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