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Reading Check-In: December 3, 2022

The last few weeks have been very busy for me. Work and life has kept me occupied; and, while I haven't read as many books as I wanted, I've been able to read enough to write up some reviews and, hopefully, reach my reading goals by the end of this year. What have I finished… Continue reading Reading Check-In: December 3, 2022

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Why You Need to Read: “Skeleton Song”

Wayward Children, #0.7: “Skeleton Song” By Seanan McGuire Published: October 26, 2022 Genre: Fantasy, Short Story ***This short story can be read for free here on Tor.com. ***Thank you TorDotCom Publishing for sending a copy of this story to me.             It was strange and fleshy, shaped as a skeleton was shaped, but with a covering… Continue reading Why You Need to Read: “Skeleton Song”

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Why You Need to Read: “In Mercy, Rain”

Wayward Children, #2.5: “In Mercy, Rain” By: Seanan McGuire Published: July 18, 2022 Genre: Fantasy, Short Story ***This short story can be read for free here on Tor.com.             So Jack Wolcott, twelve years old and innocent of how much danger she had wandered into, grew into her proper place as a mad scientist’s apprentice.             Seanan McGuire… Continue reading Why You Need to Read: “In Mercy, Rain”

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An Analysis of the Genre: Grimdark, Horror & Dark Fantasy

NOTE: This post is a rewrite of an assignment I wrote for a graduate school course. If you would like to read the original essay, then click here. Also, this is written in APA Format. Speculative fiction is the general term used when describing books which fall under the genres of fantasy, science fiction and horror,… Continue reading An Analysis of the Genre: Grimdark, Horror & Dark Fantasy

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Why You Need to Read: “Across the Green Grass Fields”

Wayward Children, #6: Across the Green Grass Fields By: Seanan McGuire Published: January 12, 2021 Genre: Fantasy             It had been so long since there was a human in the Hooflands. She didn’t like to consider what might be ahead of them that was bad enough to require human intervention. Humans were heroes and lightning rods for disaster,… Continue reading Why You Need to Read: “Across the Green Grass Fields”

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Why You Need to Read: “Juice Like Wounds”

Wayward Children, #4.5: Juice Like Wounds By: Seanan McGuire Published: July 13, 2020 Genre: Fantasy, Short Story ***This short story can be read for free here on Tor.com.             They walked west, the three girls: Lundy with her knife, Mockery with her spear, and Moon with her sling. And when the trees loomed before them like the walls… Continue reading Why You Need to Read: “Juice Like Wounds”

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Why You Need to Read: “In An Absent Dream”

Wayward Children, #4: In An Absent Dream By: Seanan McGuire Published: January 8, 2019 Genre: Fantasy             This, then, was Katherine Victoria Lundy: pretty and patient and practical. Not lonely, because she had never really considered any way of being other than alone. Not gregarious, nor sullen, but somewhere in the middle, happy to speak when spoken to,… Continue reading Why You Need to Read: “In An Absent Dream”

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Why You Need to Read: “Beneath the Sugar Sky”

Wayward Children, #3: Beneath the Sugar Sky By: Seanan McGuire Published: January 9, 2018 Genre: Fantasy             The Queen of Cakes would never have been defeated: Sumi had died before she could return to Confection and overthrow the government. Rini wasn’t just saving herself. She was saving a world, setting right what was on the verge of… Continue reading Why You Need to Read: “Beneath the Sugar Sky”

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Why You Need to Read: “Down Among the Sticks and Bones”

Wayward Children, #2: Down Among the Sticks and Bones By: Seanan McGuire Published: June 13, 2017 Genre: Fantasy *Winner of: ALA Alex Award 2018, ALA RUSA Fantasy Award 2018             It did not occur to Jill that Jack’s avoidance, like her own, had been born purely of parental desire and never of a sincere wanting. Their parents… Continue reading Why You Need to Read: “Down Among the Sticks and Bones”

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Why You Need to Read: “Every Heart A Doorway”

Wayward Children, #1: Every Heart A Doorway By: Seanan McGuire Published: April 5, 2016 Genre: Fantasy *Winner of: Hugo Award for Best Novella 2017, Nebula Award for Best Novella 2016, Locus Award for Best Novella 2017, ALA Alex Award 2017             …the wanting. You want to go back, and so you hold on to the habits you… Continue reading Why You Need to Read: “Every Heart A Doorway”