Lynn E. O'Connacht has an MA in creative writing and English literature. She loves windy days, but hates rain. When she isn't obeying her cats, she is usually found working on secondary world fantasy.

Website: http://www.leoconnacht.com
Twitter: lynnoconnacht

Blog: http://leoconnacht.com/wp/

• Welcome to The Last Unicorn Read-along!
• Punctuation and Me (a ramble of confusion)
• State of the Lynn
• May/June 2013 Goals
• On writin habits of various kinds

changeling    fairies    fairytale fantasy    fantasy    fantasy about a witch    fantasy about shapeshifters    fantasy fiction short story    fantasy romance    fantasy short story    glbtqia    lesbian characters    queer fantasy    quiltbag    short story    steam engine    swan maidens    trains    witch    ya    young adult   

Anna Elliott
Latest book: Georgiana Darcy's Diary / Pemberley to Waterloo Bundle. Published on April 21, 2013.
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Charles de Lint
Latest book: Yellow Dog. Published on May 18, 2013.
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Clare K. R. Miller
Latest book: Golden Hearts. Published on May 4, 2013.
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Elizabeth Fitzgerald
Latest book: Winds of Change. Published on January 8, 2013.
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Elora Bishop
Latest book: The Benevolence Tales, Volume 1: An Original Lesbian Fairy Tale Series (Books 1-3). Published on March 25, 2013. (4.00 from 1 review)
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Jennifer Diemer
Latest book: Seven: A Lesbian Snow White. Published on May 31, 2012. (5.00 from 2 reviews)
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M.C.A. Hogarth
Latest book: Mindtouch (The Dreamhealers 1). Published on June 17, 2013.
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View their blog. Latest post: "All the Books"

Sarah Diemer
Latest book: Winged Things: A Lesbian YA Short Story Collection. Published on May 11, 2013. (4.00 from 1 review)
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• Project Unicorn, Volume 1: 30 Young Adult Short Stories Featuring Lesbian Heroines on Jan. 27, 2013
  
  I'm sad I didn't love this collection unconditionally. I thoroughly enjoyed it (apparently to the point of being unable to type; we'll see if I catch all the typos), but I didn't love it. That always makes me sad. Anyway, a few of the stories felt too short for what they were trying to encompass and that's what's kept me from loving this the way I'd wanted to. Some of the stories also felt unfinished, but there was talk of expanding several stories. Eeee! There was much squeeing when I read about that. Because I would love to revisit some of these stories and learn more about these worlds.
  
• Freedom, Spiced and Drunk on Feb. 10, 2013
  
  This is such a powerful, beautiful and heart-rending story... This was my first encounter with the Jokka (even though this review is written based on a reread), and it introduces the world and society exceptionally strongly. There are one or two instances where I felt it was handled more clumsily than it could have been, and they're all the more startling because throughout the story Hogarth displays an exceptional skill with words. Her control is tight and precise, with little to no words wasted. Kediil's voice is strong and its story compelling, dealing with incredibly tough choices and far-reaching consequences in a very short space of text. I'm happy to recommend it to anyone looking for a good read, especially if they're interested in non-human cultures.
  
• New Stories on Feb. 10, 2013
  
  'New Stories' is a sequel (of sorts) to 'Freedom, Spiced and Drunk'. It's set an undetermined time after 'Freedom' and deals with how the Jokka came to live in fixed settlements. Sort of. That thread is certainly a part of the story, but it's a background thread. And it's awesome. All the world and culture building going on in the background here. I heart. Anyway! The story is chiefly about Serel and its desire to save one of its clan's emodos from a sickness that's already claimed one life. It's a bittersweet story, for what it says and doesn't say about the way the Jokka live and for what it says about Kediil's way of life. I'd advise people to read this back to back with 'Freedom' if they can. They both work as stand-alones but I think reading them together makes them both stronger stories. Because Kediil interacts with more Jokka in this story, we get a far better sense of what it/she gave up. (It's already touched upon in 'Freedom', but we really get to feel it here.)
  
• A Trifold Spiral Knot on Feb. 10, 2013
  
  'A Trifold Spiral Knot' is... a meditative story. It's quiet and calm. It's also quite heavy on the exposition, but Hogarth never turns it into an infodump and it works wonderfully. This piece reflects on the way Jokka live, on what it means to be each gender, on the way their religion/belief influences their lives... It's an introspective piece. Because of that story itself is also slightly less clear-cut. It's actually a fairly simple piece on the surface -- one sibling seeks the other and they bond -- but the way the siblings' viewpoints interweave and overlap, as well as the little glimpses we're given of their history and beliefs make it something far deeper and more complex. If you decide you want to start exploring the world of the Jokka with this piece, be sure you've got another to follow up on it to give you a stronger sense of the world-building!
  
• Money for Sorrow, Made Joy on March 05, 2013
  
  I am so, so sad that we never got to see anything of the exploratory journey that ke Ekanoi and ke Ledin's trading caravan made. Maybe for another tale another time! That out of the way, as the title suggests this is a bittersweet tale. Its twists are a mite predictable in places, certainly if this isn't your first encounter with the Jokka, but that only serves to strengthen their emotional impact. It was so sad... And yet so beautiful and touching, with a delicate range of emotions and Hogarth's strength of world-building quite evident as in all her tales.
  
• One Solstice Night (An Original Lesbian Fairy Tale) (Book 1) on March 05, 2013
  
  This is such a sweet story. I was delighted to hear that Bishop was continuing the series. It's an incredibly comforting and warm story. There's a lot of heart and love in this novella. The relationships between Isabella, Alice and Emily are strongly drawn and each has a very distinct personality. Though we don't get to see a lot of the emotional attraction between Emily and Isabella, there's enough to make it clear that it /is/ more than physical attraction. The writing isn't as tight as in some of Bishop's other works, which is a shame, because the emotional resonance is so incredibly powerful. The story itself is... well, it's a mite predictable, but it's one of those stories where that adds to the appeal. You can snuggle up with this on a cold day and just relax and enjoy. It's sweet and it's fluff and I'll definitely be returning to this whenever I need a comforting read and I've already got the next two novellas/books lined up to be read!
  
• One Imbolc Gloaming (An Original Lesbian Fairy Tale) (Book 2) on March 06, 2013
  
  Take pretty much everything that I didn't quite love about 'One Solstice Night' and toss it into a bin. Now take all the fluff, sweetness and awesome that I loved, add a few spoonfuls of squee and cute and adoration and mix it up until you've got a nice strong mixture. Roll it out like dough, get out your heart-and-or-rose-shaped cookie cutters, sprinkle some sugar over them, put them in the oven and wait. When they're done, you'll have 'One Imbolc Gloaming' cookies. Sort of. I adored this novella and the next instalment in the Benevolence Tales. Fascinatingly, we get to see Isabella interact with her friends and we get an ever stronger sense of Emily's discomfort around crowds/people and being the centre of attention. (Which is really well-done and I just want to applaud Elora Bishop for capturing that feeling so well, especially since the story's narrative leans towards being close-third for Isabella rather than Emily. As an added bonus, that just makes the bond between the two far stronger because it highlights how well Isabella knows Emily.) There's a lot of warmth and friendship in this. Isabella's friends are diverse and, though it's only a short novella and we don't see nearly enough of them, they've all got their own distinct personalities. I wanted more. I had fun seeing Isabella interact with her friends (and her aunt) and I loved seeing the dynamic of the group shift to accommodate Emily and the conflict between Emily and Pye. (Oh, Pye.)
  
• Unspeakable on March 06, 2013
  
  The stories I like best are the ones that hold up on rereading. 'Unspeakable' does not disappoint. It's a little harder to follow along than the four stories before this, partially because it introduces new cultural concepts in a way that assumes the reader/listener already knows them. They do get explained and become clear, but they unfold slowly. This, I think, is the story that made me fall in love with the stories of the Jokka. Their culture is fascinating, the characters here are so round and the emotions are so rich and complex. And oh the way it all weaves together... I am in envy of Hogarth's skill with this world.
  
• Unknowable on March 06, 2013
  
  (N.B. Get a 'Ramble as I read' review this time. Because I could and this is awesome and I feel it captures that awesomeness better this way.) Ekkuli is AWESOME. And just made me stop reading to write this because I'm just too delighted to see more of Ekkuli. (I was expecting that, but... I wasn't expecting it to be even more wonderful than in 'Unspeakable'. I would recommend this for Ekkuli alone.) No! You didn't! Only it says so right there on my ereader screen... *hugs herself* I don't want to read on. I want to stay at this point and dream up my own happy ending because I know it'll be happy. But... So well-written. *torn* Well, that... wasn't quite the ending I was hoping for, but it's the one that fits. And I am glad of it, so glad. I'm not the quietest reader in the world, but it takes a fair amount to get me to shout at a story all the same. And oh I shouted out that no. I giggled at Ekkuli, I felt with Tañel and Anaia, I revelled in their relationships and the ways this story plays with all the many facets of its title. I want to hug this story close and never let it go. It's got a few typos still, but they didn't pull me out of the story. Lastly, even though this is a sequel to 'Unspeakable', you don't need to read that first to follow this along. I'd recommend you do, though. It'll introduce you to the characters and make their relationships even stronger.
  
• One Ostara Sunrise (An Original Lesbian Fairy Tale) (Book 3) on March 21, 2013
  
  Isabella is /adorable/. I love the little touches of life and friendship that Bishop's woven through these books. I love the little matter-of-fact way we learn about the way this world works. I /love/ the love between Emily and Isabella. It's so tangible and the novella is filled with little (and some not so little) details of a loving relationship. I'm so, so glad Bishop decided to continue with these tales after all.
  
• Anadi Dolls on March 21, 2013
  
  I cried at the end of this. There's just... so much pain in this story. Although I was delighted to see Jekun finding a place for itself and peace with itself. It's just that... I think this is the first story where we've seen the perspective of a jokkad who derives her whole identity from being anadi, and who loses that identity and wants it back despite knowing what it will mean for herself in the end... That's a pain that's present in every single story of the jokka (that I've read to date), true, but it's always been peripheral and here it's centre stage. It was heartbreaking. I am so thrilled with how the story twisted and wound up in the end, but Jekun's sullenness and rebelliousness and the gradual, quiet acceptance as it learns what being eperu will mean for it... so painful to read.
  
• The Aphorisms of Kherishdar on March 24, 2013
  
  If I've ever read stories as gentle and meditative as these, it's been so long ago that I don't remember it. I wish I had an idea of what to compare this collection to because I'd like more stories like these, please, world. Word and language lovers will be delighted by the format of these pieces. Each tale starts with a (conlang) word and its definition and then proceeds to tell a short story revolving around the concept. It's a /gorgeous/ idea and incredibly well executed. The stories themselves are brief and, if I'm brutally honest, ultimately unsatisfying in the way that stories that make you go "But I want more!" tend to be. Hogarth's introduction to Ai-Naidar society is even more subtle than in her Jokka shorts and the glimpses we get are fascinating. We learn very little about the narrator, but we learn enough and there's a definite overall line running through these tales. The writing is as gorgeous as ever. It's lush and vivid and a delight to read. The stories... aren't quite comfort reading in their content, but that's exactly how I wound up experiencing the collection: as something soothing and warm. They're delightful little gems, reflective and multifaceted and my only regret in reading this is that the stories and the collection aren't longer.
  
• The Bear Prince on March 29, 2013
  
  Even though these are folk or fairytales for a fictional world, these three tales can be read on their own easily. You can trace the fairytales McCoy drew on to tell at least the shorter two of the tales. I /loved/ 'The Bear Prince'. It was utterly delightful and I foresee myself opening this ebook at random intervals just to reread it. 'The Princess and the Sheep's Wool' suffered a little from the fact that I haven't encountered the world these tales are set in before, but that wouldn't have bothered me one whit had I read this at a younger age. I would have adored it all the more for the way it so strongly ties into a different culture, actually, so it may be a bit hit-and-miss for readers on the whole. Still. I thoroughly enjoyed this little collection and only wish there'd been more of these folktales in the collection to enjoy.
  
• The Benevolence Tales, Volume 1: An Original Lesbian Fairy Tale Series (Books 1-3) on March 31, 2013
  
  First off, I'll admit that I haven't actually reread the novellas this time around. I've already read all of them, uh, last month, so I wouldn't have anything new to say about them. To recap: Isabella is adorable. Emily is awesome. Their relationship fills me with all the melting because it is SO SWEET and they go off and have adventures. I wish for three things regarding these stories: 1) I wish they were longer so I had MORE goodies 2) I wish they'd been available when I was a child/teen 3) Failing 2, I wish I could travel back in time to give them to child/teen me. I would have loved them. I mean, girls being girls and feminine and themselves and going off to have adventures and capable of rescuing themselves? YES PLEASE! Also, did I mention that Isabella and Emily are fantastic together? Because they are. But what I got the omnibus for is the extras. The omnibus edition features a short story starring Alice, Isabella's cat Familiar, an interview with Isabella and Emily and a couple of spells from Isabella's spellbook. I'll admit that the short story didn't blow me away. I'm /very/ picky about my non-human protagonists and I'm afraid Bishop doesn't quite manage to pull it off for me. I never really got a good sense of Alice's cat-shape and how that affects the narrative. Her behaviour, yes. Cat personality, yes. Cat-shape, no. Beyond that, seeing a younger Isabella just melted me with cute (and some of the story seemed to foreshadow later developments, so I do hope we'll get to see LOADS more). I'd definitely recommend it if you've enjoyed any of the previous novellas because we don't really get to see terribly much of Alice and she's a fun character when we do see her about. The interview is also very sweet, if a little short. Bishop manages to distinguish between Emily and Isabella's voice very well, so you're not liable to mistake one for the other. Better yet, the interviews add another bit of depth to the world of Sapphira and the characters. It's especially welcome for Emily since we get to know very little of her backstory in the novellas to date. It's a really neat touch that I think people who enjoy the novellas will appreciate. All in all, a very nice collection.
  
• His Neuter Face on April 02, 2013
  
  OMG! I am in love with this story! And... that seems to be all I've got for you. I think one of the reasons I do love this story so much is because it stands in such a stark contrast to the others I've read. This tale still has sadness and the constraints of their culture's traditions in abundance, but... there's so much hope and gentleness within this piece. There's pain and adaptation and choice and pride and jealousy and love. There's a struggle to find one's identity not just as an individual, but also as a group. And oh the cultural little details. Hogarth does sometimes repeat details between the stories, but she does so in a way that's natural to those stories. I always feel like I'm learning something new about their society with each story I read. It's a fascinating journey. That said, I'm not sure whether I'd recommend interested readers to start with 'His Neuter Face'. Like all the others it stands alone, but I'm worried that perhaps it's a little too much information in too short a text. (Not that I'd be complaining if Hogarth decided to write more about House Keloi! I'd be delighted.) Of course, I didn't start with this story and I've had a fairly slow build-up of many, if not all, of the themes present in this novelette throughout the other stories. I am, therefore, at least slightly biased. I just think you'll be getting more out of the story by reading at least a few of the others first.
  
• The Smell of Intelligence on April 02, 2013
  
  Um. What do I say about this book(let)? It's not my favourite story of the jokka, and I think that's pretty much down to the fact that it relies on implication far more than the others; it's a lot less transparent and requires more effort. I'd have liked it to be a tad less subtle, though that does fit with the narrative. As a story, if you're reading them in order, you're back to at best bittersweet and really durned creepy at worst. I wouldn't advise people to start with this tale. Fatha Gesha-emodo isn't the most typical jokkad protagonist and the shadowed implications for society as a whole probably won't pack as much punch if you're not quite aware of how their society works. The story is extremely tightly focused and doesn't really pause to fill the reader. It just hints at what one needs to know, assumes one already knows it, and isn't long enough to fill one in as one goes along. That said, I enjoyed it and I hope we'll get to see some of the implications of this story worked out in the books I've got left to read.
  
• Fire in the Void on April 02, 2013
  
  I thoroughly enjoyed this. I enjoyed seeing Keshul's reaction to his readings. I enjoyed the potential implications of it all and his struggle to deal with it. I enjoyed the brief scenes of when he got home and the variety of emotions he went through. It's a very quiet story. It's more of a slice-of-life piece that intersects briefly with plot. It's awesome. I love pieces like that. The way they hint at something greater and never follow it because it's not the focal piece. And yet... despite the tragedy shifting about the darkest shadows of this piece, and despite Keshul's own beliefs that he's a charlatan... There is warmth and cosiness in this. It's not a long story (a little under 6,000 words), but it's the kind of story that makes me love short fiction. It packs a grand punch in terms of exploring how the patron affects him and what that means for his belief. Since it's only a short story it doesn't really affect him, but you can see the tendrils. I'm looking forward to 'Pearl in the Void' which will see much more of Keshul. *squee*
  
• Stone Moon, Silk Scarves on April 02, 2013
  
  I wish this had been longer. Just a tad so we could have gotten a slightly stronger sense of Pathen's relationship with the heads of House Laisira, but that's more "I want more. T-T Why isn't there more of the awesome?" than it is "It needs more to work". It works fine. I just... want more of it. In 'Stone Moon, Silk Scarves' we get to see some of the fall-out of 'The Worth of a Shell'. Moar world-building goodness on top of everything else! Yes! And Pathen... Oh, Pathen... I loved all the characters in this, but Pathen is so wonderfully complex and conflicted and grumpy and the ending...
  
• The Legend of the Morning Star on April 02, 2013
  
  Well worth a read! McCoy has a wonderful flair for telling fairytales that read familiar and yet are unlike any I've seen. I loved the asides and the tone of this. It was, as another reviewer said, "creepy in the way that good fairytales are". It was a wonderful, intense read.
  
• The Admonishments of Kherishdar on April 02, 2013
  
  These tales, as the title suggests, are darker than 'The Aphorisms of Kherishdar' (which you'll have read first if you're reading them in order). They're as subtle, though, and I'm afraid that means the world-building is handled a touch /too/ subtly for me in this. These stories deal with the darker side of Ai-Naidar society, but I never really got a strong enough a feel for the world to be as affected by the tales as I could have been. It suits the tales that are being told, but it doesn't make for the easiest of immersions. The prose is as lovely as ever. Hogarth experiments a bit with some of the styles in this story, but they work and enhance the tale that's being told. The implications of some of these stories are haunting and the order of them is chilling. (Just wait until you reach the last story. *shudder*) But I feel like this is a collection best, ah, enjoyed (given the topics 'enjoy' isn't the right word, but) once you've learned more about Ai-Naidar culture and civilisation than I had. It's got a /lot/ of potential and it certainly has loads of food for thought, but I never really connected with it the way that I'd wanted to.
  
• The Dragon Maker on April 05, 2013
  
  "The Dragon Maker" is part fantasy story, part ecological commentary, part meditation on the meaning of art. Unfortunately, it's also very heavy on the telling, so I never quite got to experience the latter two aspects as much as I might have. Still, despite that, I enjoyed the read. Baxter packed a fair amount into her short story and it did ask me to think about the relationship between an artist and their works. Baxter sets the piece firmly on a futuristic Earth, only hinting at many of the changes, and I wish the story had been a bit longer so we could have spent more time seeing them. The way she sets art and technology apart, while I don't agree with it, was an aspect I would have liked to have seen explored in more depth.
  
• Meet me at the Gates on April 05, 2013
  
  "Meet Me at the Gates" is a companion piece to an upcoming novel. It shows as the story ends on a cliffhanger and isn't the most satisfying read because of it. It's a teaser piece, perhaps almost a prologue, and works very well as one, but you're left wondering where the rest is. Who are the narrator and Joseph? How did they meet? (How did they avoid detection for as long as it sounds like?) What will happen next? (Will it really be what the narration implies? If not, how is it avoided?) I admit that I was never truly drawn into the prose or the narrator's mindset, but that's actually par the course for me. The descriptions of the narrator's building anxiety and its resolution was well-done and the ending unexpected. It was a quick read, made the more unsatisfying by the knowledge that the novel itself isn't available yet, but I enjoyed it well enough. I just wish it'd been a bit longer or that the novel this accompanies was already available.
  
• Dueling Magics: A Kat, Incorrigible Short Story on April 05, 2013
  
  A confession: I haven't read any of the "Kat, Incorrigible" books. This is set between the first and the second book, but you don't really need to have read the first to follow along. You'll be spoiled QUITE a bit if you haven't, be warned, but the story does stand on its own well. I enjoyed it. I wasn't (still am not) sold on the first couple of paragraphs (or the setting, really), but the story picks up very quickly and it's made me more inclined to see out the books. Kat's a fun characters, mischievous and smart and the relationship between her and everyone is delightful to read about and, for me, the way it spoiled the first book only made me more curious about how, exactly, everything happened. You'll no doubt get far more out of the story if you've read at least the first book, but it also serves as a fun, quick introduction to the world and the characters, so if you're unsure whether you'll click with Burgis' style or story (and don't mind spoilers), it's a great story to pick up.
  
• Wishes and Regrets on April 05, 2013
  
  Awww... This is a very bitter-sweet story with a few nice twists and a lovely interaction between the characters. I wish it'd been through one more round of content editing to tighten the plot and povs up a bit more, but the premise of the story is bittersweet and I really liked the way the relationship between Darrel and Madison developed. I was pretty happy with the way Madison struggles with how much she believes Darrel's tale, too.
  
• The Fairy's Plight on April 05, 2013
  
  "The Fairy's Plight" is a quite enjoyable piece of flash fiction. While I wish Dune had managed to pull me into the fairy's emotional state a bit more than she managed and while I'm not entirely convinced by the ending, I was actually surprised by how much the ending amused me.
  
• Pearl in the Void (Stone Moon Trilogy 2) on April 08, 2013
  
  I was going to say intelligent things about this book. I promise I was. But then I actually read it and any and all intelligent things went away and I want to put this books in the hands of bloggers and reviewers who are /really/ good at saying intelligent things because there is /so much/ to be said about everything, about the relationship between the sexes, jokkad spirituality, divination, morality, society, history, how history is shaped, storytelling, friendship, loyalty, fate, LOVE... I'm probably missing scads, but it is ALL there. And it is awesome and glorious and I squeed from the very first sentence and I went (with joy) and I feared and I was swept away by the story and kept guessing and second-guessing and getting it wrong. (O_O I know I'm not nearly as intelligent as some, but it's actually reasonably rare for stories to blind-side me so utterly as this did.) I loved it and I hearted it and I wanted to hug Keshul so, so much and I am scared of Roika, partially because he makes /so much sense/ it is utterly terrifying and I shudder to think what would become of Ke Bakil if Keshul had actually liked him. It was fantastic to see more of the Stone Moon empire and I loved Keshul because he is awesome and I keep saying that about all the Jokkad narrators, it feels like, but. Well, you'll understand when you've read a fair amount of them. And reading this, learning more about their history... (Fascinating, wondrous things they are.) It makes me want to reread all the shorts again because I have a far stronger framework. I spent so much time thinking back on what I'd read and tracing out what led them to this point because, make no mistake, a /lot/ of what you read in the short stories has bearing on this book. I mean, you don't have to read them and I think I might advise reading them afterwards, but whichever order you choose will add oh so much depth to them and I'm so glad I found these NOW because I only had to wait a little while for the whole trilogy. It's been oh so long since I've fallen so hard for a book. I want to get everyone all the copies. *in so much book love*
  
• A Bloom in the North (Stone Moon Trilogy 3) on April 12, 2013
  
  (Not sure what happened, but it didn't post all of my review, so this is a repost and hopefully the whole thing shows up this time.) tl;dr version #1: ZOMG! SO AWESOME! EVERYONE GO GET COPIES OF THESE BOOKS RIGHT NOW. tl;dr version #2: I loved these books. So much. 'Bloom' is all kinds of quiet awesome and answers so many questions and ties everything so strongly together and then adds new things. *hearts* 'Bloom' made me so happy when I finished it. (Sad to leave, but mostly overjoyed at everything. Well, almost everything.) 'Bloom' is not filled with as many surprise!twists as 'Pearl' was, and this is a good thing. It's still filled with twisty, plotty awesome, but they're often twists and turns that you can see coming and that make you jump up and shout "I KNEW IT!" at your book and do a little happy-dance of squee while holding it. Uhm... Weird analogy, bear with me. 'Pearl' is like when you're a child trying to sleep ever though there are monsters under the bed waiting for when the light goes out before they attack you in your sleep. 'Bloom' is like the blankie your parents give you to calm your dreams at night. Ish. I did tell you to bear with me. ^-~ (Yeah, sensible analogies? Not my strong point.) But... yes. 'Bloom' is a lot... quieter than 'Pearl' was. It was a treat to read them so close together, even though I think it /is/ possible to read this as a stand-alone. (There would be spoilers for both previous books, but, I think, not the kind that ruin those books, more the kind that intrigue. Like a really, /really/ long back-cover text.) And it answers oh so many questions about Ke Bakil and the Jokka. I was hoping we'd learn more about those answers, but the way Hogarth delivered on those answers, the light it sheds on every single one of the stories before 'Bloom'... I was thrilled. And LINGUISTIC SHIFTS, people! Oh my love for that. *all the hearts* I loved the fact that the trilogy ends with Thenet's narration. When I noticed that there were narrators listed at the top of each part, I admit that I cheated and looked up who the narrators were and I wasn't sure how it was going to work, but oh the sense it makes. It's been a long, a very long, time since I read a series of books that made me so happy. And these books did. Right now, I can't even be sad that there are no more new-to-me stories featuring jokka (that I know of) because that ending just made me way, way too happy to do anything other than squee. I loved Pathen. I loved seeing patterns from the short stories return. I loved the relationships between the characters. And Darsi and Hesa and OMG! Abadil!
  
• Kitty Bennet's Diary on April 22, 2013
  
  Disclaimer note: Anna is a friend. I have friendship-bias, but she's simply an amazing storyteller. *heart* Kitty's diary is the third in a series, but it's perfectly possible to read it on its own. You'll be a bit spoiled for the first two and you'll miss out on the start of Kitty's character arc, but it functions perfectly well as a stand-alone book. (I dare bet you don't even have to have read Jane Austen to enjoy this.) If I have any complaints about this book (and the series as a whole), it's that it follows the idea that all women NEED a romantic relationship with a man to be fulfilled in life a little more than I'd wanted. That said, the strong points of Anna's romances is that they are NEVER about the physical. Characters are always draw to one another because of some mental or emotional attraction. The physical is secondary. (Good thing too; I do not get on with romances where the attraction is purely physical.) And Kitty is a wonderful character. She's sassy and snarky and sweet with a touch of a temper, and she's dealing with some pretty dark stuff. (PTSD, if you're curious.) She's assertive and yet constrained by the society she lives in. It's been a delight to read about Kitty's adventures and friendships. The plot is fast-paced with many a tense moment, but the book is really all about the characters and their relationships together, about friendship and self-discovery. And romance. I mean it IS a romantic story. Of course there's romance. ^-~ Thoroughly enjoyed it and it's made me eager to reread the first two in the series.
  
• The Bard's Daughter (A Gareth and Gwen Medieval Mystery) on May 16, 2013
  
  I'm very tempted to describe this as a cosy mystery. I don't read pure mystery too often, so I don't know if people who do feel it fits there, but it was a very cosy read and a mystery, so. Cosy mystery. The book is a prequel to Woodbury's Gareth and Gwen Medieval Mysteries, which I haven't yet read. I picked this up in the hope that it would be a good introduction to the world and Woodbury's style. I'm definitely interested in reading more! I really enjoyed this. The story itself isn't... very meaty, I suppose is a good way to describe it? It's comfortable it doesn't twist and turn too much. It's not necessarily predictable, but neither is it very surprising. Gareth doesn't actually show up in this story. He gets mentioned as he and Gwen have a past (and it sets up part of the reason I'm interested in reading on: how will these two meet up again and what happens after that?), but it's largely a story of Gwen's origins. This is the story of how Gwen became a medieval sleuth, if you want the simplest way to describe the plot. Gwen is a young woman in medieval Wales, who's spent her life travelling with her father and brother, following the music. When her father is accused of murdering a man, Gwen doesn't believe the accusation and sets about to prove that he's innocent. Before her father is facing execution (something that shocks quite a few people because it's a foreign law), Gwen has no real thought or idea about what she wants to do with her life. She's still unmarried and she has no real trade to speak of, despite people having urged her to find one. Facing her father's execution, she's forced to do an awful lot of growing up in just a handful of days and figure out who she is and what she wants in life. The historical details aren't ones I can vouch for in terms of accuracy, but they work well within the story that Woodbury is telling. There's a strong sense of societal upheaval and change in this short novella and it's a fascinating look in what changes in government might mean for a society. I look forward to exploring more of Woodbury's work!
  
• Myth, Magic and Glitter: A Lesbian YA Short Story Collection on May 16, 2013
  
  This is the second-latest (as of this writing) magazine instalment of the Diemers' Project Unicorn. It's their best yet! I /loved/ these stories and couldn't pick you a favourite if you forced me to. They were all phenomenal. These stories all take on existing myths (something the Diemers have a strong record with) from various cultures. So far, the Diemers have stuck fairly close to western myths and fairytales in their retellings, but this sees them branch out into a few other cultures as well. There's "A Myth of Ashes" which cleverly combines Cinderella with an even older myth, but I don't want to spoil it for you. You'll probably pick up on it quite quickly when you start reading, but I think it's the more powerful because of that. There's "When Thou Wakest" which is as much scifi as it is fantasy and a strong take on origin myths in general. There's "Even in Another Time" which I wished tied the storylines a little more tightly together because I would have loved it even more. There's "Phasma" which it would not surprise me in the least to learn it was inspired at least partially by Tam Lin. There's "True if by Sea" which is their first venture into a trans* story and may be one of my favourites for the sheer amount of hope and love in it. There's "Speak of the Devil" which is a darker tale, a poem rather, about the Jersey Devil. It's not at all what you might expect. It's also easily the darkest of the stories in the volume and it feels a tad out of place because of that, but it's still a good tale. There are more tales and most of these are freely available on their website if you want to try them before you buy, but they're worth every penny. I loved this little collection and I look forward to their next works!
  
• Winged Things: A Lesbian YA Short Story Collection on May 16, 2013
  
  This is the latest (as of this writing) magazine instalment of the Diemers' Project Unicorn, and it follows up the quality that they delivered in 'Myth, Magic and Glitter'. Some of these stories see the return of an issue I had with earlier volumes in that the stories don't feel finished. For example 'Aphrodite Has a Daughter' is over before its plot even has a chance to start properly. This makes sense when you know it's an introduction to a novel-to-be (as I did), but might make a reader feel cheated if they didn't know. Sometimes I felt like the stories could have benefitted from a little more length to introduce elements more strongly, such as in 'Flower Constancy' where the ending felt a little too abrupt. Largely, these stories weren't what I was expecting and that probably does bias me a little because it means I never enjoyed this as much as I was hoping I would. It also means every story surprised me, though, because none of these stories ever went where I was expecting them to go. I loved that. I enjoyed these. It's an odd mixture of the quality of 'Myth, Magic and Glitter' with some of the lack-of-polish from the first few volumes. My favourite is probably either 'Solitary Birds' by Jennifer or 'Unwanted Things' by Sarah, with a close third runner-up being 'The Bee Telling' (again by Sarah). These were the stand-out pieces for me. 'Solitary Birds' was beautiful. It ended at just the right spot for me to want to shout "But you can't end it there! The story's not over yet!" except that I /know/ that's not true. It's a perfect ending spot for a short story. And it doesn't spell everything out and the descriptions of Emerald are wonderful and the communication barrier... It was lovely. 'Unwanted Things' manages to carry a strong environmental message as well as everything else. I quite liked these fairies (well, this fairy) and I /loved/ the concept! And 'The Bee Telling' is so sad. But I do so want to learn more about this world and the philosophies behind bee telling. Lovely collection, as always.
  
• The Butter Spirit's Tithe on May 16, 2013
  
  If you haven't read 'Forests of the Heart' and don't want spoilers, don't read so much as the description for this story. There are spoilers and they're fairly big. This is set after the events of 'Forests of the Heart' and in some ways those events still reverberate through this novelette. It's everything you could ever hope for in a Charles de Lint story, except shorter. His sense of writing the more traditional folktale Fair Folk is amazing, and his works never exclude those spirits that were in the lands he writes about before Europeans settled in the land. They're present even in a short piece like this where you might not expect it. The style of the piece is lovely too. I don't think Conn's voice is the strongest voice I've ever encountered in a de Lint story, but it's still good. I enjoyed this. I wasn't expecting the story to have a take on 'Tam Lin' in it, though it makes perfect sense and I loved the way de Lint handled it.
  
• Salome on May 16, 2013
  
  This is, arguably, one of Hogarth's weakest short stories for me. I didn't enjoy it as much as the others. It wasn't as tight as her other works and I didn't find it as easy to follow. It's not a confusing story, but I felt that the way some of the plot and emotions... evolved weren't given in enough detail for me to find them believable. It made me want to backtrack quite often to see what I'd missed. The closest I can come to explaining it is saying that this read like I read a graphic novel. I don't visualise, so I can't fill in the action between panels. Some graphic novels don't work for me because the jump between panels is too big for me to connect them. That said, it's an interesting piece. Hogarth explains very little about the Faraway House or the mysterious Wild. Everything is in place for an incredibly intriguing and powerful little piece. There's the mystery of what's going on with the house, the relationships between Salome and her classmates as well as the residents of Faraway House. They're all in place. It just didn't quite come together for me.
  
• The Perfect Totem on May 16, 2013
  
  I'm glad I decided to pick this up! It's... a tough story for me to talk about, probably because it's very easy to spoil and that'd be a shame. I quite enjoyed it, though! It's an intriguing idea and it's well-executed. It's also quite funny. It's a very easy story to spoil, but I really liked it. Sue's reactions and solutions are lovely to read about.
  
• Snow in Summer, Flowers in Fall on May 16, 2013
  
  This is a beautiful story. I wish we'd seen more of the friendship growing, mostly because of how touching I found the little glimpses that we saw. It wouldn't really have fit with the structure Hogarth is using, though. Part of the story is told through the description of a performance, which is an incredibly effective structure. The performance itself is quite vague, so that's part of the hook. I really wanted to know what it was about and what inspired it! It's also a poignant tale. It's not very long, but it has a lot of substance to it. Pretty much everything is hinted at and it just whets your (well, mine certainly) appetite for more. We learn very little about the Khedariens, for all that we learn enough to understand the events in the story. We learn very little about their interactions, again for all that we do learn enough about them to satisfy. There are no loose ends that need tying, just a fascination with the setting and a desire to know how. I... won't say that I enjoyed it because it was too filled with tragedy for that, but it was something I'm glad I read. It was a wonderfully executed, powerful read.
  
• The Case of the Poisoned House and Other Xenopsychiatric Studies on May 16, 2013
  
  As the title suggests, this is a collection of case studies. Most of these are flash fiction, so many of them aren't as fleshed out as you might want them to be to get a good sense of the setting and the characters. At least, it was that way for me. I wonder if it'd be different for someone who visualises things. Anyway! I enjoyed this all the same. The descriptions of the characters do come together over the case studies, but if you're like me you might just want to read them in reverse order. Jahir and Vasiht'h are lovely characters to read about, both in their relationship and their personalities. These case studies feel a little more subdued than most of Hogarth's other works (well, which I've read), but that's probably the length of them. They're very brief and they were quite... comforting to settle into, despite the topics the stories sometimes deal with.
  
• The Snow Maiden, or the Case with the Holiday Blues on May 16, 2013
  
  This story filled me with d'aaaaw and squee. Arguably, with this being a winter holiday story, I read this as entirely the wrong time of the year and I'd have enjoyed it more around Christmas, but I wouldn't have wanted to wait that long. This was sweet and adorable and just a bunch of happy-making fluff. I laughed and giggled and squealed to see how Jahir and Vasiht'h solved the problem before them. It was heart-warming and tender.
  
• Family on May 16, 2013
  
  This third story of Jahir and Vasiht'h is possibly the easiest one to settle into by virtue of being the longest and, therefore, having the most room for concrete descriptions. All the same, I'd recommend reading them in the suggested order. The story /does/ presume readers already have an idea of who the characters are and what their relationship to one another is. The story itself reads more like science fantasy than straight-up scifi. The Eldritch are very elf-like -- this is intended; they're an absolutely fascinating bunch, even if this story might want to make you throw up your hands in despair and shout at them. Not that it'd help. -- and it's not at all what I was expecting. Hogarth always manages to surprise me (pleasantly so!) with the ways her plots twist and turn and this... I read it straight after 'The Snow Maiden', so my reading met with that odd little disconnect you get sometime when you're reading vastly different moods in a row? Like that, but it was also the slight disconnect of being reintroduced (briefly) to characters I'd last seen a few minutes ago, if that long. I'd suggest putting a bit more distance between your reading than I did, however tempted you might find it to carry on, because it meant I took longer to settle into the story. I'm trying to find words to talk about this novella, but I seem to be falling short. I'm still a little unsure of how the mindlink works, but I don't think that's down to Hogarth's writing. I wish we'd seen a little more of the Alliance, but it'd have been a brief novel to satisfy me and my curiosity (and we have, I believe, two full novels coming up at some point, so eeee!). The Eldritch are fascinating and the things we learn about them in this story are... Well, you really need to read about them if you want to do them justice. There's a lot to learn and keep straight and this particular story has a lot of xenophobia and bias in its plot. It's strangely harrowig to read. I say strangely because it doesn't feel all that harrowing when you're reading. There's so much warmth, friendship and love as well. The harrowing is more of an undercurrent that rises up and sweeps you away once you take a moment to think about what everything says. (This may not make sense, sorry.)
  
• Dog Boys on May 16, 2013
  
  If you've never read anything by Charles de Lint before, 'Dog Boys' strikes me as a very good way to introduce yourself to his works. It's strongly urban fantasy and, if I recall the term he prefers, mythic fantasy. The setting is incredibly powerfully described; the conflict is tense and believable; he characters are well-drawn and so diverse. I love the way de Lint weaves magic into our world because it feels so utterly and entirely natural. This is storytelling at its finest.
  
• Dharma on May 16, 2013
  
  I'm not sure what to think of "Dharma". It reads very much like a de Lint story (as you'd expect, really), but it's never clicked with me the way his work usually does and I can't put a finger on why. Maybe it's the setting. It's a bit further back in time than most of the stories I've read and I don't really have a lot of connection to (or, to be honest, interest in) the time-frame of the story. Anyway! It's still a good story. It's got a strong setting, a good voice, a wonderful mix of the mundane and the magical. It just didn't quite click with me.
  
• Sheriff Poole & The Mech Gang on May 16, 2013
  
  I admit that I'm still fairly new to de Lint's work, but 'Sheriff Poole & The Mech Gang' strikes me, in some ways, as very different from his other works. It was a wonderful little piece, mixing a bit of western with a bit of steampunk with a whole lot of de Lint's eye for detail and subtlety. It's a story that lends itself well to rereading. It doesn't give the reader all the (or even easy) answers, which I found to work in its favour. It creates a far stronger sense of mystery about the piece. And, as usual, de Lint surprised me entirely with the ending. I'm a little torn on it, but mainly because while this is a self-contained story there's still far more to it. I hope we'll get a sequel (or a prequel; I'm not picky) story someday! I didn't want to leave this world behind yet.
  
• That Was Radio Clash on May 16, 2013
  
  'That Was Radio Clash' is a quiet little piece, more introspective than action-packed. It was a treat. It's filled with a deep love of music and life. I loved the idea and the premise behind the story and the way it all unfolded.
  
• Companions to the Moon on May 16, 2013
  
  'Companions to the Moon' isn't quite what you'd expect. Any more would be spoilers. It also... felt unresolved to me. I'm not sure how much of that is down to the writing and how much of it is simply down to my expectations being so different. It's also a fair bit more... Euro-centric than de Lint's work normally is. This lacks the diversity that marks pretty much all of de Lint's other works (that I've read). I suspect I'll like the story a bit more on a reread because I'll know what to expect of it. It's not a bad story, but out of all the works I've read I do feel it's one of his weakest purely because I don't think it quite pulled off the way it veered from my expectations.
  
• Jack in the Green on May 16, 2013
  
  Five sentence summary? "Robin Hood in the desert". I hope you don't need more reason to be intrigued than that. As you might expect the story has a strong sense of morals running through it, and I did feel that some of the points were a little heavy-handed and didn't suit de Lint's subtlety and world-building at all. Beyond that, it's a powerful story. Maria is an intriguing character, the more so in the latter part of the story. The magic is, as always, incredibly organic and the different views de Lint gave on it and the different ways it interacted with people was wonderful. Structurally, the story shifts between the present day and some of the things Maria and Luz got up to when they were younger and how they drifted apart. It's a good choice, adding additional depth to their friendship and creating an even stronger sense of place. I would happily, happily recommend this. It's a beautiful story.
  
• Frisland Stories: Eleven Tales of Folk Magic on May 16, 2013
  
  These eleven stories are all tied together through more than just place. I wasn't really expecting that, I admit. The characters weave in and out of each other's stories in fascinating ways. The writing itself could use a little polish. The voice isn't as strong as it could be, tenses weren't handled as well as they could have been, and the sense of place could have been firmer. I was so sad that it didn't entirely convince me because there are so many brief flashes where it took my breath away with how well they were done. Anyway! The stories themselves were lovely. They're a mingling of tales I know and tales I didn't, presumably because they're unique to Frisland/Silvester. I have a soft spot for folktales retold this way, to see how they spin out within a vastly different culture and yet remain familiar too. They play with your expectations too. The stories themselves are varied, dealing with friendship, love, greed, magic, longing, belonging, grieving... I loved the connections between all the stories. Sometimes it was just someone getting mentioned and other times it was someone showing up briefly or playing a more active role. Andry, a young boy we meet briefly in the first story, later gets a tale of his own. The dragon gets seen again. Etc. There is no overarching plot line -- it didn't even feel like the stories were entirely chronologically ordered -- but there's still... something that speaks of progress and growth throughout the collection. It was a delightful read!