There is news that I have a burning desire to tell you.

[rhyll]

So, anyway, there are some sad and difficult things happening in my life, and a lot of things that I am pondering in a not-necessarily-happy way. But instead I am going to tell you about Ysabeau Wilce, and why you must read every story she writes, large and small.

I first came across her writing in a fantasy compilation; The Lineaments of Gratified Desire promptly became my new favourite thing in the whole world. I finally got my sticky paws on a copy of her first novel, Flora Segunda of Crackpot Hall, a few months later.

The way she uses language is utterly delicious to me. And her treatment of gender is wonderful (Flora Segunda made the James Tiptree Award honours list, which is for books which explore or expand concepts of gender), and doesn't make me angry at all (not even once!)

I am most terribly excited about Flora's Dare, which is the next Flora Segunda book, and will be coming out "soon". I can only hope that I don't explode from Wanting before Soon happens.

Comments

[lisamax.livejournal.com]

i finished little brother! now i want more educational nerdy writing. any suggestions? that security technologist dude who wrote the afterword seems worth checking out.

[alexmoon.livejournal.com]

My suggestions depend on your topic of choice. Do you want fiction or nonfiction?

[lisamax.livejournal.com]

both!

[alexmoon.livejournal.com]

Recommendations:
Stuffed and Starved, Raj Patel: about the world food system, the problems with it, and some ways to change it.*
The Rebel Sell: about how the idea of a 'counterculture' feeds into and supports capitalism. **
A Cartoon History of the Universe: the book I got all of my history from as a child, it's quite well-researched.*
The Anarchist in the Library and Free Culture: close to my work, about new openness in information flow and also attempts to stop it.

Also, I like Banana Yoshimoto, although she is not necessarily all that educational, and The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye (although I haven't read it for a few years), and Middlesex is one of the best books I've read in forever, and of course Flora Segunda, and and and...

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* I can lend you this.
** Kale is reading this right now, if you want it just ask him to pass it on afterwards.

[lisamax.livejournal.com]

i am interested in all of those. apart from banana yoshimoto, which i didn't like that much, and middlesex, which i liked too much and read a million times.

i can lend you some shaun tan books in return, in case you are interested in wordless novels.