Best of 2017 - Part Four

NOTE: Here, there be hyperlinks!

In honor of Banned Books Week, which will conclude tomorrow, I am posting my Best of 2017 books that have simply blown my mind (and that's not an easy thing to do, though I feel my tastes are wide-spread enough that I'm often more satisfied than disappointed) and wish to share my findings with my readers and visitors...

Last is The Best American Comics 2013 anthology series. This was another surprise gem that wasn't even recommended by a sophisticated online system! This anthology was a happy surprise and showcases a variety of comic stories (strips, excerpts from graphic novels, series, musings, autobiographies, and spec-fic entries) from a variety of professionals in the industry. 

This a thick hardcover and yet surprisingly light so I credit the material they used. Not only is there something for everyone, I would even recommend this title to non-comic readers! Now because of this, I will be finding and acquiring the rest in the series!

THE BEST AMERICAN COMICS 2013 is edited by Jeff Smith, creator of the famed and critically acclaimed "Bone" comic series and series' editors Jessical Abel, comic creator of "Trish Trash" and Matt Madden, comics creator, educator, translator and so forth.

Please pick up THE BEST AMERICAN COMICS 2013 directly from Hamilton Books or where ever books are sold.

P.S. Will be posting at a later date about the wonderful online bookstore (and ISN'T Amazon!) that is Edward R. Hamilton Bookseller!!!

Info on Banned Books Week here: Banned and Challenged Books

Best of 2017 - Part Three

NOTE: Here, there be hyperlinks!

In honor of Banned Books Week, which will conclude tomorrow, I am posting my Best of 2017 books that have simply blown my mind (and that's not an easy thing to do, though I feel my tastes are wide-spread enough that I'm often more satisfied than disappointed) and wish to share my findings with my readers and visitors...

Next is The Secret Loves of Geek Girls anthology and The Secret Loves of Geeks a sequel that will be out in 2018!

I was entranced with this anthology from the get-go. I hugged myself while reading this. For all the other books I'm showcasing, I don't really want to name any favorites as I would want ANY of these books I'm speaking about on a deserted island with me. However, this particular anthology not only showcases four pages of an autobiographical comic by Margaret Atwood but the essays and comic-essays by some of the most notable geek/nerd women in multiple industries. 

The Secret Loves of Geek Girls deals with crushes/infatuations, first love, last love, broken hearts, burgeoning sexuality, puberty, college days, divorces, remarriages, first and only marriages, cohabitation, and romance in all its multilayered beauty and ugliness. 

An eye-opening, page-turner that discusses a margin of what romance and the love life of females who identify as geek and nerd. 

The Secret Loves of Geek Girls is edited by Hope Nicholson and foreword by Kelly Sue DeConnick and front cover illustrator Noelle Stevenson artist for the comic series LumberJanes - Please give this anthology a try!

Info on Banned Books Week here: Banned and Challenged Books

Best of 2017 - Part Two

NOTE: Here, there be hyperlinks!

In honor of Banned Books Week, which will conclude tomorrow, I am posting my Best of 2017 books that have simply blown my mind (and that's not an easy thing to do, though I feel my tastes are wide-spread enough that I'm often more satisfied than disappointed) and wish to share my findings with my readers and visitors...

Next up is Chain Mail Bikini- a comic anthology about female or femme-affirming gamers! 

Any Robert E. Howard fan would know the title is a nod to one of his most famous characters, Red Sonja, the butt-kicking shero/heroine of his Conan the Barbarian series as well as her own series.

I spoke about this anthology many posts before and I will provide that hyperlink when this post goes live. In the meantime, I feel this title deserves a second post review! 

Chain Mail Bikini is a trail mix of delightful ruminations and musings on a little-media-attention topic: girls and women who like to game (video games/board games/role-playing card games, etc) and how it sculpts one's identity, defines an individual, as well as the overall affect on that broader gaming community. 

Now, this may sound lofty and I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. All I know is that as many people as possible need to read this gem of comic "essays" about gamers and the lives they lead - whether offline or online. Whether the favored game is made of paper, in pixels, or penned by a 'circle', the emotions are nevertheless real, the social commentary biting, sexism crackles, and feminism shines. 

As I said before, the comics are a mixed bag: some of the comic art is adorable, some are quite polished, even professional, some are quite rough, while others are drawn somewhat amateurish. But, however the aesthetic might be, this anthology carries a lot of heart. There is no BS. What you see is what you get and the authors aren't here to waste their time or the readers. They are just here to tell you their stories. No Ifs, Ands, or Buts about it. And no spoilers from this reviewer. 

Chain Mail Bikini is guest edited by Hazel Newlevant  and the intriguing front cover (for which I am now a fan of!) by Hellen Jo !

Please pick up Chain Mail Bikini directly from its website (available in PDF, hardcopy) or where ever books are sold.

Info on Banned Books Week here: Banned and Challenged Books

Best of 2017 - Part One

NOTE: Here, there be hyperlinks!

In honor of Banned Books Week, which will conclude in 4 days, I am posting my Best of 2017 books that have simply blown my mind (and that's not an easy thing to do, though I feel my tastes are wide-spread enough that I'm often more satisfied than disappointed) and wish to share my findings with my readers and visitors...

First up is Lightspeed Magazine's(r) ------- Destroy Science Fiction or Fantasy anthology series.

Anybody that knows me knows I love my anthologies! I'm obsessed! Between a novel and an anthology, I would have to be a fan of the author to choose the novel over the anthology. I blame my grade school days. Anthologies are perfect excuses to be introduced to new writers/authors and is a portable library of shorts: fiction, nonfiction, essays, interviews, comics, artwork, and poetry. Anthologies can be in every subject and are perfect for burgeoning and veteran science fiction/fantasy/horror readers.

Lightspeed Magazine's People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction is a meaty (sorry to vegetarians!) collection of hard-hitting stories, mind-opening interviews, and essays from authors of varying ethnic and cultural groups. Science fiction has always been consumed by 'people of color' but those that write it have not been given the media exposure they deserve. People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction means to change that.

Not only did I relate to statements and some life experiences mentioned in author essays and interviews with the anthology, but I was dismayed that authors whom I thought were White turned out to be a different ethnic group! Take for instance Daniel H. Wilson, author of the Robopocalypse series! He's Native American. How many of us know that our First Peoples in the United States are writing speculative fiction? I'm sure many of the most well-read did not know or were aware, and that's tragic, indeed.

Included in this toothsome and almost brick-heavy (it is a bit weighty but so worth it) volume, are various art pieces and illustrations, many created for the stories but also to showcase the range of talent in the spec-fic landscape.

People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction is guest edited by Nalo Hopkinson and Kristine Ong Muslim - Hopkinson is a well-known powerhouse author and Ong Muslim is a writer to watch for!

Each entry in this anthology gives a smaller-font brief bio paragraph on each author and any social media they are on.

Please pick up People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction directly from Lightspeed Magazine or where ever books are sold.

Info on Banned Books Week here: Banned and Challenged Books

From my Facebook post

This graphic novel anthology was recommended to me by Amazon.com. If one reads my "In Pretty Print" Blog, anthologies have been and are very important to my reading/writing life. Who would think that a comic collection about being a female gamer would be a thing?

"Chain Mail Bikini" is not just a nod to Conan the Barbarian's Red Sonja signature yet highly implausible outfit. This comic anthology is created by female and femme-identifying artists.
Each stand-alone story shows how each author connected to different video games. How the gaming life influenced their own lives.

Here are dreamlike tales, coming-of-age, and slice-of-life/memoir-like stories on how playing video games actually informed a life, gave direction, and even set many of the authors on a path to their destiny.

As both, an artist and writer, it's good for me to find such anthologies. Such collections surprise me, delight me, and not only create for these authors new fans. They inspire the best in me as a fellow creator.

More on Martin Greenberg - Part 2

Here is a continuation of my tribute to Editor Martin H. Greenberg and what he did for the genres of science fiction and fantasy. Here are just three of the Daw (publisher) books I have in my home library. 

"Wizard Fantastic" has at least four of my favorite short stories of all time! 

The last "Cat Fantastic" before my dear Andre Norton passed away.

Another title from the "Elf Fantastic" line. 

There are more Greenberg anthologies to upload. In the meantime, view my part 1 blog post about the incredible editor of genre anthologies, Martin H. Greenberg.

http://inprettyprint.blogspot.com/2014/09/rip-martin-h-greenberg-editor.html

R.I.P. Martin H. Greenberg... Editor Extraordinaire

[Blogger's note: in this article, Here There Be Links! Click, if you dare]

Just learned tonight on Twitter that an editor I hold responsible for increasing and cementing my interest in the short story had died *three years ago*!

Martin H. Greenberg was his name, and if you were like me, in the 1990s on up, into speculative fiction AND a lover of the short story, you probably read any of his countless anthologies. That is, by himself or in a collaboration.

For instance, his "Cat Fantastic" series that he co-edited with one of my favorite authors Andre Norton.

I discovered the Cat Fantastic books in 11th grade when our high school had a book fair. I have been drawn to cats all my life. I often read cat-themed books, such as Andre Norton's "Breed To Come" and Tad Williams' "Tailchaser's Song" and that pretty much set me up.

Fast forward nine years later, and I published my first short story.

What does becoming a short story author have to do with Martin H. Greenberg? Well, school, especially in middle and high, English classes encouraged and commanded that the student read a variety of writing styles, the only way to be well-read in such a short time as a semester meant reading an English textbook anthology.

We have all read them, regardless of when we attended school. It is usually the thickest text we have in our book bag, and it will have samples of Shakespeare to Henry James to Virginia Woolf to James Joyce to Phyllis Wheatley. Yet, these stories could either touch us, enlighten us, or fill us with boredom.

The anthology is usually how many readers are introduced to new writers or get re-acquainted with old writers.

So, by the time I found that fateful book at my high school's book fair, I was already inundated by a public school system that had trained me to do much of my reading through short stories and by a variety of them, according to each anthology's theme.

There is a debt to be paid. One that I can never give to Mr. Martin H. Greenberg. I did not have a chance to speak with him, nor had I ever the inkling to communicate with him. What I did was keep buying the anthologies he edited.

Cat Fantastic II introduced me to many of the authors I now read, and to the further possibilities that exist within speculative fiction. I believe reading this anthology and others in the Cat Fantastic series made me a better reader, helped to mold me into a discriminating reader, and inspired me to become a writer and a better one at that.

So Thank You, Mr. Greenberg. I owe you much.