Book review: The Blood of Four Gods and Other Stories, by Jamie Lackey

The adjectives that come to mind when I start describing the stories in Jamie Lackey’s latest collection — “graceful”, “elegant”, “accomplished”, “economical”, “beautiful” — all trouble me a bit, because they all come straight out of the 19th century’s idealization of Womanhood, but I just can’t help it. They all apply, and to every one […]

Book Review: Daughters of Forgotten Light by Sean Grigsby

Daughters of Forgotten Light by Sean Grigsby Cover

Sean Grigsby’s Daughters of Forgotten Light uses a ’70s movie sensibility for the story of a women’s prison in SPAAACE and the story of their struggle to survive and escape their fate. On a distant planet reached by a wormhole, a colony has been turned into one for unsocial women. Unsocial men are easy to […]

Book Review: Gift of Griffins by V.M. Escalada

Kerida Nast, bound to the Griffin Weimerk, and desperately trying to save her kingdom from invasion, returns in Gift of Griffins, sequel to Halls of Law. Gift of Griffins introduces a new major character even as the plight of Kerida and her allies and friends deepens under the boot of overseas invasion. When last we […]

Book Review: Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Spinning Silver first appeared as a novella in The Starlit Wood edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe. It has been expanded into a novel that will delight lovers of fairytale retellings. The story is based on Rumplestiltskin. Miryem comes from a family of moneylenders, some more successful than others. Her father’s generous nature makes him […]

Bedtime Stories: Sleep Well, Siba & Saba

Bedtime Stories is a new column that will highlight Children’s Books with a diverse, global perspective. Forgetful sisters Siba and Saba are always losing something. Sandals, slippers, sweaters — you name it, they lost it. When the two sisters fall asleep each night, they dream about the things they have lost that day. Until, one […]

Book Review: Creatures of Light by Emily B. Martin

Emily B. Martin’s trilogy of queens comes to an end with Creatures of Light, a breathtaking finale that ties up loose ends and left me aching for more even as I celebrated such a glorious end. I call this series a trilogy of queens because each book is written from the perspective of a different, […]