Tangent Online Recommended Reading List 2014

Here is the recommended reading list from review site Tangent Online. I'm seeing a lot of familiar names, and, of course, some that I recommended:

Tangent Online, 2014 Recommended Reading

Shout outs:

Cory Doctorow:
"Huxleyed Into the Full Orwell" by Cory Doctorow (Terraform, 11/17/14) SF** (CDL)

Stephen Baxter:
"The Lingering Joy" by Stephen Baxter (Multiverse: Exploring Poul Anderson’s Worlds, 4/14) SF (DT)

Juliette Wade:
"Suteta Mono de wa Nai" by Juliette Wade (Clarkesworld #90, 3/14) F** (MR)

Sarah Pinkster:
"Notes To My Past And/Or Alternate Selves" by Sarah Pinsker (UFO 3, 10/14) SF (CDL, WH)
"The Transdimensional Horsemaster Rabbis of Mpumalanga Province" by Sarah Pinsker (Asimov’s, 2/14) SF* (MR)
"No Lonely Seafarer" by Sarah Pinsker (Lightspeed #52, 9/14) F* (RH)

Nathaniel Lee:
"Stonebones" by Nathaniel Lee (Beneath Ceaseless Skies #142, 3-6/14) F** (SB)
"Why I Bought Satan Two Cokes On the Day I Graduated From High School" by Nathaniel Lee (UFO 3, 10/14) SF*** (WH)

Alex Shvartsman:
"The Fiddle Game" by Alex Shvartsman (IGMS #41, 9-10/14) F (CW)
"The Golem of Deneb Seven" by Alex Shvartsman (IGMS #40, 7-8/14) SF* (HB)
"Fate and Other Variables" by Alex Shvartsman (Galaxy's Edge #11, 11-12/14) SF (MR)

Unidentified Funny Objects 3, edited by Alex Shvartsman:
"The Right Answer" by James A. Miller (UFO 3, 10/14) SF* (CDL, WH)
"That Must Be Them Now" by Karen Haber (UFO 3, 10/14) F* (CDL)
"Live At The Scene" by Gini Koch (UFO 3, 10/14) SF* (CDL, WH)
"Picture Perfect" by Matt Mikalatos (UFO 3, 10/14) SF** (WH)
"Into The Woods, With Zombunny" by Camille Griep (UFO 3, 10/14) F/H** (CDL)
"The Full Lazenby" by Jeremy Butler (UFO 3, 10/14) SF** (CDL, WH)
"The Door-To-Door Salesthing From Planet X" by John Vogt (UFO 3, 10/14) SF** (CDL, WH)
"The Newboy’s Last Stand" by Krystal Claxton (UFO 3, 10/14) F*** (CDL)
"The Real And The Really Real" by Tim Pratt (UFO 3, 10/14) SF*** (CDL, WH)
"The Fate Worse Than Death" by Kevin J. Anderson and Guy Anthony De Marco (UFO 3, 10/14) F*** (CDL, WH)

(More) Stories that I reviewed:

"The Inked Many" by Adam Callaway (Beneath Ceaseless Skies #150, 6/14) F (MR)
"No Sweeter Art" by Tony Pi (Beneath Ceaseless Skies #155, 9-4/14) F (MR)
"Zombies at Work" by Leena Likitalo (Galaxy's Edge #11, 11-12/14) SF (MR)
"Elsa's Spheres" by Marina J. Lostetter (IGMS #37, 1-2/14) SF* (MR)
"Extinct Fauna of the High Malafan" by Alter S. Reiss (IGMS #38, 3-4/14) F* (MR)
"Pocket Full of Mumbles" by Tina Gower (Galaxy's Edge #8, 5-6/14) F* (MR)
"Voices in the Black" by Jeff Stehman (Penumbra #34, 7/14) SF* (MR)
"Song of the Sargasso" by Marina J. Lostetter (Galaxy's Edge #11, 11-12/14) SF* (MR)
"The Burden of Triumph" by Samuel Marzioli (IGMS #42, 11-12/14) SF* (MR)
"Neep" by K. C. Norton (Galaxy's Edge #10, 9/14) SF** (MR)

Review: "Edgelanders" by Jennifer Melzer

In “Edgelanders” by JenniferMelzer, Lorelei is thrust out of her sheltered palace life by an arranged marriage that quickly turns into a run for her life. When she crosses the border into the Edgelands, her only thought is to escape the hounds out for her blood, but what she finds is a deep connection to the werewolf Edgelanders, their stag god, and their future. For one thing, her heart is bound by magic to Mad Finn the Reckless, a werewolf who lives up to his nickname, and whom the prophesies describe as her mate.

As a princess, Lorelei never expected marriage to be a choice, but she held on to the thin hope that love would blossom later. Now her expectations are being turned inside out as she discovers a magic bond between her soul and another. How much of love is really a choice when your hearts beat as one? If Lorelei wants to give in to love, she must find the strength to trust again after betrayal has made her heart skittish.

The betrayals started before Lorelei was even born, and now that the lies are beginning to unravel, she finds herself launched on a quest of self-discovery that will determine not only her own fate, but the fate of the mate she never asked for – oh, and let's not forget the fate of the world.

With intense themes of consent and trust, detailed mythologies, and powerful imagery,“Edgelanders”by Jennifer Melzer is a gorgeous blend of epic fantasy and romance in what promises to be a riveting, heart-pumping series.  

Fiction Review Roundup Nov - March 2014

I've neglected to post on here since December. Between being very pregnant and then having the baby, and the whole family being sick with one thing after another, I've felt like I've barely kept my head above water. But then, looking back, I see that I've done a lot more than I thought since NaNoWriMo! Here goes:

Nov 03 - Unidentified Funny Objects 2 ed Alex Shvartsman
Dec 03 - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #135
Dec 30 - Tangent 2013 Recommended Reading List
Jan 03 - Into the Wilderness, by Mandy Hager
Jan 03 - Asimov's Feb
Jan 31 - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #138 & 139
Feb 01 - Toxic City Series by Tim Lebbon
Mar 01 - OSC Intergalactic Medicine Show #37

In addition to this, I also got a lot of editing done on my NaNoWriMo draft in the first half of January before Linden was born. I'll be shelving that kind of work for a while now until she lets me sleep more. I find nonfiction writing and flash length pieces to be a totally different animal and something I can work on while sleep deprived. The length means that I'm writing it and editing it and having it published in a short amount of time, which is immensely satisfying. I've gotten a lot faster at writing them, too.

In other writing news, the Inquisitr, a multi-site news aggregator, just hired me to write articles for them. You can see my profile and the articles I've written for them here. I'm pretty excited about trying something new and I'm enjoying it so far. It's like my birthday present to me! (My birthday is tomorrow.)

What are you doing with your NaNoWriMo project?

This year for NaNoWriMo I tackled an epic fantasy book/series that I have been contemplating off and on for over a decade. I'm naturally inclined to write shorter works and the only previous NaNoWriMo that I won involved a story that, to my dismay, was completed at 50k. I have been working on my capacity for longer stories for years and at the beginning of this year I was finally able to buckle down and weave and outline that would serve this particular project.

Then, come November 1, I sat down at the computer, terrified...
and wrote 87k before Thanksgiving.
I'm still not sure how that happened.

Now comes a task that is equally monumental: Editing. I'm not ready to do that quite yet. I'm planning to start just after New Years, because it is either that or wait until long after the baby is born (wheee!).

Any one else? Have you started editing yet? Any methods you want to share with us? I have no real plan except to read it over from beginning to end, fix descriptive inconsistencies first, then tackle any plot problems. I'd love to know who is suffering through editing at the same time.

Hear My Voice!

No, that's not a play on words in reference to the Bible. Well, OK, now it is.

I have had the pleasure of narrating two stories this season and I wanted to make sure you didn't miss them! The most recent was produced at Parsec award-winning Cast of Wonders:

"Black Hole Sun" by Kelli Dunlap and Alethea Kontis

When Cast of Wonders asked me to do this story, I saw Alethea Kontis' name and fan girl squealed, frightening my husband. Alethea Kontis is one of the few authors that I both adore and have had the pleasure of meeting in person. Her book "Hero," sequel to the lovely, "Enchanted," just came out and I can't wait to get my hands on it. But, uh, I also learned that I have been pronouncing her name incorrectly for years. Thankfully her author website tells you how to pronounce it and, yes, it's pronounced correctly in my reading.

Now, Cast of Wonders contacted me because they heard me in the Drabblecast (also Parsec award-winning!) earlier this season, so, you should, too:

"Twenty Ways the Desert Could Kill You" by Sarah Pinkster

Wow, both of these stories are a bit apocalyptic, aren't they? They were both a lot of fun and I hope you enjoy listening to them as much as I enjoyed voicing them!

It's unlikely I'll be voicing any thing else until later next year. Baby #3 is due at the end of January and when I was recording "Black Hole Sun" I could already feel my reduced breath capacity. Silly babies.