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I LOVE China Mieville. I want to make that clear. The end of Perdido Street Station ALWAYS makes me cry. Plus, he’s a smarty-pants who’s also written a book on Marxism and international law. All this gave me VERY high …

Okay, so Lavinia is retelling of the Aeneid, Virgil’s epic poem describing Aeneas’ arrival and conquest of what’s now known as Italy.  Le Guin’s counter-read ends up revamping Lavinia, Aeneas’ BRIDE OF DESTINY, making her a real, vital character. While …

When I was about 13, I read a book called The Explorer by Francis Parkinson Keyes. It does not appear to be available on Amazon or the librarything (or anywhere else I looked), so unfortunately I can’t link to it, but it was definitely an adult romance, and not at all a romance I would expect to be available at a church library.

The “explorer” is a man who makes a living as an heretical archeologist hunting down ruins and then incongruously selling artifacts to collectors…or maybe it was selling books about his adventures. In any case, he was a hedonist, a dashing, exciting, romantic figure, and gone for most of the book outside of the country, much less the state. The book, abnormally for a romance, opens with the man and his to-be love getting married a week after meeting at a (different) wedding. The beginning chapters are full of dialogue between them - actually, the majority of the book is between the man and woman, with very few exceptions - about his past sexual adventures and his opinions about marriage. He is a sexual libertine, of the opinion that a man and woman who are not otherwise attached have nothing to be ashamed of in enjoying each other sexually; but he wants to get married now so he can have a boy and have a good mother for him.

Cut for rape triggers.

The Thirteenth House is the sequel to Mystic and Rider by Sharon Shinn.  Both books, along with the third, Dark Moon Defender, are fantasy-romances set in the mythical kingdom of Gillengaria, and are, unfortunately, fraught with the saccharine …

This was a great read til the last five minutes. Basically, what’s going on is that our narrator, Ariella, is realizing that her dad’s a vampire. Also, she’s realizing that SHE might be a vampire as well. Little things …

Hey y’all. Karnythia at LJ is hosting the upcoming POC SF Carnival.

The topic is People of Color in Young Adult fiction. Submit, submit!

http://karnythia.livejournal.com/1017945.html

Barnes’ alternate history explores the evolution of slavery and racial formations in a world where the West never rose to prominence. The New World is in the process of being conquered by various African empires, and both women and …

File this in books that make you go, “Hmmm.” Dean opens with Arry, a 14 year old Physici. She’s got this role within her community because centuries ago, wizards seeking peace decided to parcel out knowledge and knowledge roles. …

Barnes’ promising first effort introduces the reader to a wild reimagining of turn of the century London. It’s very “The world has moved on” a la Stephen King — technology is on the rise, magic/mystery in the form of …

My goal when I began rereading the Anita Blake books was to finally write up a post centering on Obsidian Butterfly. I wanted to talk about how OB stood out as an awesome treatment of mixed race issues. Because …