanding! Trust and teamwork! PLUS the infamous undercover butt-window dress!!! I request this fandom every Yuletide, and I was SO DELIGHTED to get this as a treat. So delighted, that I’m rather suspicious this person knows me....

And continuing in fandom alphabetical order:

(Band Sinister) Part Per Cross - Corvin has a much better idea for what to do with virgins than sacrifice them. aka post-canon polyamory smut!

(Charm of Magpies - Jackdaw) anonymous and sweet - Perfect little coda for Jonah and Ben, domestic and a little magical and very them.

(Crown Duel) sweet basil and ivy - neat pair of outside POVs on Vidanric and Meliara, first from Savona being asked to help Mel at court, and then from the Hill Folk post-canon.

(Goblin Emperor) Light A Mourner’s Candle - in which Maia finally gets a chaplain, and it’s very wrenching but cathartic.

(Sky High) Smoke Signals - totally cute and surprisingly plotty AU where Warren doesn’t go to Sky High, but starts doing vigilante stuff on his own. Identity porn! Faily teenage romance! Arson!

Dear Yuletide Author,

Hurrah, it's Yuletide! I love this exchange - this is my tenth year doing it - and I'm always so happy that you, dear stranger, also love one of these tiny fandoms and want to share that love.

( General Likes & Dislikes )

( Fandoms: Nirvana in Fire, Banlieue 13, Sins of the Cities, Blancanieves, Silver in the Wood )

Thank you for writing for me, dear stranger, and good luck! If there's anything that's really confusing you about my prompts, or you have a thrilling plot bunny that really inspires you but you're not sure I'll like or not, or whatever, please feel free to get in touch with inmyriadbits (DW, Tumblr). She's my twin sister, so she knows all my preferences and most of these fandoms and can guide you - and will probably be delighted to keep the secret from me and then tell me all about it after reveals ;)

( May recs )

( June recs )

( AO3 Bingo for 5 million works )

Men Do Not Sham Convulsion by sour_idealist (Brick, Brendan/Laura)

Sometimes these things happen, in a few hours in someone else’s bedroom when everyone’s on the edge of cracking - or maybe cracked already - and stupid impulses take over. None of it really matters.

Missing scene from the movie and viciously insightful Laura character study.

to finish the thaw by addandsubtract (Brick, Brendan/Brain preslash)

When Brain regains consciousness, his head is throbbing, and his left eye is swollen shut. His throat tastes like blood. His first thought is, I guess this is what it feels like to be Brendan, and he almost laughs.

Post-series story where Brain is in college and Brendan shows up like a stray cat, and then Brain gets in some trouble. There’s a lot left delicately unsaid in just the right way.

my crown is called contentment by @fahye (Any Old Diamonds, Jerry/Alec)

The oval-cut diamonds were obscenely large, hypnotically bright, calling up a delicious mixture of guilt and wonder and covetousness and unease that Alec kept sipping at like a man unaccustomed to strong spirits.

In which fayhe (our hero) fulfills Jerry’s promise about fucking Alec in nothing but diamonds. An Important and Necessary Coda to the book. :D

The Distant Sky by fallintosanity (Supernatural/Books of the Raksura, gen)

Moon is supposed to be avoiding Consolation, but a mishap during a visit to Opal Night puts Consolation in danger. Moon and Malachite have to navigate a city stranger than anything either of them have ever seen to rescue her.
Sam and Dean, newly reunited after Dean’s miraculous return from Purgatory, investigate reports of mysterious disapperances and cattle theft near Cleveland. But the case turns out to be far more complex than they thought when an enemy they believed dead resurfaces, and they must ally with strange and dangerous creatures to protect all of Cleveland from their common enemy.

A wonderfully old-school portal crossover! Great characterization for both the Winchesters and the Raksura, some excellent action sequences, and lots of fun watching the Raksura be largely unfazed by ending up in another universe. Many bonus points for writing a genuinely terrifying but layered Malachite.

Four Days by @mumblingsage (Mad Max, Max/Furiosa)

There are things you stop wanting after the end of the world. Wanting is vulnerability, and Max can’t afford to be vulnerable out in the Wasteland. But when he returns to the Citadel, he has a lot to revisit. Even if admitting what he wants might break him.

I couldn’t believe I hadn’t read this before, because it’s so excellent? And probably everyone has already read it, but it was a WIP for several years, now complete. Max ends up at the Citadel for four days while his car is repaired, and the author absolutely nailed the slow-build nearly-wordless relationship between Max and Furiosa, as well as some great post-movie worldbuilding and Max’s relationships with the four sisters.

Whelp, I really fell off the Snowflake Challenge bandwagon, but there's still time to go running after it belatedly. I have practice at that! But for today, I just did my monthly check back through my recent bookmarks, and realized I'd forgotten to do that last month. So here are my favorites from two months in a row. I realized while compiling them that I was doing a bit of KonMari at it - I read and bookmarked several dozen stories, but the ones that make these posts are the ones that make me go "Yes, that one!" as I scrolled through.

In Time, Once Again by 擂文 , translation by katiirabbi (Nirvana in Fire, Lin Shu/Jingyan)

When Xiao Jingyan finds himself transported back to his nineteen-year-old self after living a long life as emperor, he is determined to stop the Chiyan conspiracy from happening. But in the attempt to change the wheels of fortune, what will he lose and what will he gain? This is a story of perseverance, love, and sacrifice.

If you watched NIF and went, ‘Gosh, wouldn’t it be great to read a story where Jingyan suffered even more, at length, but also there’s a happy ending?’ then this is the story for you. I also had a nerdy good time reading the translator’s notes.

Turn, Archer, and Heed the Wild Hunt by Mhalachai (MCU/Narnia, gen)

In the summer of 1983, Clint Barton goes to live with his new foster mom in the middle of nowhere, Iowa. Now he just needs to figure out how negotiate this new life… and also what’s up with all the strange things happening in the night.

In which Susan Pevensie teaches Clint archery and gives him a home. Fantastic and heartachey.

Hermione Granger’s Hogwarts Crammer for Delinquents on the Run by waspabi (Harry Potter, Draco/Harry)

‘You’re a wizard, Harry’ is easier to hear from a half-giant when you’re eleven, rather than from some kids on a tube platform when you’re seventeen and late for work.

The initial premise - that Harry got lost from the magical world, and is tracked down in London circa Year 7 by a ragtag group led by Hermione - is a stretch, honestly, but once accepted this is an awesome read, full of humor and nineties period detail and a lot of orphaned teenagers finding a new family together.

Things I Should Have Remembered by SomewhereBeyondReality (Anastasia, Anya/Dimitri)

“You were born into this world of glittering jewels and fine titles. But I wonder if this is what you really want.“ The problem with being a long-lost princess, Anya discovers, is that it means you haven’t been a princess for a long time.

Gorgeous little character study dealing with Anya’s culture shock in a series of missing scenes at her grandmother’s house in Paris.

running wild with vengeance by smilebackwards (A Study in Emerald, gen)

For every monarchy, there is a revolution in waiting.

Sharply creepy for such a tiny piece.

Memories of Unreal Things by 7iris (Temeraire, Laurence/Tharkay)

There was a room, and a pallet inside it; a small torch burned low in a socket upon the wall. A man lay upon the cot, his face bruised and battered, his hands curled against his chest bloody, and Laurence did not know him.
Or, a little part of Blood of Tyrants goes differently.

A neatly written AU with a spot-on Tharkay voice. I love it when authors from old fandoms dovetail back into one of mine.

Handmaiden by Tequila_Mockingbird (The Curse of Chalion, gen)

First through the stone arches, with a self-supplied fanfare of unladylike but triumphant whoops, rode a pair of young women on blowing horses belly-splashed with mud.

Great portrait of Betriz, from the start of her friendship with Iselle through Dondo’s death.

Dear Yuletide Author,

Thank you so much in advance for writing me a story! I love that we both share one of these tiny, beloved fandoms, and I'm excited to read what you come up with for me.

( General likes/dislikes )

( Fandoms: The Breakfast Club, Nirvana in Fire, Murderbot, B13 )

Thank you again, and good luck with your writing! If there's anything that's really confusing or stymying you about my prompts, or you have a thrilling plot bunny that really inspires you but you're not sure I'll like or not, or whatever, please feel free to get in touch with inmyriadbits (DW, Tumblr). She's my twin sister, so she knows all my preferences and all of these fandoms and can guide you - and will probably be delighted to keep the secret from me and then tell me all about it after reveals ;)

Dear Yuletide Author,

OMG YULETIDE IS HEEEERE!!! Thank you, fellow fan, for loving one of these little fandoms enough to write me fic for it. ♥ You are welcome to ignore my optional details, of course, but if you like having some hints and prompts and guidelines, read on!

( General preferences )

( Fandom specifics )

If there's anything that's really confusing or stymying you about my prompts, please feel free to PM inmyriadbits (DW, Tumblr). She's my twin sister, so she knows all my preferences and can guide you - and will probably be delighted to keep the secret from me and then tell me all about it after reveals ;)

Today, I took my 93-year-old grandmother to vote for Wendy Davis and Leticia Van de Putte. ♥ (this was actually a tad surprising, since she is *also* the kind of person who listens to Rush Limbaugh, but apparently the abortion debate cranked her off enough to take up the opposition. Atta girl, Granny.)

My other pasttimes lately have been avoiding my email and other forms of communication with people while watching the entirety of Lewis, and consequently falling prey to all the Oxford scenery and doing my annual re-read of Gaudy Night. I haven't even considered Yuletide yet. Ack.

I continued on to re-read Murder Must Advertise, which is my favorite of the non-Harriet novels, and was struck once again by how acutely, almost depressingly perceptive Dorothy Sayers was. Her cynical observations about advertising still ring true 80-odd years later, as do vast swathes of Gaudy Night -- the discussions about women and education, the scene where Annie's daughter proclaims her intention to run a garage and drive a motorcycle, Harriet's thoughts about partnership, profession, and marriage.... Aside from loving the cases and the shenanigans and Peter's piffle, I get something new out of her books every time.

Anyway. Lewis! ( spoilers through S7 (aka S8 US, because PBS is dumb) )

Crossposts: http://spatz.livejournal.com/123811.html

Meme from

ignipes: List ten books that have stayed with you in some way. Don’t take but a few minutes, and don’t think too hard — they don’t have to be the "right" or "great" works, just the ones that have touched you.

Like Kali, most of these are from childhood:

Dinotopia by James Gurney: I wanted to live in Dinotopia SO MUCH as a child, I wrote a poem about it in my diary. Literally. And to this day, I love the imagination and adventure and camaraderie of it, the way the island is not really a utopia but actually pretty complex and constantly negotiating old ways and new faces, how science is valued by the protagonists, and the stunning art.

Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren: Who doesn't want to be Pippi when they don't grow up? Funny, bold, adventurous, and most of all kind, as loyal to her friends as they are to her, even when it involves sailing to the middle of nowhere and fighting off pirates with coconut projectiles.

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli: I'm still kind of heartstuck on how this book was partly epic and mythologizing, but also quietly realistic about poverty and racism and homelessness and loneliness.

Bridge to Terebithia by Katherine Paterson: Well, this one scarred me for life. I remember being SO MAD at my older sister for giving it to me, because it made me cry so much.

Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers: Still my favorite romance ever, even if it is ostensibly a detective novel. Also makes me want to learn and read and create, which is the highest compliment I can give anything, IMO.

Dealing With Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede: Formative feminist fairytale remix, plus funny as hell. We literally read our copies until they fell apart, and I still have the taped-up remnants.

Sheepfarmer's Daughter by Elizabeth Moon: So the end of this trilogy got bafflingly Christ-image-y, but the first two were solid gold in terms of women being flawed yet pragmatically kickass as a career, plus surviving trauma and related h/c.

The Truce at Bakura by Kathy Tyers: Really this is a stand-in for the whole Star Wars Expanded Universe, but it was my first exposure to the idea that the story doesn't have to stop at the end of the movie. Also, there were soul-stealing lizard aliens. Who doesn't like soul-stealing lizard aliens?

The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss: Another book I literally read to pieces as a child, ridiculous ecology and all. Honorable mention to Island of the Blue Dolphins and Hatchet in the category of novels about surviving in the wilderness in isolation -- but I will want a treehouse to live in until the day I die, so SFR won.

The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley: Nngh, yes, flawed awesome ladies and their destined but hard-won badassery and their equally kickass and conflicted love interests who can't stop with the hearteyes. These are things I like. Also, magical swords and nearly-magical highly-trained horses. Yes.

Crossposts: http://spatz.livejournal.com/120916.html

I finally got off my ass (or, er, on it, rather?) and read A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan, and then discovered to my delight that the sequel comes out tomorrow. \o/!

Universe, this totally makes up for the spoiled milk in my cereal and tea this morning. I forgive you.

I have to say, aside from my soul-deep 'You are my people!' response to Isabella's mix of nerdy mindset, intrepid adventuring, and amusing narration (her 'demented practicality,' as she puts it), it was SO GREAT to read a novel that was basically Jane Goodall a la a Victorian-esque fantasy world with dragons, wryly reminiscing as an old lady about her youthful adventures.

(I should probably confess here that I was such an enormous Jane Goodall fan that I convinced my GT group in third grade to write a play based on her life for a class project. It was never performed, thankfully, but we did manage a truly awful filk of 'George of the Jungle', which is preserved somewhere in my files along with the neon-highlighted, handwritten-on-notebook-paper script. I was also planning to be Jane Goodall for Halloween that year, but I couldn't find appropriate shorts, IIRC.)

To sum up, my inner third-grader was ecstatic, and my current feminist brain wants to buy four copies for my cousin and grab any passing fangirls to gush about the unsentimental romance in the novel. So many hearts.

I also want to re-read Emilie and the Hollow World now, since the sequel for *that* ALSO comes out tomorrow. I already asked for it for my birthday, so I can't buy it myself. Hmph. Poor planning on my part.

I neglected to talk about it when I originally read it since I was in Chicago for VividCon, but that book is also highly recommended. I made the silly mistake of bringing it with me on the trip, forgetting that Martha Wells is a ninja master of relentlessly paced, edge-of-your-seat action sequences, so I stayed up late to finish it after my flight.

Fortunately, it's a YA novel, so I was only up until 1 AM instead of 3 AM. :D

Emilie was a delight - far more of a natural adventurer than science-driven Isabella - and apparently grows up to look like Lyndie Greenwood, for the Sleepy Hollow fans out there. I'm looking forward to more of her getting into trouble. ♥

Crossposts: http://spatz.livejournal.com/115301.html

Yuletide reveals are up, yay! I wrote gimel for

donutsweeper, a quiet little Arrow team story about Oliver and Diggle crashing Felicity's Hanukkah celebration. Many, many thanks to

inmyriadbits for the beta job of awesome, and to

arsenicjade for doing a last-minute Judaism-pick for me. ♥

I got three awesome stories this year, which was a new and delightful experience!!!

( gifts: Lockout, B13 )

I also beta'd three fics this year, all of which were awesome.

( betas: Bletchley Circle, Arrow, & Curse of Chalion )

Crossposts: http://spatz.livejournal.com/114147.html

Love and Marriage (POI) by

astolat
In which Reese and Finch get married for financial reasons - except really not, as anyone might guess. I am deeply amused that they *never* actually talk about the whole 'oh hey, we're in love' thing, and yet it's super obvious. I love this show. Also, the scene in the Rose Garden *killed* me in the best way.

The Incident of the Fellow in the Fellow's Garden by azdak
Pitch-perfect crossover between the Lord Peter Wimsey novels and The Man From UNCLE in which Peter is invited to Cambridge in 1955 to investigate a suicide that might be murder, and Illya Kuryakin is the prime suspect. The author nails Peter's piffle and insight in equal measure.

Death Star was an inside job
Star Wars video parody of Loose Change, a 9/11 conspiracy video. *Hilarious*, and I'm irresistably reminded of Holmes' hobby on Elementary.

It Takes Planning, Caution to Avoid Being 'It'
A group of friends have been playing a game of tag for 23 years. And the WSJ wrote an article on it. Yessssss, delicious comedy. An illustrative scene:Mr. Konesky tiptoed toward Mr. Dennehy's bedroom, burst through the door and flipped on the light. A bleary-eyed Mr. Dennehy looked up as his now-wife yelled "Run, Brian!" Mr. Konesky recalls. "There was nowhere for Brian to run."

Crossposts: http://spatz.livejournal.com/100097.html

What are you reading now?:
Busman's Honeymoon, the last of the Lord Peter Wimsey books. (Well. Last written by Sayers. I have not read the Jill Patton Walsh books on...everyone's recommendation.) I've been re-reading all the Harriet books this month -- mostly for Gaudy Night, which continues to be one of my favorite books and romances of all time but does require all of Peter and Harriet's rich history to be fully appreciated. I always end up slowly working through Busman's Honeymoon once I reach it, because it starts off slow and meandering and sweet, and I know it's the last one ever.

What did you just finish?:
Cinder, by Marissa Meyer. Alas, slightly disappointing despite the premise (post-apocalyptic cyborg Cinderella!), partly because I didn't realize it was actually the first in a quartet and therefore cliffhangs, argh, and also because the politics were annoyingly facile, especially in contrast to the complex emotional dynamics of Cinder's stepfamily. Cinder herself was awesome, so I'll probably pick up the others to see what happens to her. And I'm totally a sucker for ( spoilers ) And cyborgs. And no-nonsense mechanics. And fairy tale retellings.

Crossposts: http://spatz.livejournal.com/96841.html

*sigh* Looks like the computer might be down for the count permanently. At least everything is backed up, save a few notepad files, and I rescued my Yuletide fic (such as it is) to Google Docs shortly before the end.

So, having been forcibly freed from my laptop, I went to see Cloud Atlas and Lincoln, and read Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, finally. Cloud Atlas and Lincoln were both beautiful, though I came out desperately wanting fic for Cloud Atlas, and having a few thoughts in that direction - after Yuletide, maybe.

As for ( Captain Vorpatril's Alliance )

Yeah, that's all I got. Time for my brain to go to bed, I think.

Crossposts: http://spatz.livejournal.com/95258.html

Oh, god, all the busy. Got sick over Thanksgiving weekend (thanks a lot,

inmyriadbits), then the call center job went insane post-Black Friday, as per usual - at least they feed us for free now that they've taken away our lunch breaks? - and I realized that I am technically working 7 days a week at three separate jobs (call center, employee massage, private practice massage). SO TIRED.

But on Sunday, I finally got a chance to sit down and read my copy of

marthawells's The Siren Depths! I've had it since the 17th (delivered while at RenFest, not funny, universe), but I knew I'd want an open night because, as usual, I sat down and didn't stop reading until I was done. I kept getting up for water/snacks and it felt like the clock was a time lapse photo - 9:16pm, 10:34pm, 12:40am. Whoops.

For those of you who haven't read the Books of the Raksura: they're awesome. Moon, the main character, is a shapeshifter was orphaned at a young age and doesn't know who or what he is at first. When The Cloud Roads (go look at the gorgeous cover, trust me) starts, he's spent most of his life hiding in his humanoid form, but the rest of the time he looks like this. LOOKIT THOSE WINGS. Pretty, right? Unfortunately, he resembles a race of horrible sociopathic predators called the Fell, so he's forced to hide who he is and has been systematically betrayed, abandoned and attacked since he was a child. Despite this, he is an utter sweetheart. Well, underneath all the trust issues and paranoia and habitual lying and superior combat skills. I'm really fond of his disembowling talons. Shut up.

The first two books involve Moon finding his people, the Raksura, and his continuing adventures with the colony. The Raksura are a wonderfully alien race while still being entirely relatable, with a tendency to be as crotchety and opinionated as they are communal and gossipy. The world is filled with a huge array of other weird and wonderful races who tend to put their settlements in odd places. Cities aren't built next to waterfalls, but on them, or carved inside ancient statues and into giant trees, or set on the backs of sea monsters.

I really really want to live in a mountain-tree. Not that that's relevant. But I really do.

Martha writes a hell of an action scene, and does, repeatedly, but I love all the emotional hell she puts Moon through over the series, and his slow and never-easy adaptation to living with other people and - so help him - eventually trusting and falling in love with some of them. It's all the emotion hurt/comfort and found family you could want, with awesome world-building and badass action to round it out.

( And shit went *down* in this last book.... )

Shit, now I want to go re-read the whole series. Noooooo, I need to sleep....

Crossposts: http://spatz.livejournal.com/94851.html

I love libraries and librarians, but sometimes I just really appreciate the self-checkout machines. I can't imagine what someone would think about my latest haul of books - possibly that I was planning a revenge-flick-style sniper attack on someone who traumatized me, rather than the correct answer (i.e. writing fic about Clint Barton).

Crossposts: http://spatz.livejournal.com/93727.html

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Uffish Thought

Entries tagged with books

Murderbot: Fugitive Telemetry

Winter's Orbit

Signal Boost: Murderbot and ART interview

Signal Boost: Murderbot Ebook Giveaway

Yuletide recs

Dear Yuletide Author

Recs backlog

February recs

November & December recs

Dear Yuletide Author

Dear Yuletide Author

virtuous but tired

book meme

ladies, dragons, and science!

Yuletide gifts & reveal

today sucked, but the internet doesn't

Wednesday reading meme

tearing myself away from the internet

The Siren Depths

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