Welcome to the Friday Feature of our Fantasy writers group, A Drift of Quills! We Quills get together once a month to chat up aspects of reading and writing. We’re returning to the topic of books we love best—and this will be something we revisit from time to time, because hello! we’re readers *and* writers. Being a writer (or an editor) changes the way one reads things. It’s not strictly for entertainment anymore, but how cool is it to do your favorite thing for work? Still, the quality of a book obviously affects enjoyment. For me to forget about the occupational details (evil passive voice, plot, character development, voice, et cetera), the book pretty much has to carry me away. Read on to see what’s carrying the Quills away!
Lindsay Buroker is a wonderful talent in the Indie Author world. If you haven’t read her stuff, you’re missing out. She’s a fantasy writer and has works in the steampunk and urban categories. Either way, she’s good at what she does, which is writing fast-paced novels with intriguing characters, clever dialogue, wry humor, well-developed settings, and sparks flying—romantic, rhetoric, and magic. Hers was the first steampunk I ever read, and while the notion sounded interesting, I was a little dubious. Magic and Victorian-style technology? Hmm…
Buroker convinced me the genre was a worthwhile investment of my time. In addition to her fiction, she writes a blog geared both to her readers and to indie authors. She’s bright and funny, supportive, informative, entertaining… When I grow up I want to be like her. (Though there’s no WAY I’d want to live in Arizona. Uh-uh.)
Here’s a peek at a review I did for her book Emperor’s Edge:
What a fun romp—I love the hare-brained schemes and the irreverent humor. The characters are really engaging. Of course Sicarius, with his sense of distance and mystery, begs following just to catch another glimpse of what lies beneath that unreadable façade, but I also found Books and Akstyr intriguing. The first for his wit and his intelligence as well as loyalty to Amaranthe, and the latter for his quirkiness and the hint of hidden depths. Maldynado, I suspect, hangs around out of curiosity: the adventures he gets into with the Edge are a lark, and how can Amaranthe not be attracted to him? Amaranthe herself is a funny contradiction of terms, alternately determined, fearing to fail, failing, and delighted at turning tables.
You can read the rest here on Amazon: Emperor’s Edge Review
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
KRISTIE KIESSLING
Author of the short story, Sanguis Dei, and a poetry collection, Light and Dark
Kristie’s Blog
(Kristie is on hiatus this month, tending to real-world goblins and various kinds of general anarchy. We wish her luck and look forward to having her with us again next time!)
PATRICIA REDING
Author of Oathtaker
Patricia’s website
With so many new books published each day, it can be difficult choosing something to read, but one genre I like to read and review from time to time is fantasy for young readers. I enjoy the worlds created and look for those reads I would have passed on to my children when they were middle-graders. There are a number of prerequisites for me: they may not promote behavior I think objectionable for the young reader and they must be grammatically sound. Of course, it always helps if they offer a good dose of humor…
. . . (Read more!)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
What’s one of your favorite books?
What makes it and/or the author so great?