Oat Bran, Pixie Sticks & the James Tiptree Jr. Awards

I’ve been sour on YA & Fantasy (and especially YA Fantasy!) books for a while now. They all seemed so same-same; plucky young post-feminist heroine, fistfights and martial arts, boy sidekick, evil wizards, talking animals, fairies, “the magic is strong in you”, lovestory, yawn-wawn. All I wanted to read was realistic fiction of the kind [...]

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Sadly, no longer 95 cents

What I wouldn’t give for 95 cent books today. Of course, it’s not quite as good a deal as it first appears to the modern tightwad. In 1933, 95 cents was anywhere from $15.78 to $99.11 in today’s dollars. (Comparing dollars across the ages is tricky, see why here.)
$15.78 makes this yummy new paperback edition [...]

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Bad Blogger

What can I say? I took one little holiday excursion to Kentucky and got all relaxed. When I came back, real life was waiting for me in some of its more irritating costumes. It’s been hard to get back here.
I meant to do a Short Story post on Monday; I actually did read a book [...]

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It’s Not About You + Trouble

Glimmer Train always has such good stuff.
Someone recently told me that they had decided not to take a writing class because of the inevitable presence of  folks who use the workshop to display their own critical smarty-pants, broadcast the tones of their mellifluous voices, and who aren’t willing to take seriously the work that’s in [...]

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