Review time! Gaiman, Older and Hamilton

So, I made it through some of the books on my list for March, but not others.

How does this happen? Well, you have to know my particular talent for chaos. I tend to read three or four books at once, first of all. The Anne Rice book, I set down somewhere and lost until last week. The Joe Zieja book, I started reading aloud at night before bed (because it's fun!) which means I am deathly slow at it.

And the Book of English Magic, well, that's one's highly instructional, so I can only get through a chapter or a half at a time. It's great!--don't get me wrong--but it takes a lot of thought to process, and keeps leading to other research.

Me and books, usually.

But I did finish some good ones. Here are my short takes on them:

Edith Hamilton, Mythology -- So interesting! The myths of gods were way more intriguing than the ones about heroes and kings, though. The human characters in these seem to really get the short end of the stick a lot. But, I did discover where George R.R. Martin might have gotten some of the more shocking and cruel plot turns in his Game of Thrones. If you ever said out loud while reading or watching, "Who could ever actually do that?!" the answer seems to be the ancient Greeks.

Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology -- This was so much fun to read. Educational, yes, but flavored with that particular sensibility for the harsh and wondrous that Gaiman has. It actually seemed in structure to be a lot like Hamilton, probably because it's also a modern edit of ancient tales. I feel like this is one I'm going to be referring back to over the years for its very thorough lens on Norse culture and stories.

Daniel Jose Older, Salsa Nocturna: Stories -- Oh man. So, I had been avidly reading all of Older's novels and novellas, and didn't know these short stories set in some of the same worlds and with the same characters even existed. Then my husband procured a signed copy of this somewhat-hard-to-find early collection (hint: try here), and I was lost in the streets of the author's supernatural-populated Brooklyn all over again. I can't overstate my recommendation for this man's work. It's beyond creative, heart-wrenching, hysterically funny, and pulls you along with every sentence.

I actually read a bunch of other stuff since March, too, but I'll save that for another update. I'm getting behind, though, as I've bought far more books these last months than I've read. Bad habit that I need to catch up with!

Till next time,

--Kim

Reading List March 2017

I always think seeing what other writers are reading is enlightening and fun, so I thought I'd share the rundown of what I'm reading lately.

There's a certain theme, and that's because I'm widening my reading on some basics of myth and magic to help myself better develop some characters and themes in the YA urban fantasy novel I'm working on. And, because I really like books with magic in them.

Currently reading for March:

Edith Hamilton, Mythology

Philip Carr-Gomm & Richard Heygate, The Book of English Magic

Joe Zieja, Mechanical Failure

Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology (a present from my clever sister, thanks!)

Daniel Jose Older, Salsa Nocturna: Stories (a present from my awesome husband <3)

Anne Rice, Prince Lestat

Stuff I just finished in February and recommend:

Neil Gaiman and Colleen Doran, Troll Bridge (holy crap, the illustrations are unparalleled.)

Neil Gaiman and Shane Oakley, Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire (it's possible I have a little of a completionist attitude toward Neil Gaiman's work)

Jim C. Hines, Magic Ex Libris series (with a special note that these are partially set in my home, the U.P., so they are extra amazing.)

Daniel Jose Older, Shadowshaper and Battle Hill Bolero (the third book in the Bone Street Rumba series, which I love.)

Genevieve Cogman, the Invisible Library series (oh my gosh, the most fun and slightly Sherlockian.)

There's definitely a connection between the Magic Ex Libris books and the Invisible Library books, which is that, of course, books are magical in and of themselves. Reading both of those really got my imagination spinning, and both series are just ridiculously enjoyable. I'll be looking out for any future entries into those series or by those authors. 

A final note is that hey, sorry, I'm not sure if that's all I've been reading lately, and this list certainly doesn't include all my favorite authors, but I'll be sure to rhapsodize about them in their turn. 
--Kim

642 Things To Write About

One of the ways I'm getting into the writing groove is by using an awesome book I got, 642 Things To Write About from the San Francisco Writer's Grotto.  Every day, I'm using one or two of these to turn on my brain and serve as exercises for developing ideas that sometimes stand alone, and sometimes relate to other things I'm working on.

In fact, I'm blogging those too, at a different blog, right here. You can see my responses to the writing prompts from the book, or use them to spark your own creativity! I'm learning a lot from the wild variety of prompts, and although I may not get to them all any time soon (642 of them!) I'm excited to see what comes of all the creative mojo they inspire.

--Kim

Find me on Facebook

Oh man, I have a Facebook page. What?! I'm not on Facebook personally these days, but I have an amazing social media helper in the form of my husband, Sam.

I'll be updating it with news as warranted, and with links to my blogs, and probably with whatever other cool stuff Sam and I come up with to share with the Facebook world.

If you want to keep in touch with me over there, here's the link, with my gratitude.

--Kim

Welcome

Well, it's a snowy weekend, one that we planned to be stuck at home throughout. The snow didn't turn up in quite the amounts predicted, but it's still a pretty great time to turn on the furnace, light a few candles and wrap up in blankets while making a new writing blog.

I've been a writer, professionally, if you don't count in-school fiction endeavors, for almost a decade now. A lot of the time, that's meant freelance writing and editing on everything from journalism to comic books. Lately, I'm more and more interested in making something of that early dream of writing books and stories, telling tales like the ones I've always loved to read.

That's where the name of the blog comes from, in fact. It evokes thoughts of the adventure and magic to be found in the fantasy and sci-fi shelves of the library or bookstore, the ones I'd always gravitate toward, searching for titles I hadn't read yet. I hope that my writing can help create that sense of wonder for other readers eventually.

While I've published a few things and edited a few published things, mostly comics in the creative realm, I have yet to publish a book of my own, and so that's my next professional goal. Of course, I have one in mind! It's as yet untitled (OK, it's been through a few titles and I haven't settled on one yet) and it's in its second, developmental draft right now. I'll tell you all more about that when the time is right. Until then, welcome.

--Kim Eggleston, 2/26/17