Unveiling the Sorceress
Writer: Saskia Walker
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 219

Unveiling the Sorceress has a pretty simple plot with an uncommon setting in regards to fantasy. The plot: among the gods, one has decided to directly influence the course of human events by creating unrest in the exotic lands. This leads to the possibility of war, and the peaceful and wealthy Aleem, a city coveted due to its riches and location in the trading routes, must find a way to make peace with its enemy, Karseedia. To do so, the young Empress Elishiba, decides to offer herself to Karseedia’s Emperor in marriage. While she doesn’t want to do this, she’ll do whatever it takes to defend and protect her people, and she hopes that by agreeing to such a marriage (which was her idea), she can negotiate with the Emperor and find another way to create peace between the two countries. The conflict comes in the form of the Emperor’s mother, who wants power for herself and wants Aleem squashed, and the fact that Elishiba finds herself dangerously attracted to one of Hanrah’s (the Emperor’s) advisors, Amshazar, who clearly has an agenda of his own.

The book is just a very enjoyable read. I loved the emotional depth to the characters, particularly Elishiba, who is a very solid heroine. The is pretty tight and rolls right along, and despite the book’s short length, there’s no shortage on the romance, sex, and personal sacrifice the characters have to make. There’s tragedy in this book, and that’s an impressive punch for 219 pages. The story wraps up well, though I couldn’t help but wonder if Walker might write a sequel, because the epilogue implies possible future adventures, and I’d enjoy seeing these characters again.

The full review, which does include spoilers, is at my journal, if anyone’s interested. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome.

REVIEW: Saskia Walker’s UNVEILING THE SORCERESS

Happy Reading!

Shara Saunsaucie

Unwelcome Bodies
Writer: Jennifer Pelland
Genre: Short Stories/Science Fiction/Horror
Pages: 247

When I heard Pelland was releasing a short story collection, I was very excited. Granted, I’ve only read two of her short stories, but the one really stuck with me. Pelland has a smooth, clean writing style and her story ideas can really knock a person on their ass.

Unwelcome Bodies is a collection that focuses on a variety of issues: the environment, religion, and terrorism, and the one thing that unites these stories is the character’s body image and how they fit into the world/society around them. Each of the stories are different and unique, and most all of the stories balance a wonderful blend of science fiction and horror. This collection is an easy one to recommend.

The full story-by-story review, which does include spoilers in some cases, is in my journal. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome.

REVIEW: Jennifer Pelland’s UNWELCOME BODIES

Happy Reading!

Shara Saunsaucie

Apricot Brandy
Writer: Lynn Cesar
Genre: Fantasy/Contemporary
Pages: 300

I was really looking forward to this book. Intriguing title, beautiful cover, and a lesbian protagonist, the latter of which is super-cool, since JUNO has so far published romantic fantasy, so if the protag was a lesbian, I was guaranteed something different. And speaking of different, this modern fantasy takes place in a small town somewhere in the west, using Mayan mythology to boot.

It should’ve been awesome. It wasn’t. To say I was disappointed is an understatement.

The full review where I rant and rave and spoil the heck out of the book is in my journal. As always, comments and discussion are most appreciated.

REVIEW: Lynn Cesar’s APRICOT BRANDY

Happy Reading!

Shara Saunsaucie

Interfictions: An Anthology of Interstitial Writing
Edited by: Delia Sherman and Theodora Goss
Genre: Short Stories/Fiction
Pages: 291

What is interstitial fiction? This short story anthology does its best to find out. From the intro, which defines interstitial being between borders, but something that’s not a hybrid, to each of the 19 stories crafted by some damn talented voices in fiction, I have to say, I learned a lot. Interstitial writing isn’t just about genre, or only about genre. In some stories, interstitality had to do with place, or with character, or with a particular moment in life. This book is shelved in the SF/F section of the store, and indeed, some of the stories certainly have a magical realist flair, but if I had to classify this book as anything, it’s literary fiction. It’s not an anthology that’s for everyone, but for anyone with a love of language and fine writing with an open and inquisitive imagination, I think you’ll find this anthology worth your while. I know I sure did.

The full review, which contains a story-by-story reaction (and some reactions contain spoilers, others do not), may be found in my journal. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome.

REVIEW: Interfictions: An Anthology of Interstitial Writing

Contributers:

Christopher Barzak
Leslie What
Anna Tambour
Joy Marchand
Jon Singer
K. Tempest Bradford
Csilla Kleinheincz
Michael J. DeLuca
Karen Jordan Allen
Rachel Pollack
Veronica Schanoes
Mikal Trimm
Colin Greenland
Vandana Singh
Matthew Cheney
Lea Sihol
Adrian Ferrero
Holly Phillips
Catherynne M. Valente

So here’s the deal: As a member of the Pyr Street Team, I wanted to do a little something extra aside from just posting book reviews in my blog. I came up with the fun (for me) idea of doing a year-end discussion of the imprint in general, and then came up with the really silly idea of doing superlatives for the 2007 releases. But the CROWNING idea was coming up with a Pyr Book Giveaway.

If you’ve been interested AT ALL in ANY of the Pyr books I’ve reviewed in my journal (need a refresher? Just click here), now’s your chance to win one. Why bring it up? There’s fifteen titles total that I’ve read/reviewed, and of those fifteen, five are written by women (this doesn’t include the Fast Forward anthology, which has 9/21 women writers in it), and of those five, three books (Kenyon’s Bright of the Sky, Latner’s Hurricane Moon, and Robson’s Selling Out) were published in 2007. So was the anthology, if you’re interested in nominating short stories. Interested? For details on how to enter, just go here. Good luck to all who enter, and I do hope there’s a lot of you, simply because if this goes well, I might be able to do something similar in my blog in the future! Happy Reading!

Shara Saunsaucie

Taking a trip on the wayback machine, here are the stories authored by women that were published online in the early months of 2007:

Abyss & Apex Issue #21: 1st Quarter 2007

• Bittersweet by N. K. Jemison
• The Memory of Touch by Karen Swanberg
• Ten New Metaphors for Cyberspace by Cat Rambo

Abyss & Apex Issue #22: 2nd Quarter 2007

• Hour By Hour by Lindsey Duncan
• Weepers and Ragers by Aliette de Bodard
• The Devil You Know by Heidi Wessman Kneale

Aeon Issue #10

• Ex Muro by Dana William Paxson
• The Scarecrow’s Bride by Marina Fitch
• The City in Morning by Carrie Richerson
• Dia Chjermen’s Tale: The Delmoni Atrocity by Kij Johnson
• Another Saturday Night in Georgia by Lorelei Shannon

Chizine Issue #32

Snow for Flowers by Leslie Claire Walker

Clarkesworld
Issue #4

• Orm the Beautiful by Elizabeth Bear
• Automatic by Erica L. Satifka

Issue #5

• Attar of Roses by Sharon Mock

Issue #6

• Something in the Mermaid Way by Carrie Laben

Flurb
Issue #3

• The Last Young Person Alive Writes a Memoir by Charlie Anders
• No Place to Raise Kids by Eileen Gunn

Issue #4

• Anxiety Branson, Social Security Hustler by Charlie Anders
• Mountain Memory by Penelope Thomas

Helix Issue #3

• “Addy In My Mind“ by Eugie Foster
• “Starry Night“ by Samantha Henderson
• “The Narcomancer“ by N.K. Jemisin
  

IGMS Issue #4

• Wisteria by Ada Brown
• Approaching Zero by Kelly Parks

Jim Baen’s Universe Vol 1 Num 5

• War Stories by Elizabeth Bear
• The Spiral Road by Louise Marley

Lone Star Stories Issue #19

• Neighbors by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
• Chimaeras by Jenn Reese

Strange Horizons

• Locked Doors by Stephanie Burgis
• Before Paphos by Loretta Casteen
• Godtouched by Sara Genge
• Somewhere in Central Queensland by Grace Dugan
• Three Days and Nights in Lord Darkdrake’s Hall by Leah Bobet
• Dead. Nude. Girls. by Lori Selke
• Foam on the Water by Cat Rambo
• Horatius and Clodia by Charlie Anders
• Harvest by Joanne Merriam

The Cafe Irreal Issue #21

• Three Stages in Learning to Fly by Vanessa Gebbie

The Town Drunk

• Haunting Clues by Maria Schneider
• Sufficient Cause by Tina Connolly
• Crow by Stephanie Burgis

 Coyote Wild

• Dazz by Jennifer Pelland
• The King of Elfland’s Stepdaughter by Barbara Gordon
• Strange Playmates by Laura Anne Gilman

This is not the entirety of the online fiction world, of course, but this is a pretty comprehensive list. If you think I’ve missed an important market, let me know in comments.

One more thing — please click through the market links and take a look at the ratio of male to female published stories. It’s very enlightening.

Tempest

The twenty-first volume of Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Sword and Sorceress came out in 2004, and many readers (myself included) mourned what we thought would be the end of the series. Happily, a new publisher has picked up the torch.

For anyone unfamiliar with the series, the book collects sword & sorcery tales with strong female protagonists, a broad enough theme to encompass a variety of good stories from authors both experienced and new. I settled down, cracked open the book … and found myself vaguely disappointed. The first few stories didn’t satisfy me. Had I romanticized the series so much that nothing could live up to my expectations?

But no, as I read further, I found stories that drew me in. Stories where the struggles felt real, and the heroines fought toward endings both satisfying and believable. After a rocky start, I enjoyed somewhere around half to 2/3 of the stories, which makes for a pretty good collection.

Sword & Sorceress XXII continues the legacy Marion Zimmer Bradley began, presenting stories of strong women (stories that don’t bash the reader over the head with “message”) by both experienced and new authors. The trade paperback format feels a little weird, but I can get used to that.

All in all, I’d say this one’s worth buying, both for some strong stories, and to support one of the oldest anthology series in the genre.

I’ve also posted a longer review of the individual stories, for anyone who’s curious. Read more>>

-Jim C. Hines

While we here at the SFBookswap are mostly interested in swapping books (you’d never have guessed, right?) our main goal is to call attention to fiction written by women. There’s a lot of fiction that one won’t find in books or print magazines, and a lot of it is really good. So here’s a list of fiction written by women that you can find online. If I’ve missed any, please let me know in the comments. If you’ve reviewed any of these stories (or will do so), please drop us a link in the comments so I can include it in our review roundup.

Strange Horizons

What the Thunder Said, by Lavie Tidhar
Painted, by Becca De La Rosa
Ferryman’s Reprieve, by Kate Bachus
Fella Down A Hole: Unlikely Patron Saints, No. 2, by Amy Sisson

Ideomancer – Vol. 6, Issue 1

Green and Dying by Sonya Taaffe
Scrapbook by Karen A. Romanko
Snow Melt by Marcie Tentchoff

Jim Baen’s Universe

Midnight at the Quantum Cafe by K. D. Wentworth
ETA: Redemption of Nepheli by E. Sedia

Chiaroscuro – Issue #32

Snow for Flowers by Leslie Claire Walker

Abyss & Apex – 2nd Quarter 2007

Hour By Hour by Lindsey Duncan
Weepers and Ragers by Aliette de Bodard
The Devil You Know by Heidi Wessman Kneale

Heliotrope

A Godmother’s Gift by January Mortimer
Galatea by Vylar Kaftan
Fasti by Sonya Taaffe

Darker Matter

Dearest Etruria, by Toiya Kristen Finley

Helix – Spring 2007

Pretty Little Thing by Sara Genge
Mercytanks by Jennifer Pelland