(no subject)

[ursula]

My most recent newsletter has good news about a friend and a bunch of book and story recommendations.

Also, Neon Hemlock is running a celebratory 50% off ebooks sale with the code ALLEMPIRESMUSTFALL. If you'd like a personalized rec, let me know what sort of mood you're in or what kind of representation you're looking for!

Comments

[fred_mouse]

Ooh, I'd like a rec. Strong worldbuilding, interesting characters, minimal romance would be my main preferences. Interrogating tropes of the genre and queer characters a bonus.

[ursula]

Queer characters are a given with Neon Hemlock, but the aesthetic leans toward vivid worldbuilding rather than the style of worldbuilding that explains all the details. (The constraint of novella length might affect things here.) Consider:

• Premee Mohamed's And What Can We Offer You Tonight, which is about friendship between sex workers and questions of revenge. If you're curious about Mohamed's writing but in the mood for something cozier, try her Strange Horizons short By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars, about a wizard dealing with burnout.
  
• Iori Kusano's Hybrid Heart, which is a near-future domestic story about an idol (in the musical act sense) struggling with the constraints of her role. (Content warning for disordered eating on this one.)
  

The Transitive Properties of Cheese is heavy on interrogating tropes of the genre; Dragonfly Gambit has a compelling character voice and a propulsive plot, but though there's no good romance there might be too much hate sex for this brief.

[fred_mouse]

Oh, I adored And What Can We Offer You Tonight! And I've just read their The Butcher of the Forest, which I was delighted to find in the local library.

World-building that I believe is more important than worldbuilding that I understand, so all good there. And I don't mind a bit of sex in my fiction (hate or otherwise), I'm just over heavy romance plot lines. I understand why people want them, and sometimes I appreciate them, I ... just don't want to read it at the moment.

Tomorrow I will actually attempt the acquisition of books. Tonight I am a tired mouse, and as such am not allowed to make purchases on Teh Intarwebs.

[fred_mouse]

Finally got my arse in gear to deal with this, was pleasantly surprised to discover that the sale was still going. Even more pleasantly surprised to find that two of your suggestions were in a discount bundle, and that the sale applied to that (I would have bought the bundle at full price, because it was already significantly marked down)

And now I have reading to do!