Stephanie Burgis
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Bears, Fire, Fun
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Hurray! My book reviewing gig has come to the rescue. Today I got a new book sent to me by my Interzone editor: Bear Daughter, by Judith Berman. It looks great--exactly my kind of fantasy--and I can't wait to start reading it. The great book draught is over (for another day or two, at least)!
Of course, I also got to experience the downside of book reviewing the other day...the new issue (No. 199) of Interzone includes my review of Sarah Micklem's Firethorn--and one-and-a-half lines have inexplicably disappeared from the middle of my first paragraph! I don't know if it was a typo or an editorial decision, but the rest of the paragraph doesn't make much sense anymore. So, just for the sake of my own self-satisfaction (and to prove that I can carry logical points through a paragraph!), here's the original version of the first paragraph of my review (with brackets around the bits that were missing):
"Firethorn is the first book in a high-fantasy trilogy which takes the trope of medieval warfare and explodes it. Near the end of the novel, while sitting in an army camp and waiting for battle, Firethorn, the heroine, wonders at her own earlier naiveté: [she’d never guessed at the cruelty beneath the splendour of the tales and songs. True, there is honour and adventure in Firethorn, as well as a rare and fragile, all-too-human love.] But there is also grime and dirt, and in a medieval culture based on rigid social divisions, Firethorn’s own adventures are the sort that will never be stitched onto a tapestry or turned into a heroic ballad."
(If you're curious, you can read the rest of the review in the current Interzone (which also includes cool short stories by Jeremy Tolbert and others!).)
In an experimental mood, I wrote an actual science fiction (!!!) story yesterday...well, okay, not a hard science fiction story, but still, it's the first time I've even tried to write any science fiction in a while. Woohoo! I'll let it sit a while and then decide what to do about it.
Meanwhile, we're still sick, but getting better, and we have strawberries to eat this afternoon. Yay! Things are improving.
Of course, I also got to experience the downside of book reviewing the other day...the new issue (No. 199) of Interzone includes my review of Sarah Micklem's Firethorn--and one-and-a-half lines have inexplicably disappeared from the middle of my first paragraph! I don't know if it was a typo or an editorial decision, but the rest of the paragraph doesn't make much sense anymore. So, just for the sake of my own self-satisfaction (and to prove that I can carry logical points through a paragraph!), here's the original version of the first paragraph of my review (with brackets around the bits that were missing):
"Firethorn is the first book in a high-fantasy trilogy which takes the trope of medieval warfare and explodes it. Near the end of the novel, while sitting in an army camp and waiting for battle, Firethorn, the heroine, wonders at her own earlier naiveté: [she’d never guessed at the cruelty beneath the splendour of the tales and songs. True, there is honour and adventure in Firethorn, as well as a rare and fragile, all-too-human love.] But there is also grime and dirt, and in a medieval culture based on rigid social divisions, Firethorn’s own adventures are the sort that will never be stitched onto a tapestry or turned into a heroic ballad."
(If you're curious, you can read the rest of the review in the current Interzone (which also includes cool short stories by Jeremy Tolbert and others!).)
In an experimental mood, I wrote an actual science fiction (!!!) story yesterday...well, okay, not a hard science fiction story, but still, it's the first time I've even tried to write any science fiction in a while. Woohoo! I'll let it sit a while and then decide what to do about it.
Meanwhile, we're still sick, but getting better, and we have strawberries to eat this afternoon. Yay! Things are improving.
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