Book Review: Sheine Lende, by Darcie Little Badger
I happily devoured the nearly 400-page novel within one day, although I had to stay up a few hours late to finish it. I just couldn’t put it down.
398. Tracy Deonn (a.k.a. legendQuest) — Legendborn
https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/sand-f-episode-398-tracy-deonn/SandF_Episode_398_Tracy_Deonn.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSSecret societies, challenged legacies, and creepy shadow monsters, oh my! Shaun Duke and Jen Zink tackle Arthurian myths and Carolina legacies in this packed interview with Legendborn author Tracy Deonn! Together, they talk about Tracy’s exploration and challenge of U.S. legacies and secret societies, the personal aspects she infused into the book, the power of grief and racism, and even why she loves seaQuest DSV so darn much. And much much more! Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy the episode!
Signal Boost #56 — C.S.E. Cooney (Desdemona and the Deep) and Carlos Hernadez (Sal and Gabi Break the Universe)
https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/sandfsignalboost56csecooneyandcarloshernandez/SandF–Signal_Boost_56–CSE_Cooney_and_Carlos_Hernandez.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSS In today’s episode of Signal Boost, Shaun Duke interviews the fantabulawesome C.S.E. Cooney about Desdemona and the Deep and the wonderrifical Carlos Hernandez about Sal and Gabi Break the Universe! Unlike other Signal Boost episodes, this one features both guests on the same mic! And that means in addition to talking about Cuban food, the politics of wealthy society (and goblins), their unique journeys to publication, and the powerful themes of loss and change in each of their works, among other things, you get some delicious banter between these incredible writers! We hope you enjoy the episode!
Book Review: The Wise and the Wicked by Rebecca Podos
Rebecca Podos’s The Wise and the Wicked is a love letter to the struggles of a young girl as she tries to be herself in the middle of a dysfunctional family. Chock full of magic, sisterhood, and love, The Wise and the Wicked was a fast read that caught me from the very beginning. I found myself really feeling for the main character, Ruby, a 16-year-old who doesn’t expect much out of life. While I finished this book fairly quickly, it’s one that will stick with me because of its well-written, fascinating characters and its open and unpredictable ending. If you like books with strong female characters who take charge of their own destiny while also doing their best to be normal teenagers who fight and fall in love, this is definitely one for you.
Book Review: The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie
Pride month might be over, but it’s never too late for lesbian pirates and kaiju. However, don’t expect fluffy YA romance from The Abyss Surrounds Us. This is a post-apocalyptic YA sci-fi that follows a tradition of tackling darker topics. Where The Hunger Games looks at living under an oppressive regime and In the Dark Spaces addresses being the sole survivor of a massacre, The Abyss Surrounds Us tells a tale of emotional manipulation and abuse. It begins with climate change. The oceans have risen, the flood walls of New Orleans have fallen, and the governments of the world have split into smaller territories. Ostensibly, these splits were intended to make it easier to protect these smaller population clusters. However, some people always fall through the cracks, leading to a pirate problem in the NeoPacific. Cassandra Leung is a teenager from the Southern Republic of California. Her family is part of the world’s solution to the plague of pirates. They breed and train Reckoners: giant, genetically-engineered sea creatures created to protect their bonded ship. The Reckoners have proved a very useful solution thus far, albeit one that relies on a delicate ecological balance. The creation of Reckoners is carefully monitored so that enough food can be engineered to feed these monsters without disrupting the rest of the ocean’s ecology. In order to preserve both this ecological balance and the political power balance, Reckoner handlers are expected to protect the secrets of their industry with their life, if necessary.
Book Review: A SECRET GUIDE TO FIGHTING ELDER GODS edited by Jennifer Brozek
The return of the Lovecraft mythos to fiction and popular culture has been a burgeoning tendency in modern day fiction and culture. From Charles Stross’ Laundry Files to plush Cthulhus, the idea of the Mythos is more well known in popular culture than ever. There has also been a surge and rise in the popularity of YA as a subgenre, with teenagers and young adults navigating some rather perilous territory. It makes sense to me that the perilous territory that YA protagonists face might include encounters with Deep Ones, the Dreamlands, Ghouls, and the other terrors inherent in the Mythos. In addition, many of the stories in Lovecraft’s oeuvre are centered around familial concerns — learning one’s heritage, coming to terms with it, rejecting it, or even being possessed by it. Of course, such family dramas can underpin many YA stories, too. Thus, in A Secret Guide to Fighting Elder Gods, editor Jennifer Brozek marries these two concepts with a selection of stories from a wide range of authors. Like any anthology, the quality and interest of an individual story and author varies for me. Some of the stories stood out for me and showed the promise and possibilities of the form. Overall, I found that the authors and the stories embraced and lived up to the challenge of introducing YA protagonists and themes into the Mythos. The Mythos, upon reflection and after reading these stories, seems to me now like a natural sub-subgenre of fantasy for YA writers to consider.
