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Fri 30 Jul 2010

The things one finds in the (internet) stacks

Posted by PJ under art, reading, sex
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I’m sure this book is a triumph of stylistic elements, a singular work of staggering genius, combining as it does the art of reading and the art of…what would you call that?  I’ll have to add it to my Goodreads To-Be-Read queue.

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Fri 16 Jul 2010

I’m done

Posted by PJ under blogging, books, cooking, reading
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Crazy busy days lately, at work, at home.  I’m having company for dinner tomorrow night and have spent the day cleaning and organizing.  We’re doing a low country boil and it should be fun.  Shrimp and sausage and halibut and potatoes and onions and spicy crab boil seasoning.  I won’t be able to have any beer with that, which is a great pity, as the only weekend we could all get together was the weekend before an important (but routine) blood test and I’ve given up sugar in all forms.

But none of that is the subject of this post or why I felt compelled to sit down a half hour before midnight to put it down.  I haven’t had much time to blog lately and there’s a build up of effluvia.  I was afraid if I didn’t take a moment now, some vitally important inane information might be lost to history.  So, here it is: what I’m done with is not housekeeping or cooking, it’s Laurell K. Hamilton.

I hadn’t read anything by her in a long time, but I found myself curious to see what was up with her.  The last Anita Blake book I read actually had some semblance of a plot, contrary to several of the ones that had come before.  I mean, a plot having more to do with being “forced” to have sex with dozens of men and endless discussions amongst the characters as to what had just happened, why it had happened, and why the sexcapades were totally, completely against her real true morality, but she couldn’t help it.  She just couldn’t help it.  At heart, she was really a “good girl.”

Uh, anyway, I stuck with LKH a lot longer than I should have, though most of my friends had given up on her, mostly because of the not-Anita characters.  I really loved some of them and wanted to know what was going on with them, although most of the ones I really liked got short shrift in the cavalcade of porn the books had become.  I’m stubborn, I guess.  So I picked up Blood Noir last night and decided I’d wallow in it, to see if that promise of actual plot in The Harlequin meant LKH was finally snapping out of her narrow focus.  The first several chapters were an extended sex scene between Anita and two guys, plus endless discussions of what had just happened, why it had happened, and why the sexcapades were totally, completely against her real true morality, but she couldn’t help it.  She just couldn’t help it.  At heart, she was really a “good girl.”

And I realized that I really no longer gave a damn about any of those characters.  Finding out what might be going on with them was no longer worth slogging through the slush these books have become.  I like me a good sex scene, have no trouble walking on the pervy side, but I do prefer to have my sexy fiction have some actual fiction in it to go along with the ol’ boogaloo.

I moved consequently LKH’s books from the TBR pile to the recycle pile.  I don’t think they’ll be wending their way back out again.

And no telling when I may get to set down more inane content again.  Watch this space.

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Sat 3 Jul 2010

Updated Meme: Female SF/F authors you have read

Posted by PJ under reading, writers
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This was making the rounds back in early June.  It may have been “an outgrowth of the Wiscon Periodic Table of Women in SF,” as someone put it when I glommed this from them. It strikes me as being rather light in the loafers for urban fantasy writers and I don’t believe paranormal romance is listed at all. So I’ve added some authors (in red) off the top of my head and the TBR pile (which means I’ve probably left out obvious examples—I didn’t want to make it a life’s work).  Not all of them are UF/PR. I haven’t listed male/female author teams (like the fabulous Ilona Andrews) since this list is supposed to be all about the females.  I welcome others to add to the list and pass it on if they feel like it.

The Rules of the Game Are:
Bold the women by whom you own books
Italicize those by whom you’ve read something of (short stories count).
*Star those you don’t recognize
Unmarked are those whose work you have not read

Joan Aiken
Ann Aguirre/Eva Gray
Eleanor Arnason*
Kelley Armstrong
Catherine Asaro
Sarah Ash
Ellen Asher*
Margaret Atwood
Camille Bacon-Smith*
Kage Baker
Elizabeth Bear
Elaine Bergstrom/Marie Kiraly
Anne Bishop
K. J. Bishop*
Leigh Brackett
Marion Zimmer Bradley
Patricia Briggs
Meljean Brook
Lois McMaster Bujold
Emma Bull
Sue Burke
Octavia E. Butler
Pat Cadigan
Rachel Caine
Jacqueline Carey
Jayge Carr*
Gail Carriger
Angela Carter
Jeanne Cavelos
Karen Chance
Joy Chant*
Suzy McKee Charnas
C. J. Cherryh
Susanna Clark
Kresley Cole
Nancy A. Collins
Storm Constantine
Louise Cooper*
Susan Cooper
Joan Cox*
Kathyrn Cramer
Elizabeth Cunningham
Kara Dalkey
Ellen Datlow
Lori Devoti
Amanda Downum
Debra Doyle*
Tanarive Due
Rosemary Edghill/Eluki bes shahar
Kate Elliott
Carol Emshwiller
Jane S. Fancher
Sheila Finch*
Lynn Flewelling
Karen Joy Fowler
Esther Friesner
Jeaniene Frost
Diana Gabaldon
Mary Gentle
Laura Anne Gilman
Lisa Goldstein
Kathleen Ann Goonan*
Theodora Goss
Jo Graham
Nicola Griffith*
Lauren Groff
Eileen Gunn
Barbara Hambly
Laurell K. Hamilton
Elizabeth Hand
Lori Handeland
Charlaine Harris
Teresa Nielsen Hayden
Zenna Henderson*
Robin Hobb/Megan Lindholm
Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Nancy Holder*
Nalo Hopkinson
Sarah A. Hoyt/ Sarah D’Almeida/Elise Hyatt
Tanya Huff
Kij Johnson
Diana Wynne Jones
Gwyneth Jones*
Leigh Kennedy*
Kay Kenyon
Caitlin Kiernan
Rosemary Kirstein*
Ellen Klages
Elizabeth Kostova
Mary Robinette Kowal
Nancy Kress
Katherine Kurtz
Ellen Kushner
Madeline L’Engle
Margo Lanagan*
Justine Larbelestier
Deborah Layne*
Sharon Lee*
Tanith Lee
Ursula Le Guin
Anna Leonard*
Kelly Link
Jane Linskold
Marjorie M. Liu
Elizabeth A. Lynn*
Katherine MacLean*
Ardath Mayhar*
R. A. MacAvoy
Anne McCaffrey
Shawna McCarthy
Sandra McDonald
Maureen McHugh
Vonda N. McIntyre
Patricia A. McKillip
R. M. Meluch*
Farah Mendlesohn*
Judith Merril*
Stephenie Meyer
Barbara Michaels
Laura Mixon*
Judith Moffett*
Mary Anne Mohanraj
Elizabeth Moon
C. L. Moore
Cheryl Morgan*
C. E. Murphy
Pat Murphy*
Jill Myles
Vera Nazarian
Edith Nesbit (E. A. Nesbit)*
Andre Norton
Naomi Novik
Rebecca Ore*
Rachel Pollack*
Cherie Priest
Sarah Prineas
Cat Rambo
Marta Randall*
Kit Reed*
Laura Resnick
Ann Rice
M. Rickert
Justina Robson
Michaela Roessner*
J. K. Rowling
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Joanna Russ
Mary Doria Russell
Lilith Saintcrow
Jessica Amanda Salmonson*
Pamela Sargent*
Elizabeth Ann Scarborough*
Melissa Scott*
Ekaterina Sedia
Nisi Shawl*
Delia Sherman
Frances Sherwood
Sharon Shinn
Kristine Smith*
Sherwood Smith
Wen Spencer
Nancy Springer
Margaret St. Clair*
Caroline Stevermer*
Mary Stewart
Maggie Stiefvater
Judith Tarr
Sheri S. Tepper
Amy Thomson*
James Tiptree, Jr.
Karen Traviss
Mary Turzillo*
Lisa Tuttle*
Catherynne M. Valente
Ann VanderMeer
Elizabeth Vaughan
S. L. Viehl
Joan D. Vinge
Evangeline Walton
Jo Walton
Martha Wells*
Skyler White
Kate Wilhelm
Eileen Wilks
Liz Williams
Sheila Williams*
Connie Willis
Terri Windling
Patricia C. Wrede
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Jane Yolen

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