Showing posts with label fantasy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fantasy. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Currently Reading on this Cold Day...

I'm sure everyone is experiencing the freezing temperatures and snow and ice. I also hope everyone is bundled up, safe and warm. With, of course, a book. I decided to continue forward with my "No New Friends" TBR–as well as my initiative reading list–by knocking out the second (and perhaps final) book in M. H. Boroson's The Daoshi Chronicles series. This is an opportunity to clear a series off my list, as well as achieve my fantasy reading of the month (no pressure still).

So as I sit here and wait for my job to send out a message that we'll be closed again for another day on Wednesday (the roads are absolutely awful out here), I'm just staying warm and enjoying myself reading about a Daoist priestess in San Francisco's 1899 solving a mystical crime involving a girl who has plants growing out of her face.

Yeah... I know... crazy. But so, so intriguing.




Sunday, July 23, 2023

Ultimate Mercedes Lackey Fantasy Reading Haul

 

I had zero business buying all these Mercedes Lackey books I found in a used bookstore out of town. But, as we all see, I bought them anyway. Mercedes Lackey isn’t even all that of a fantasy writer to me; her books always seem to be missing something or another. However, these are books I’ve been kinda-sorta hunting around for a while now. So, I struck gold–as far as I’m concerned. I guess the thing is that once I get my reading spirit into a certain something, I tend to devour and go for all it has to offer.

But my GOD do I also just love these early-to-mid nineties Mercedes Lackey fantasy covers as well. They, quite literally, begged my ass to read them. So here I am. And here’s what I came across and grabbed…


Tuesday, May 9, 2023

T. A. Barron's Adventures of Kate 20 Years Later Re-Reading

Here it is and here I go. Finally, finally doing a rereading (because I’m not great at doing so). Though this is a twenty-years-later type of rereading. While I won’t get into all these long “historical” details, I simply must express how–for whatever reason–I suddenly wanted to read T. A. Barron’s three Kate Gordon fantasy books. Two decades later, by the way. Anyway, I’ve held on to them for so long and am now ready to answer this strange calling. So… here we go…

The reading order is:


  1. Heartlight

  2. The Ancient One (my personal favorite/introduction and one I read for the first time years before the others)

  3. The Merlin Effect


So the month of May is dedicated to going on adventures with Kate again. From the distant planet in her physics journey in Heartlight. Her falling deep into the past wrapped in an indigenous-themed tragedy in The Ancient One. And, finally, the deep sea quest found in The Merlin Effect.


I’m not interested in examining how these middle-grade books that were published in the earlier 90s stand today. Nor gauged them for how much I’ve grown as a reader. I’m here for just pure, relaxing, fun, ADVENTURES.




Friday, September 2, 2022

#WEEKENDREADS: Half-Resurrection Blues by Daniel Jose Older

In all my latest desires to dive back into reading urban fantasy, I've finally fallen onto my copy of Half-Resurrection Blues by Daniel Jose Older. It's the first book in this Bone Street Rumba series (two other books were released), featuring the first-person narrative of a Puerto Rican man named Carlos Delacruz. Carlos is half-dead. Or what they call an inbetweener. He works for an organization called Council of the Dead. I'm going to spare you and myself in trying to round out and encapsulate what each "inbetweener" and "Council of the Dead" conceive of. Just know Carlos is like an agent of sorts ushered out to put a stop to supernatural problems. In the case of the first book, he has to stop a sorcerer who is also an inbetweener. As well as put a stop to a slew of ngks attacks. Ngks are a phylum of imps. Only they cause plagues and a host of other fatal disturbances. When we’re first introduced to one, it’s actually rather creepy.

I’m 100 pages into the book and, while I don’t follow 100% with the story, I’m enjoying this book a lot more than I thought I would. I was hesitant over the years, but Half-Resurrection Blues is winning me over so far. Placing some of the issues I have so far aside, I think I like the voice of Carlos. There’s a bit of Walter Mosley’s Easy Rawlins in it–to a degree (I stress “degree”). Carlos is smooth and charismatic. Though, most of all, he cusses. With him in the lead, the story just kind of propels and glides me forward. Even and despite the work it takes to understand and conceive the urban fantasy landscape the author has built. Now in terms of urban fantasy, Carlos is obviously in the minority as a male protagonist and triple as a man of color. And can't I express how MUCH I appreciate a voice similar in likeness to my own. Call it swag or vernacular or whatever. I just appreciate it and it is what’s largely keeping me engaged.

Still got 226 pages left to see how much happens. And, of course, I’ll always be the first to drop out and say if and why something doesn’t work. But as of now, this is my #WEEKEND READ.


Tuesday, May 3, 2022

Mercedes Lackey April

I don't know how I managed this (besides jumping right into my coffee and reading after work at 6am each day), but I managed to clean house with three Mercedes Lackey trilogy readings. It began with Tarma and Kethry adventures in Oathbound. This led to Oathbreaker and Oathblood. I've had the first two books on my shelf for over a year and bought Oathblood to round things out. Out of the three trilogies I completed, these ladies made my favorite party to keep company with. The books were fun; nothing deep nor complex. I learned reading Lackey's By the Sword that fantasy complexities and grandness weren't necessarily Lackey's edge. She does have charm. She is a storyteller. But epic? Nah. Especially when she constantly uses rape as a plot device. It almost took me chewing my teeth out not to throw her books when she does it. Nevertheless, Tarma and Kethry had some great adventures.

Ah. The Arrows Trilogy. I read the first book almost three years ago, and have been hesitant since. But I decided after completing Tarma and Kethry's stories I might as well keep the Lackey train going with Arrow's Flight and Arrow's Fall. Incidentally, the one I found most readers dislike the most was the one I liked the most. Can you guess which was that? It was Arrow's Flight, the second book. I won't get into the details as to why it is many readers' least favorite of the trio. The only thing I can attribute to my patience with the book is having read Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series. If you can read those, you can tap into any reservoir of patience to get through a book you intend on getting through (as opposed to those you outright DNF for whatever reason).

Saturday, January 30, 2021

Do I Feel Like Reading More of Mercedes Lackey's Work?

So here it is. The truth. I closed out reading Mercedes Lackey’s By the Sword feeling unfulfilled and unmoved by the book. So I'm wary of trying more of Lackey’s work. Don’t get me wrong, though. I enjoyed Lackey's Diana Tregarde series, as well as the first book in her Elementals series. As for the two dips I’ve taken into her Valedmar series, I've yet to come away with a hunger for more. And after finishing By the Sword, I am stuck wondering whether Lackey’s work is worth it to me. You see, By the Sword started off great. I was into Lackey’s fantasy character, Kerowyn, catapulting in her own direction in life. She wasn’t interested in becoming anyone’s wife or housekeeper. Nah. She desired the mercenaries way of life, or a means to be a hero to people.


Cool fantasy stuff, indeed.

Unfortunately, by the end of the book things changed for me.

Thursday, December 24, 2020

I Did a Reading Thing this Year...

Totally caught up on the Green Rider Series by Kristen Britain.  Book #7, Winterlight, will release September of 2021.  Naturally...

I'M LEFT CRYING AND WAITTTTTTTTTT FOR MORE!!!


Friday, November 1, 2019

#WeekendReads First Rider's Call by Kristen Britain


#NonFictionNovember is going to have to wait a little bit longer, bro.  Why?  Because I got to stay up all night and read First Rider's Call by Kristen Britain.  It's the second book in her Green Rider series.  A series that follows this pretty neat-o young lady named Karigan G'ladheon.  She works as one of the king's (y'all know how these fantasy worlds go) messenger services dudes called Green Riders.  And, well, given her job she also has the ability to turn invisible...

AND I LOVE EVERY BIT OF ITTTTTTTTTT!  WITH ALL THE PERSONAL AND FANTASY INTRIGUE IN BETWEEN!

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

{Let Me Know} Is Mercedes Lackey's "Arrows" Trilogy Worth It?



Not too much to add here that hasn't been said in the video.  LOL.  Heck, the title alone, right?


Anyway, books and such mentioned (all links are Amazon affiliate):

1.  By the Sword 
2.  Diana Tregarde Investigates (Children of the Night, Burning Water, & Jinx High)
3.  The Complete Arrows Trilogy (Valdemar) 





Monday, April 29, 2019

GUEST POST: How to Always be on the Lookout for New Inspiration by Kelvyn Fernandes

Hi, my name is Kelvyn Fernandes, author of The Many Adventures of Peter and Fi. As a writer of a fantastical journey, filled with peculiar characters and wondrous creatures, I’m often asked where do I get the ideas for my tales. Where do I pull my inspiration from? And the long and short answer is: everywhere at once.

The book I sought to write was based on snippets and extracts from memorable moments throughout my life. It is a compilation of every book I wanted to tell my way. Every movie I felt was missing something more. And every song whose lyrics stoked my imagination. A spark of an idea would start, based on a chance encounter or new set of information. And in my mind it would snowball through my backlog of interactions with the world; picking up bits and pieces to form a full character, a full setting, a full scene.

I take detailed notes on the thoughts that gain the most steam. From there I flesh out the narrative and over-arching plot. As such, I’ve formed a few tenets I try to live life by. These tenets help push me towards new, creative revelations. Therefore–in doing so–I keep my ideas fresh and interesting for the reader. More so, for myself.


It's important to embrace new experiences, even if you’re not interested or think they might suck. It’s almost never a bad idea to try something once. And if your bias is confirmed, a bad experience will likely make a great story.

Break away from your genre. Strong stories are found in strong characters. And strong characters can be found anywhere. If you’re writing a fantasy novel, don’t just look for ideas in other fantasy novels. It’s definitely good to familiarize yourself with fellow fantasy authors–and build on their stories. But sometimes if you’re stuck (anywhere within your writing), it’s refreshing to look somewhere outside your chosen genre.

For example, I read Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams as part of my friends’ book club. It follows a documented and real-life wildlife adventure the author took to see endangered species throughout the world. I wasn’t expecting to get so engrossed in a journal of his trip, but it really opened my eyes to the amazing places that exist in the world.

Most importantly, it gave me ideas for amazing places I could incorporate into my own writer's world.

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