September 25, 2020
I enjoy escaping into space opera, and as a librarian, I enjoy promoting my favorite reads. I loved K.B. Wagers’ The Indranan War trilogy, starting with 2016’s Behind the Throne, which starred a gun smuggler-turned-princess who leveraged her past in negotiating alliances, avenging her family, and stopping wars. So I was excited to hear about A Pale Light in the…
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February 25, 2020
In 2016 (the year reading challenges really took off on the Internet) a good friend asked if I’d like to do a reading challenge. Most of the challenges I’d seen so far that year were fluffy — nothing wrong with popular fiction, etc., but I’d been looking for something different, as was my friend. We are both interested in social…
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January 28, 2020
The library as plot point is one of my favorite things to see or read about. I’m a librarian; I’m biased. I love when characters visit the library or the archives for the sole purpose of doing research: discovering who owned their haunted house, who sealed a supernatural deal, what mystical solar phenomenon is about to happen (again) — or…
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December 24, 2019
Ah, the holidays! Time for the requisite Christmas episode — a staple of almost every television show produced in the United States. Most of these episodes are written as a variation of one of the holiday classics: A Christmas Carol, It’s a Wonderful Life, or How the Grinch Stole Christmas. And oh, my yes, this list of episodes is very…
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November 26, 2019
Are you dreading going to Thanksgiving Dinner and having your cousins make fun of your Star Wars shirt? Or visiting a new-to-you comic shop on Black Friday and getting asked for your comic credentials? Over the holidays, there’s an excellent chance most of us will run into friction at dinners, parties, sales, and so forth. If you identify as a…
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October 22, 2019
Autumn is finally here, and we all know what that means. Despite initially being energized by the arrival of cooler weather, soon we’ll don our favorite tees and sweatpants, huddle under blankets, pull our comfort food close, and hole up for the winter. So of course it’s time to find engaging entertainment. And that’s what I’m here to talk to…
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September 24, 2019
Because I work as a librarian, the way I discover new-to-me books has changed from when I was younger and not a librarian. I see what titles cross the circulation desk; peruse the records in the library catalog; read entries in themed book lists from Barnes & Noble and Orbit; and find books or DVDs when I straighten the library…
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August 27, 2019
If you like ebooks and you’re a writer or publisher, or even just a reader, and your drug of choice is science fiction and fantasy, chances are you’ve heard of Macmillan’s TOR experiment. If you haven’t, let me catch you up on the news. Back in June 2018, Macmillan decided to embargo ebook lending uses of TOR titles. This meant…
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July 23, 2019
How do librarians choose books for their libraries? If you’ve ever asked that question, pull up a beanbag. You’ve come to the right place. But first, a confession. (This is how all good stories start, right?) I didn’t set out to become a librarian. I was going to be an archaeologist or a writer. Or both, I guess. I ditched…
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May 28, 2019
In January 2018, I set myself a goal of reading six translated SFF works. Amatka is my third book. (I know, it’s 2019!) Prior to this, I attempted Eden, by Stanislaw Lem, which I’m sorry to say was a slog, and one of Lem’s admittedly more difficult works; and I Remember You, by Yrsa Sigurdardottir, a properly chilling ghost story…
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