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It's probably no
surprise that I read a lot. It's both an occupational hazard and a
lifelong passion.
My
mother always said that no one taught me to read--I just started taking
the books out of her hands when she'd try to read to me before bed and
insist on reading by myself.
I kept getting in trouble in
my first grade class for being 'disruptive'. The teacher called my
mother in for a conference and my mother basically called the teacher
out for
boring me. She would read aloud to the class and I hated (still do!)
being read to. The teacher was totally unaware that I was already an
independent reader. Once she, at my mother's insistence, gave me my own
books to read, she never heard a peep out of me for the rest of the
year.
I typically read several books at a time, though now
much of my reading is for critique. I also try to support indie authors
and look for new voices.
Over the past several months, I've
read several books that I've really enjoyed. While I don't do
traditional reviewing because I think there is some kind of inherent
conflict of interest with writers reviewing in their own genre, I
thought I would share some recommendations with you.
City of Masks
by Mike Reeves-McMillan is an entertaining fantasy combining
fascinating world building, stylized language, and well realized
characters. A young civil servent, Gregorius Bass, is sent to the
city-state of Bonvidaeo, where by law everyone--citizen or
visitor--must wear a mask and act in character with it. Told in a
series of Bass's journal entries, the story's writing is clean and
flows well. The concept of masks as delineating one's role in society
is a fascinating one and themes of identity, mistaken and otherwise,
give this story a Shakespearian feel.
I won a print copy of The Night Watchman Express
by Allison Deluca in a blog contest. While it's described as steampunk,
I would reclassify this book as magical realism set in Victorian
England. The writing is gorgeous and beautifully evokes its time
period. The main character is an orphan. She becomes the ward of her
late father's greedy business partner and his unpleasant wife. There is
mystery, a nanny who is more than she seemes, an island that can only
sometimes be found, racism, missing royalty, and a train ride
into
evil.
My only complaint is that it is the first in a series and ends in a
cliffhanger.
I picked up The 19 Dragons
by S.M. Reine free on Amazon for my kindle several months ago. I don't
know why
it took me so long to start to read, but I'm glad I finally got to it.
This is quite a steampunk world Reine has created and along with
floating cities and flying machines, in this world there are dragons.
The short book is a series of interconnected stories about the dragons,
who must take human form to escape being hunted for their possessions.
It is also the story of a war that threatens to erase portions
of
the world. The narrative and world are interesting, to be sure, but
what makes this a 'definitely read' is the poetic language and the
sweep and scope of the story.
I hope you enjoy these books as much as I did and would love to get
some of your recommendations in return.
***
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What's
New
I'm
just shy of the 50,000 word mark on DERELICT, my SF novel in progress.
When I had started this story earlier in the summer, I had projected
that with my writing pace, I had a good shot of finishing the first
draft by now.
Unfortunately, as many of you know, my mother
passed away in early September. Even though she had been ill, her loss
was still a shock. I am grateful for the notes of support and
condolences from friends and family as I move through the mourning
process.
I am slowly easing back into the discipline of
writing and fortunately, I had a backlog of chapters so I have been
able to keep to my promise of posting a new chapter each week.
If you would like to read along, you can follow the story either on Wattpad or on its own story
blog.
***
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of page)
This
Issue's Story
Water Bourne was
first written as part of a workshop piece approximately 5 years ago. I
had wanted to explore a different side of the selkie myth and tie it
in, somehow, to the matter of identity. Who are we, when we are seen by
someone else's eyes?
As most of my work, it shifted and turned into this story. I hope you
enjoy it.
***
Water
Bourne
In
a room full of strangers,
she knew she was the strangest. Born of stray thoughts and discarded
memories, she shifted from moment to moment, the raw material of her
self captured by each guest’s
expectations. Now a fine boned beauty with hair as dark and sleek as
seal skin. Now a college co-ed with onyx eyes and a shy smile. Now
one of the caterers, laden with trays and dismissed as soon as
noticed.
Longing
made flesh, she was as
powerless to choose her own transformations as the men and women
around her their desires. In a way, they all shared her curse.
Slipping amongst the revelers, she waited, restless as water, for the
one who had conjured her, the one whose need would bind her to a
single form for the evening.
Looking
up, she lost herself in a tumble of unfamiliar faces. Each, save
hers, kept its own shape as she swept through the room, searching.
None had the power to hold her gaze.
Sea
water splashed across her cheeks. No, not seawater, she realized,
tears. How odd, she thought. Only humans cried.
Continue reading Water Bourne in
the attached pdf, or follow the link to my downloads
page for mobi (kindle), epub, and pdf versions.
If
you are looking for any of the previous short stories from older
editions of BlueMusings, head to this downloads
page. All formats of the prior offerings are there along with
information on how to download the stories for your preferred
reading device.
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This work
is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
(This
means you can share the newsletter and/or the story with a link back
to http://www.ljcohen.net, Lisa Janice (LJ) Cohen, but please
do not place it for sale or change it.)
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