Tag: Books

Could I Have Some More, Please?

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations2 Comments

I was hunting for a bookish topic for this week, and as I often do, I went looking through the archives of Top Ten Tuesday from the Broke and the Bookish.  Which led me to one of their past topics: authors I want another book from!

1) L. M. Montgomery, because, obviously–I’ve run out!  But I’d settle for someone publishing the 200 unpublished short stories sitting out of reach in an archive (they’re real, and they’re unpublished!)

2) Edgar Rice Burroughs, not because I’ve run out of his or because I would expect anything new or innovative in one more novel, but–because he never finished John Carter and the Skeleton Men of Jupiter.  I don’t want a new novel from him, I want that new novel. And similarly…

3) William Shakespeare. Love’s Labors Won, anyone?  A play, not a novel, but close enough.

4) Harper Lee, but only in a perfect world where her second novel was not that terrible book I prefer to pretend doesn’t exist.

5) Terry Pratchett, because…Terry Pratchett!  And even though the last Discworld book was satisfying, even though there are others by him I still haven’t read, it still makes me sad that there will be no more new ones.

6) Diana Wynne Jones, because she was the first author who died while I was actively following her work.  And I am sad there will be no more new ones from her.

7) Susan Kay, because she only wrote two and one of them was Phantom and my favorite book ever, so what else might she write?

8) Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, who wrote three wonderful classic Star Trek books, then went off and wrote a bunch with William Shatner that I didn’t like as well.  I’d love to see another one that’s just them.

9) Tamora Pierce, because her last book came out in 2013, and we’ve been waiting ever since for her next Tortall book, which has an ever-receding publishing date (some time 2017, currently).

10) Robin McKinley, because her last book came out in 2013, and we’re still waiting for her promised sequel to Pegasus.  From what I can gather from reading her blog, she’d quite like to have a new book out too.

What author would you like to see another book from?  Do you have hope it will happen, or is it just a wish?

Book Review: Sidewise in Time

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews, Science FictionLeave a comment

My parallel universe reading has taken me back into some classic science fiction, to read what I believe is the very first published example of a parallel universe story.  At least, that’s what the author’s introduction and Wikipedia say!  Sidewise in Time and Other Scientific Adventures by Murray Leinster was an excellent collection of shockingly prescient stories from the 1930s and 40s, leaving me wondering why I’ve never heard of this author before!

“Sidewise in Time” is a novella, so I’m counting it as a read for my challenge.  It features a collision between universes (I think—it’s technobabble), such that suddenly different patches of parallel universes are aligned.  So as you move geographically across land, you also pass into patches of other universes.  And just to make it even messier, nothing’s settled so the universes are still moving.  The story mostly follows one group of explorers moving through portions of Virginia and in and out of universes, with intermittent sections on other chaos happening elsewhere.

It’s a good story in its own right, but I was fascinated by how complete this idea of parallel universes was, here in its first incarnation.  Leinster has fully established the concept of different occurrences in the past spawning new universes, with subsequent different results in the present. Continue reading “Book Review: Sidewise in Time” →

Blog Hop: Gifting Books

On By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop5 Comments

book blogger hopThis week’s Book Blogger Hop question: Do you give books as gifts?

I do tend to default towards books and movies as gifts…those are typically the only things I want, and that’s what I think of giving too!  I give my parents books for Christmas frequently, and my book club does a book white elephant swap every year.  Another group of my friends also does a white elephant most years, and last year I brought a copy of Pratchett’s Hogfather to both exchanges.  Well-received at both, because my friends are awesome.

Despite all that, my instinctive response is that books can actually be a very hard thing to give.  Tastes are so particular!  Predicting what book someone would like is more challenging than I think people often believe.  (“Oh, you like fantasy, you will like any fantasy book!”  And…no.  Not really.)

I also think a downside to ebooks is that it removes the option of giving or loaning books to a friend.  I mean, yes, there are ways to still do that with ebooks, but you can’t unwrap a digital book.  And it’s more meaningful when a friend entrusts another with their own physical copy of a book.

Do you give books as gifts?  Do you struggle with finding the right one for the right person?

Interview with the Author of Sunborn Rising

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations1 Comment

Today I’m happy to offer an interview with Aaron Safronoff, author Sunborn Rising (read my review here).  First, a bit about Aaron, and then we’ll get into some questions!

Aaron Safronoff 2Aaron Safronoff is the author of the Discovery Award winning science fiction novel, Spire. Since his debut, he’s published a sequel, Fallen Spire, and a novella of literary fiction, Evening Breezes.

Safronoff’s diverse background includes the formal study of computer science, bio-chemistry, and culinary arts. However, most of his career has been in the videogame industry in quality, production, and design.

Today, Safronoff is the co-founder and Chief Storyteller of Neoglyphic Entertainment, and is busy writing his fifth novel, the second installment of the Sunborn Rising series.

Aaron: Thank you, Cheryl, for inviting me to answer questions for you and Tales of the Marvelous, on this virtual tour. Fun stuff 🙂 .

Cheryl: What advice would you give writers as they’re starting out?

Aaron: Get outside once in awhile! Seriously, your exploration of the world shapes who you are, and nothing will inform your characters better than having a breadth of personal experience from which to pull. Learn about something other than writing, unless you want to write about writing. Continue reading “Interview with the Author of Sunborn Rising” →

Book Review: Orphan Train

On By cherylmahoneyIn Historical Fiction, Reviews2 Comments

I love it when a book I picked up on impulse turns out to be excellent.  I stumbled across Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline in my library’s audiobook section and it turned out to be a gem.

The story begins with Molly Ayer, seventeen and about to age out of the foster home system.  She’s bounced from home to home for years, rootless and trusting no one.  Enforced community service brings her together with Vivian Daly, a wealthy, elderly woman who needs her enormous attic cleaned.  But the attic holds all the memories of Vivian’s life, of when she was a nine-year-old orphan in the 1920s, sent west on an orphan train to find a new family.

The book is in alternating storylines, with the bulk of it on Vivian’s memories–or rather, Irish-born Niamh, who acquired new names as she was taken into different families.  Niamh’s story is frequently heart-breaking, as she bounces from adult to adult who won’t or can’t take care of her.  She encounters terrible callousness, occasional brutality, and a few sparks of kindness.  Her perseverance and will to survive is powerful.  For all the bleakness, she does eventually find safety, if not a fairy tale ending.

I loved the way Molly and Niamh/Vivian’s stories are paired.  On a surface level, they’re both orphans who passed from family to family.  On a deeper level, that has caused them both to struggle with trust and relationships.  In Vivian we see how her tragedies and her fears caused her to accept a life that, while not unhappy, was not all that it could have been.  The much younger Molly still has a chance to learn and grow and seek something different for herself–although there is a nice piece at the end suggesting that it’s not too late for Vivian to find new meaning either. Continue reading “Book Review: Orphan Train” →