Shiny New Books: Summer Gush-Fest Edition

Jenny and I are over at Shiny New Books today, screeching about some recent YA releases that've got us super-duper excited. We hope you'll check out our feels-laden column and tell us which books you're excited about.

More Shiny New Books

Jenny and I are back at Shiny New Books with six recent YA releases that've got us super-duper excited. Please pop on over there and watch us gush about young people with superpowers, strategically brilliant heroines, and our love for historical fantasy, among other things.

Shiny New Books, plus a new story

Jenny and I are back at Shiny New Books today with four recent and forthcoming YA titles we're super-duper excited about. We'd love it if you popped on over there and gave us a read.

Also, I keep forgetting to tell y'all I've got a new story in RUINS EXCAVATION, an SFF anthology centred on WOC archaeologists. It's available digitally or in paperback, the latter format being half price at Amazon as of this morning.

Shiny New Books

Fabulous news, friends--Jenny and I now cowrite a column on young adult fiction for Shiny New Books!

Our first spotlight went live today and features six recent YA titles we're superduper excited about. Half of our picks would be great for Diversiverse, so those of you committed to reading diversely should totally pop on over there and read our take on 'em.

Instagram, Murchie, and Me

The fine folks at Book Bloggers International are featuring Bookstagrammers this month, so they invited me to come by and talk about Murchie Plus Books. Please pop on over there for the full story, and be sure to check out all their other bookstagram interviews!

My Year With Marvel: Carol Danvers

I'm at Lady Business today, talking about the marvelous Carol Danvers (aka Captain Marvel, Ms Marvel, and my number one choice for comics BFF) as part of Jodie's Women In Authority theme week. I hope you'll pop on over there to help me celebrate the reasons Carol is an effective leader and all-around great person.

The Sandman and Me

Well, look at that. I'm spending the whole week on other peoples' blogs. Today, you'll find me over at Book Bloggers International, where I've been invited to share the top five reasons Neil Gaiman's SANDMAN is and shall remain one of my favourite comics.

While you're there, be sure to check out the other posts they've featured as part of Comics and Graphic Novels Month, including essays on:

• teaching comics
• webcomics now available in print
• overcoming fear of the c-word
• entering CITIES OF THE FANTASTIC
• navigating the world of FABLES
• kick-ass young comics characters
• SAGA's accessibility for new comics readers
• awesome women comics characters
• and the joys of Free Comic Book Day

Hers Is the Glory

Jodie is hosting an epic Female Villains Theme Week at Lady Business, and she invited me to stop by and talk about my very favourite villain. Whee! You'll find me over there today, gushing about Glory, the mad god who causes so many problems for the Scooby Gang during BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER'S painfully good fifth season.

Women In SF&F Month: Women In Comics

If you've been around the blogosphere for any length of time, you surely know about Fantasy Cafe's Women in SF&F Month. Every April, Kristen invites a slew of guests to take over her blog and talk about issues related to--you guessed it--women who work in science fiction and fantasy.

This year, I've contributed a post about twelve of my favourite women who write and/or draw comics. You'll find it over at Fantasy Cafe (of course).

While you're there, be sure to check out the multitude of other posts. They cover such topics as the importance of recs lists, the gender system in Rachel Hartman's SHADOW SCALE, identifying with female characters, and notable debut authors, to name just a handful.

You want to enter the Winner's Choice Giveaway, too. Y'all know I'm gonna tell you to pick Karin Lowachee's WARCHILD if you win, but there are plenty of other great possibilities if you're not into painfully amazing military SF.

And hey, if none of the books on that list appeal, you can always throw your name in for the Readers' Recommendations Giveaway, for which the winner can pick any book from the big giant list of SFF by women. In fact, enter that giveaway as well as the winner's choice one so you'll have twice as many chances to win WARCHILD.

(I really, really want you to read WARCHILD. Really.)

Hugo Eligible Comics

The lovely folks at Lady Business invited me to come by and talk about some of the comics eligible for Best Graphic Story at this year's Hugo Awards, so that's where I'm at today. Y'all should stop by and see my top 10 comics released in 2014, complete with commentary and some hopefully-not-too-confusing stuff about what makes something a potential Best Graphic Story nominee.

Be sure to check out Lady Business's other Hugos coverage, too. They're big proponents of the award. Hell, they're the whole reason I got involved in the first place. It's mighty tough to resist their enthusiasm for promoting great SFF and making the genre a more inclusive place.

Chaotic Questions: Thoughts on Noelle Stevenson's NIMONA

Not too long ago, Jodie of Lady Business asked if I'd be willing to write a brief post about Noelle Stevenson's NIMONA for a Superwomen & Comics Week.

"Hell yes!" I said.

When I'd had my fill of rubbing my hands together in gleeful anticipation, I proceeded to make a lot of notes. Then I reread the comic and made even more notes. Then I turned those notes, and my ever-shifting thoughts on this most fascinating character, into a bunch of subheadings followed by a bunch of words.

A "brief post," it ain't. Oops.

But hey, if not-so-brief posts on awesome ladies are your thing (and whose thing aren't they, I ask you?), you ought to pop over to Lady Business. While you're there, check out the other contributors' not-so-brief essays on the wonderful Wonder Woman, negotiating comics, and the amazing Harley Quinn, plus reviews of BLACK WIDOW: THE FINLEY WOVEN THREAD and THE SECRET HISTORY OF WONDER WOMAN.

Conversation: The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater

A month or two back, several of us took to Twitter to squee and speculate about Maggie Stiefvater's Raven Cycle (THE RAVEN BOYS, THE DREAM THIEVES, and the soon-to-be-released BLUE LILY, LILY BLUE). We had such a good time that we decided to take our conversation elsewhere so's we could delve a little deeper into the subject and avoid spoiling any onlookers.

Which is to say, I'm over at Lady Business today, discussing the series with Aarti, Ana, Jenny, and Teresa. We cover material from the first two books, with plenty of speculation as to what we'd like to see in BLUE LILY, LILY BLUE and the as-yet untitled final book. Spoilers abound, as do FEELS.

If you've enjoyed the Raven Cycle, please join us.