fantasy

Friday Links for February Doldrums

Nephele Tempest

February feels endless, even as I wonder how we got here. I may not be buried by snow, but I do have work piled all around me. That answers the question of how it’s been so long since I updated here. But today I return, with links to kick off the weekend, and a promise for some exciting news and content next week.

Photo by Emily Rudolph on Unsplash

Whatever your weather, we’re still dealing with the pandemic, which means staying indoors and reading a good book. Right? Maybe it means time to work remotely or cook endless meals, or children to chase down for online learning. But try to squeeze a little you time in there. It’ll help keep your brain on an even keel.

Most of this week’s links are book related, because so many great titles keep hitting shelves. But I have some fun, writerly extras, as well. I hope they keep you entertained, and that you’re all staying safe and well. There’s an actual light at the end of the tunnel. Happy weekend.

This week’s links:

The 2021 Rainbow Book List. – This year’s list of terrific LGBTQIA+ literature aimed at readers from birth to 18 years old. I’m glad to note it includes works by two Knight Agency authors, Loriel Ryon, for the middle grade novel Into the Tall, Tall Grass, and T.J. Klune, for the YA novel, The Extraordinaries.

All the New Fantasy Books Arriving in February. – Pretty much what it says on the label. But since we’re more than halfway through the month, a good number of these beauties are already available!

On the Unconventional 19th-Century Women Who Ventured to Write Novels. – On how a new art form offered the opportunity for women to make their mark.

75 Books to Add to Your 2021 TBR List. – I know, I know. 75! But honestly, I kind of wish I could read most of these. It’s a mix of fiction and nonfiction, the latter being mostly memoir. New titles from old favorites plus debuts. Listed by month of release, and this only goes up to September. Better get reading.

Miniature Book Nooks Belong on Every Bookshelf, It’s Just a Matter of Time. – This is from last year, pre-pandemic, and I might have shared it then, but now it feels particularly appropriate. Miniatures seem to be a lock-down hobby, particularly among writers, so what’s better than creating a mini book nook and combining obsessions?

50 Great Classic Novels Under 200 Pages. – Perfect for those of you who are twitching to read but find your schedules packed.

Happy Book Release to A Touch of Stone and Snow by Milla Vane!

Nephele Tempest

A Touch of Stone and Snow by Milla Vane hits bookstores today. This second installment in Vane’s romantic fantasy series, A Gathering of Dragons, catapults you out of everyday life and into a magical adventure. Amazon.com lists it as one of the best romances for July! (Plus, book 1 in the series, A Heart of Blood and Ashes, made the list of best romances of the year so far.) And I have to admit, I’m a sucker for this cover…

A Touch of Stone and Snow

Milla Vane returns to a world of kings, magic, and passion in her exhilarating A Gathering of Dragons series. A great alliance forms to stand against an evil warlord intent on their destruction.

Danger lurks in the western realms. The Destroyer’s imminent return has sent the realms into turmoil as desperate citizens seek refuge—but there’s no safety to be found when demons and wraiths crawl out from the shadows. Even Koth, a northern island kingdom left untouched by the Destroyer a generation past, is besieged by terrors spawned from corrupt magics.

When Lizzan leads the Kothan army against these terrors, only to see her soldiers massacred and to emerge as the only survivor, she is called a coward and a deserter. Shunned from her home, Lizzan now wanders in solitude as a mercenary for hire, until she encounters a group of warriors seeking new alliances with the northern kingdoms—a group that includes Aerax, the bastard prince of Koth, and the man who sent her into exile.

Though they were childhood friends, Aerax cannot allow himself to be close to the only woman who might thwart his treacherous plan to save their island realm. But when a goddess’s demand binds them together, Lizzan and Aerax must find a way to overcome their painful pasts. Or there will be no future for the western realms…

Find A Touch of Stone and Snow at your favorite retailers, online and brick-and-mortar. Happy reading!

Friday Links: The Leap Year Edition

Nephele Tempest

This week’s Friday Links decided to leap over to Saturday, courtesy of my insane schedule. I considered skipping the post entirely, but I missed last week and guilty feelings won out. No great unifying theme, however. Just a bunch of things I’ve come across and found interesting, informative, and/or entertaining.

Is anyone doing something special with the extra day this year? I love the idea of considering February 29th a bonus day–one you get to spend at will. I’m devoting my day to a project that I’ve been trying to squeeze into my regular calendar for way too long. Fingers crossed I can make some huge progress.

Wishing you a wonderful Leap Day, whatever you choose to do. Enjoy!

This Week’s Links:

Wired’s 13 Must-Read Books for Spring. – Some fun titles to consider adding to your TBR.

The New Wave of Fantasy: How Millennial Authors Are Transforming the Genre. – A quick round table with four prominent young fantasy writers.

The Man Responsible for Cut/Copy/Paste Has Died. – A brief acknowledgement for the passing of Larry Tesler, who made the lives of many writers easier.

Author’s Guild Releases Grim 5-Page Report on “The Profession of the Author in the 21st Century.” – Not great news, but really, it’s never been great news.

A Library Story. They Say Everyone Has One. – A lovely, uplifting read about the good libraries do.

Open Access Image Libraries: A Handy List. – A helpful roundup of the libraries currently making collections of images available for open use through their websites.

Confessions of a Hate Reader, or Bad Writing Habits I Picked Up from Bad Criticism. – Takes a look at the difficulties of creating with a laundry list of “shouldn’t”s in one’s brain.

 

Happy Book Birthday to A Heart of Blood and Ashes by Milla Vane

Nephele Tempest

A very happy release day to Milla Vane (aka Meljean Brook), whose fantasy romance A HEART OF BLOOD AND ASHES hits stores today. This book kicks off her A Gathering of Dragons series, perfect for fans of epic sword-and-sorcery adventures. Fair warning: It’s on the violent side, because: Barbarians.

A Heart of Blood and Ashes cover art

A generation past, the western realms were embroiled in endless war. Then the Destroyer came. From the blood and ashes he left behind, a tenuous alliance rose between the barbarian riders of Parsathe and the walled kingdoms of the south. That alliance is all that stands against the return of an ancient evil—until the barbarian king and queen are slain in an act of bloody betrayal.

Though forbidden by the alliance council to kill the corrupt king responsible for his parents’ murders, Maddek vows to avenge them, even if it costs him the Parsathean crown. But when he learns it was the king’s daughter who lured his parents to their deaths, the barbarian warrior is determined to make her pay.

Yet the woman Maddek captures is not what he expected. Though the last in a line of legendary warrior-queens, Yvenne is small and weak, and the sharpest weapons she wields are her mind and her tongue. Even more surprising is the marriage she proposes to unite them in their goals and to claim their thrones—because her desire for vengeance against her father burns even hotter than his own…

Find A HEART OF BLOOD AND ASHES wherever books are sold, including Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, and IndieBound.

 

Friday Links: Building a Career as a Writer

Nephele Tempest

I tend to focus on the early days of becoming a writer, for obvious reasons. How to develop craft, how to query, whether you should go to conferences, etc. But today I’m stepping back a bit and considering the bigger picture. I don’t mean you should put the cart before the horse if you’re in the early stages of writing. Those initial steps are foundational and deserve your attention. But everyone daydreams about “someday,” and plenty of writers are further along in their process. So a number of today’s links consider what it means to build a career as a writer.

I’ve mixed a few odds and ends in, as well, so there’s something for everyone. I hope you all have a lovely weekend, and set aside some time to write or to curl up with a great read. Enjoy!

This Week’s Links:

Overcoming Writing Anxiety. – Different from writer’s block, this can hit at any stage of your career. Some good ideas here on how to combat the problem.

If You’re Looking to Write More in 2020, Rebecca Makkai Has Your Strangely Specific Prompts. – Pretty much what it sounds like. Author Rebecca Makkai is Tweeting daily prompts this year under the hashtag #366prompts. (We get an extra because it’s a leap year.)

Writing Excuses: Evolution of a Career. – The first episode of this season of the Writing Excuses podcast focuses on how writing careers evolve and all sorts of important questions that you might associate with that topic.

How and When Should a Writer Use a Pen Name or Pseudonym? – Some of the reasons why a writer might wish to write under a different or an additional name.

How Edith Wharton’s Novel of New York High Society Speaks to Class Divisions Today. – Author Jennifer Egan discusses The House of Mirth and the ways in which it still resonates.

“Why would I close the door to a queer person?” LGBTQ Fantasy Comes of Age. – A look at the crop of new fantasy novels that feature more gender-diverse casts.

Friday Links: The Edge of Vacation Edition

Nephele Tempest

I’m about to hang up my out-of-office shingle for the holidays, so I’m sneaking these links in under the wire. As with last week, they don’t follow much of a pattern. They’re just things I’ve stumbled across and wanted to share with you all. I hope they inspire a bit of writing, some great reading, and maybe a little literary wanderlust. Wishing you a wonderful weekend. Don’t forget to get your words in!

This Week’s Links:

Our Favorite 50 Books of the Year. – Courtesy of LitHub. Because apparently I’m still a sucker for another bookish “best of” list.

History and SFF: Historical Sources and N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth Trilogy. – A look at how history can serve fiction when it comes to world building.

36 Hours in King’s Cross London. – A peek at the area around the famous train station, for Harry Potter fans, Anglophiles, and armchair travelers of all sorts.

Walking through the House Where Louisa May Alcott Wrote Little Women. – More March-family madness in anticipation of the release of the latest film version of the classic story.

Books off the Beaten Path: 15 Small Press Reads If You Want Something Different. – Pretty much what it says on the label. A nice cross section of titles from a some smaller publishers.

Friday Links: Inspiration and Influence

Nephele Tempest

We discuss inspiration a lot when talking about what we write. We want to read, to fill the well, to take in new ideas. Things inspire you to go in a particular direction with your work-in-progress. Sometimes it’s a snippet of conversation or a bit of reading, other times it’s more nebulous. Colors in the trees. A flashy outfit on a woman across the street. A moment of fear when it looks like something terrible might happen.

Girl_on_mountain_stretching_at_sunset

But past influences? I think we mostly discuss those in relation to published writers, asking them to look back at who they’ve read and what they’ve experienced that made them a writer. It’s harder to think about it in the moment, to look at your half-formed manuscript and recognize the pieces of your past that form the roots. It’s something to consider, next time you hit a wall or find your momentum slowing. Think about where you’re going, but also about where you’ve been. Ask what brought you there. It might help you figure out what comes next.

Along those lines, I offer up this week’s Friday Links, with plenty of inspiration and maybe a few looks at influence, too. I hope they give you a push in the right direction. Wishing you a wonderful weekend and productive writing!

This Week’s Links:

Five Books about Artists and the Magic of Creativity. – Maggie Stiefvater discusses the natural melding of art and magic and how that comes across in books.

The Second Shelf. – A peek into the world of A.N. Devers’s wonderful second-hand bookshop, located in London, where books by women get a second life in a market that is traditionally dominated by male writers.

Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of November. – Some great new titles topping the list per Amazon.

How to Unlearn Everything: When it Comes to Writing the ‘Other,’ What Questions Are We not Asking? – Alexander Chee looks at the importance of including diverse characters versus what it means to let a person tell their own story.

Explore the List of 100 Novels that Shaped Our World. – The BBC shares a broad list of titles voted on by a collection of writers, critics, etc., focusing not on what books are “best,” but on what works had the most influence on them and their surroundings.

Philip Pullman On Children’s Literature and the Critics Who Distain It. – The author looks at the what the label “children’s literature” actually means, and why these books are no less worthy of an adult’s attention than any other type of writing.

How to Review a Novel. – Advice on the process, but also something interesting for fiction writers to consider. Reviewers and pleasure readers can have very different perspectives.

A Roundup of 2019’s Major Science Fiction and Fantasy Award Winners. – Pad out your TBR list with some of these amazing award-winning novels.

Friday Links: SFF Edition

Nephele Tempest

In the wake of last weekend’s Hugo Awards, an SFF edition of Friday Links feels like a fun way to go. Not everything is science fiction or fantasy related, but a good chunk leans that way, including a nice wrap up of the Hugos themselves.

View of milky way through the treetops

My week was crazy in general, so I apologize if this week’s links run a little shorter than usual. I feel like we’re rushing headlong into September, and I’m not ready. I theorize that once we hit Labor Day, the rest of the year churns faster than usual. Not scientific, but it feels real.

So on that note, I leave you with some fun links to entertain and inspire you. Wishing you a wonderful weekend, filled with books and excellent writing time. Enjoy!

SFF Edition:

Hugo Awards: Women Clean Up as N.K. Jemisin Wins Best Novel Again. – A nice look at the list of winners, including N.K. Jemisin and her history-making three-peat winning the Best Novel award.

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Is the Best Place on the Internet. – A fun discussion and brief history of the online resource.

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. – The amazing resource referenced above.

Day in the Life of a Book Editor: Caroline Bleeke of Flatiron Books. – A peek at what the job of an editor entails.

The Weirdest Libraries Around the World. – A fun look at some offbeat libraries in unlikely locations.

Aliette de Bodars Recommends: Four Fantasy Books from Alternate Worlds. – Some great recs for stories with less frequently seen influences.

15 Highly Anticipated New Science Fiction and Fantasy Books for Fall. – Pretty much as described.

Friday Links Return: Writing Inspiration for Year’s End

Nephele Tempest

Friday Links return! Writing inspiration appears in many forms, and today I offer up some ideas to keep you productive through the end of 2017. During my blog hiatus, I held onto some links that I wanted to share when I started blogging again. That means these links span more than just the past week. But whether you typically get your writing inspiration from reading a great book or an article on craft, these links have something for you.

This Week’s Links:

Micheal Ondaatje opens archive to reveal his writing methods. –  Author Michael Ondaatje has donated his papers to the Harry Ransom Center in Texas.

The 21st-Century Fantasy Trilogy that Changed the Game. – The New York Times looks at the writing of N.K. Jemisin, and how it created a new way of looking at epic fantasy.

Go Local: Marketing Books to Targeted Communities. – Jane Friedman advises writers to start where they are when they market their books.

28 Exciting New Books You Need to Read This Fall. – Check out this great list to find new titles to pad your TBR pile.

Shelf Life: Novelist Hanya Yanagihara on living with 12,000 books. – Dream of your own home library? Hanya Yanagihara shows us how it’s done.

You Did What? The Dos and Don’ts of Workshop Etiquette. – Take a look at these tips on how to attend a writing workshop with grace.

13 Upcoming YA Books by Latinx Authors to Start Getting Excited About Right Now – Great new books either out now or soon to be released that will add diversity to your TBR pile.

10 Gritty Crime Novels that Will Take You to the 1970s NYC of The Deuce. – Film and television producers seem fascinated by the 1970s, as evidenced by the new HBO series, The Deuce. These books give a different take on the gritty era.

Other Writing Inspiration:

With the season’s changing, it’s the perfect time to observe what that means where you live. Whether it’s fall or spring in your part of the world, grab a notebook and pen and go people watching one afternoon. What happens to the weather, wardrobes, behavior, the pace of life? This transitional time of year makes for interesting stories. Go take notes.

Friday Links: Techniques and Toys for the Writer’s Toolbox

Nephele Tempest

TGIF! Welcome to the end of yet another very weird week. My brain keeps turning over that old blessing/curse from Confucius: May you live in interesting times. For better or worse, I’d say recent weeks/months/years certainly count. But it’s Friday and I feel bruised and beaten up after a long few days of too much desk time, way too much coffee, and far too little sleep, so that’s about as much as I’m going to say on the social/political front today.

What I do have for you is a great collection of links for the week. Like last week, there’s a bit of a mishmash, but I feel many of them will help you load up your writer’s toolbox — both literally and figuratively — and to tackle your writing goals. But don’t worry, there’s plenty of reading goodness to distract you, too, if that’s where your mood is. Wishing you a wonderful weekend filled with all things word related. Enjoy!

The Mental Health Benefits of Writing, Backed by Science – In case you were worried that writing was driving you crazy.

Novels Bring World War II to Life for a New Generation – A look at the recent uptick in popularity of WWII-era novels for young adults.

Laptop Buying Guide for Writers – K. Tempest Bradford pulls together a few of her podcasts that talk laptop features and her recommendations specifically for writers.

Faerie-led: Thoughts on Writing Meaningful Fantasy – A thoughtful look at the genre.

Apple Begins Paying Out on Ebook Settlement – In case you haven’t heard, you might have some extra book money floating around.

Think You Couldn’t Possibly Lose Your Amazon Publishing Account? – Important read for self-pub/hybrid folks, but interesting for all.

A Map to Get Out of Writer’s Block – A very handy, helpful graphic, worth saving for future emergencies even if you always feel inspired and ready to write.

49 Underrated Books You Really Need to Read – Have read and loved a number of these, but better believe my TBR list just got longer.

New York Taught Me to Be a Better Listener – Interesting read. Note that this didn’t have to take place in New York, the author just happened to have her learning experience there.

Serial Reader app – Looking to squeeze some classics reading into your life? This free app sends you classics in short installments, a new 10-15 minutes’ worth of reading each day. Huge and growing collection of titles. So far just for iOS, but an Android version is in the works.