bibliogramma | Entries tagged with g: romance

C. L. Polk’s marvellous fantasy novel Witchmark is many things all at once, and does them all well. It is a mystery, a delicate, hesitant love story, a story about recovery from battlefield trauma, a political thriller set in a world approximating post-WWI England, and a few other important things besides.

It is brilliant, and bittersweet, and horrifying, and every kind of emotional roller-coaster there is, and it is one of the best damn books I’ve ever read in a long time.

And the write-up on Goodreads says it’s volume one of the Kingston Cycle, so there are more stories coming in this world!

The third of Heather Rose Jones’ Alpenna novels, Mother of Souls, continues the story of Margerit Sovitre, wealthy thaumaturge and famed swordswoman Barbara, Countess of Savese.

Their circle of friends and associates has continued to expand, drawing more women from various professions and ways of life. Margerit’s extensive fortune has enabled her to continue being the patron of a number of women, both upper class and working class, who are expanding the scope of the female professions, women’s scholarship, and women’s engagement in the Mysteries - the very real forms of religious magic that can be seen, generated, shaped and directed by ritual, words and music.

The focus of the novel lies in one of the great mystery rituals which is supposed to bring safely to the small country of Alpenna. Margerit has already rewritten it, and yet the new version is not without flaws, a fact brought to her attention one of the new characters in Margerit’s circle, Serafina Talarico, an archivist, born in Rome but of Ethiopian ancestry, who has a rare gift for being able to see in detail the energy flows invoked by rituals. The flaw that reveals itself to Serafina’s vision may have some connection to rumours that have come to Barbara about mysterious, possibly unnatural storms in the mountains along part of Alpennia’s border. Amid the unfolding of this greater plotline lie a number personal stories: Serafina’s unhappy marriage, and her despair at being able to see the great mysteries but not evoke them; Barbara’s engagement in bringing order to a recently inherited title and lands that have been ignored for years by their previous lord; the revelation that Barbara’s armin, Tavit, is a trans man, deeply conflicted in a world that has no place or understanding of his nature; Luzie Valorin, an impoverished widow with a remarkable gift for musical composition and performance that evokes the energies associated with the Mysteries.

While I love the woman to woman relationships that are the backdrop to this series - Margerit and Barbara, Jeanne de Cherdillac and Antuniet - the most fascinating part of the culture in which Margerit’s adventures in ritual magic, and Barbara’s exercises in statecraft, take place is the feeling of watching a renaissance of women’s scholarship. In this novel, one of Margerit’s new projects is the creation of a college for women, with a print shop attached so that the works of the women Margerit has supported through her substantial fortune, and as well as more commercial projects, can be published without having to rely solely on subscriptions - which are harder for women scholars to generate. Interwoven in the major and minor plots are important stories about women struggling to be recognised for their work, intelligence, talent and skill, and the ways in which their efforts are undermined, blocked, trivialised, and even plagarised by men who cannot deal with women who think, and create, and do other such things with serious intent that have been by tradition reserved for men. Jones writes with a fiercely feminist vision, and an unabashed love for the hearts and souls of women making their own ways in the world.

Cynthia Ward’s delightful novella, The Adventure of the Incognita Contessa, is an adventure in exploring the realms of speculative fiction from the late Victorian era, a spy story set in an alternate universe where the British government is working to understand Martian technology following the failed invasion of the British Isles by inhabitants of that planet, and Lucy, the daughter of Mina Harker, works for the head of the British secret service, known as M - short for Mycroft.

Lucy’s mission is to provide unseen protection for Major Butt, an American military officer travelling home, carrying secret engineering specifications concerning the submarine Nautilus, recently recovered by German scientists. Among the other passengers on the newly commissioned oceanliner The Titanic are the vampire Millarca, also known as Carmilla, here cslled Clarimal, a mysterious English Viscount, Lord Greyborough, and his American wife (one must remember that the works of Edgar Rice Bourroughs remain under copyright, unlike many other works of a similar era which have entered the public domain), and assorted wealthy persons with names like Astor and Guggenheim.

Lucy, as we quickly learn, is not herself human, but a dhampir, the child of a vampire - in her case, Dracula himself - and a human. As a British spy, she is obliged to protect the British Empire. As the child of vampire hunters, she has an additional mission, to kill monster. Unless, of course, they are in the service of the Crown themselves. Lucy has justified her killings with the secure knowledge that vampires are soulless creatures who can only mime the emotions and conscience of humans, to lull them into a sense if security so they can feed. But as she becomes close to Clarimal, she begins to wonder if everything she has been taught is true.

Constant Reader has likely noticed that I enjoy speculative ventures of this nature, works that take a canonical source and stretch it, expand it, play with its conceits and give its characters new and interesting things to do. This is a splendid example of the genre.

Farah Mendlesohn is best known for her literary criticism, much of it in the areas of fantasy, science fiction, and children’s literature. To these scholarly credits she must now add the accolade of a writer of delightful queer historical romance.

Spring Flowering is the story of Ann Gray, a 27-year-old parson’s daughter who finds herself on the brink of a life of her own following the death of her father. Leaving the parsonage where she grew up for the new world of Birmingham, where her uncle owns and operates a fancy metalwork business, Ann is surrounded by new people, new sights, and new ideas.

But welcome though she is in her uncle’s lively establishment, Ann is not fully content. Accustomed to managing her father’s household after her mother’s death, Ann is now a supernumerary in her aunt’s home. Her cousin Louisa, with whom she has the most in common, has begun to work in the family business - something that Ann had encouraged her uncle to consider, for it was clearly something Louisa longed to do, yet it has left her without a companion. She finds no interest in the courtship offered by Mr. Morden, the young curate who took over her father’s parish. And Jane, the bosom friend of her youth, with whom she had shared a passionate friendship, is now married.

Thus, Ann finds herself both intrigued and somewhat distracted by by the stylish, somewhat older Mrs. King, a widow who has entered into a business partnership with her uncle - especially when Mrs. King offers her the position of governess to her two sons, who are to be educated along with her own cousin, her uncle’s young son and heir, as they will be the next generation of partners in the family business. The offer is exciting, and yet, when Ann goes to visit Jane for a few weeks, it is Louisa whom she finds herself missing most.

The story unfolds slowly and gently, with a keen eye fir the rhythms of family, business and social life that is both entertaining and rewarding.

Behind the story of Ann’s slow flowering, Mendlesohn presents a detailed picture of merchant class life in the early 19th century. I find myself reading about Uncle James and his factory and trade outlet, and thinking that this is what I didn’t see in Jane Austen’s stories - this is something like the life, for instance, that Elizabeth Bennett’s beloved Aunt and Uncle would have lived in London, at a time when family and business were still interwoven. We see hints of the coming industrial age, as successful family-centred trades slowly increase in scope becoming concentrated capital projects. Craftsmen are on the verge of being replaced by labourers at machine lines, even while social changes are bringing about such progressive trends as greater freedom for women and abolition of the slave trade.

Mendlesohn handles the queer aspects of the romance with a deft touch, and it is pleasant to read a lesbian historical romance in which no one seems distressed that Ann does not warm to men, that she has had one ‘particular friendship’ already in her life, and that she is being delicately courted by a woman known to have had such ‘particular friendships’ herself.

To quote the final line in the book, “It all felt very satisfying indeed!”

Ellen Klages' novella, Passing Strange, is a rich science fantasy that explores many transitions - passings - across diverse borders. The narrative begins with an account of the final days of Helen Young, an American woman of Japanese heritage who has spent much of her life passing in one way or another. When we met her, she is very old, dying of some unspecified condition. One of her last acts before her self-administered final passing is to sell an original drawing - the last drawing - of the highly collectible pulp artist known as Haskel.

The narrative then moves back in time to the early days of the second world war, to San Francisco's hidden gay world. Here again Helen is passing, in multiple ways. As a straight woman - she is married, to a gay Asian man - and as Chinese - her married name in ambiguous and as she herself notes, most white people can't tell Asians if different nationalities apart. She is also a lawyer, but 'passes' as an exotic dancer to make ends meet. And she models Asian characters, male and female, for Haskell's covers.

Haskell is, like Helen, a lesbian, and passing professionally as a man to sell their art. As the story progresses, she meets and falls in love with Emily, a young butch and drag king performer who sings at the local lesbian bar.

Klages writes with great detail and empathy about the lives of lesbians in pre-war San Francisco, the different experiences of those, usually femmes like Helen and Haskell, who can pass, and the butches and dykes who cannot pass and thus draw the most reaction from the straight world of police and gawking voyeuristic tourists. The fears of discovery and subsequent loss, the courage to go on in spite of all this.

There's another dimension of passing in the story, besides that of the boundaries of gender. There are also passages across the borders of science and magic, reality and illusion. We meet Franny, a witch of sorts, with the gift of translocation, of passing magically between geographically separated points by folding the maps she creates, and her partner Babs, a mathematics professor who is trying to develop a branch of topological math that can describe what Franny does. And Polly, a young relative of Franny's from England whose passion is science, which she uses to help develop acts for her magician-father. And eventually, we learn the story of Haskell's grandmother, who used magic to pass through danger by turning life into art, and then back into life.

The story of Emily and Haskell's romance is both sweet, and fraught with danger because of their transgressive sexuality, and ultimately they must make use of Haskell's family magic to escape when there is no other way, a strange and magical passage into another life.

Klages fills her narrative with borders, boundaries, crossings, passages and transformations, from the great passings of life and death to the small changes in colour and appearance brought about by different lighting. What remains the same, despite transformations, is loyalty, friendship, and love.

If there is any weakness to this story, it's that there's not enough. The principal characters are drawn with such clarity and depth that one wants to know so much more about all of them, their lives after this moment in time. I had an overwhelming feeling that each woman mentioned has a marvellous story waiting to be told, about how they came to be in this place and time, and where they went from there. And I want those stories.

Kai Ashante Wilson's novella A Taste of Honey is a bittersweet story of love and loss, of sacrifices made for love, and the eternal question of what might have been.

Aqib bmg Sidiqi is a member of the minor royalty of
Great Olorum, is in training to follow his father as the Keeper of the Royal Menagerie. His family has great hopes for him, that he will marry well and raise their status, thus improving his warrior brother's chances of promotion and his scholarly sister's chances of making a good marriage herself.

But Aqib places all this at risk when he becomes the lover of Lucrio, a soldier with the diplomatic delegation from Daluça. In Olorum, sexual relationships between men are taboo and the penalty is death. Lucrio and Aqib fall passionately in love, just ten days before the delegation is due to leave.

The story unfolds in two times, the events of each night of their relationship interwoven with scenes from Aqib's future after Lucrio is gone, his marriage with a highborn royal woman, the childhood of their daughter Lucretia, his career with the Menagerie, all the things that he would have lost had he left Olorum to be with Lucrio.

But Wilson is not content with giving us just such a straightforward story, and nothing more, and in the end takes us much deeper into the realm of duty, sacrifice and love to an unexpected but satisfying conclusion. Beautifully and evocatively written.

Mary Robinette Kowal's Ghost Talkers is a book that crosses genres with impudence and verve. It's a World War I historical romance, with a spunky red-headed heroine and a dashing military officer. It's a wartime spy thriller, with traitors and murders and secret codes. And it's a historical fantasy in which the British make use of a distinctly paranormal source of intelligence - the ghosts of soldiers killed in combat.

In Kowal's slightly alternate world, mediums are real, and the war effort has recruited them to interview the souls of those lost in battle for information about enemy weapon placements, troop movements, anything the revenant remembers about the circumstances of his death. And in turn, the mediums record their final messages for those they leave behind.

Ginger Stuyvesant is one of the mediums of the "London branch" of the Spirit Corps - so named to hide its true location in Le Havre - and her fiancé, Ben Harford, is an officer in British Intelligence. She, like all the other mediums, spends her days talking to the dead, reliving their last moments with them, and then dismissing them to the next plane. And then everything changes, when one of the ghosts reporting in is an officer she knows, stationed in Le Havre, who tells her that he thinks he was murdered - and the last thing he remembers is overhearing is a discussion between two spies that could mean the Germans are planning on targeting the Spirit Corps.

What follows is a fast-paced story of spy vs. spy as Ginger hunts clues to the identity of the spies across war-torn France. There are plenty of red herrings and false leads, dead ends and desperate plots. And of course, a love story.

What gives the narrative extra depth is Kowal's focus on the women (the mediums employed by the war department are mostly women, but the war also relied on the services of nurses, female couriers and other support personnel) and people of colour who were part of the war but are so rarely seen in fictional accounts of The Great War.

Sexism abounds. When Ginger attends a staff meeting as the acting head of the Spirit Corps, she's asked to make coffee. Her reports on the murder and subsequent related events are downplayed because she is a woman. The work that the mediums do - soul-wrenching and potentially deadly should the medium fail to disengage from the departing ghost - is dismissed as "sitting around," in a way that recollects the minimalising of the value of so much women's work. Not even Ginger's beloved Ben, who has learned to acknowledge her value and strength, is completely free of overprotectiveness disguised as gallantry.

Racism abounds as well. The strongest and most experienced medium is Helen, a woman of colour - but not only is she unable to take her natural position as leader of of Spirit Corps, she and other black mediums can't even fraternise with their white colleagues. At the same time, skilled and experienced soldiers from the Indian colonies are sidelined as drivers, and are excluded from the conditioning given to all white soldiers that ensures that they will report after death - then be mercifully dismissed, rather than left to wander the fields they died in.

Kowal's narrative moves swiftly, capturing both the horrors of war (she makes effective use of Rupert Brooke's war poems) and the "whistling in the dark" kind of humour so often found side by side with death and the constant pressure of being in a war zone. In a book which deals so powerfully with darkness, separation, sacrifice and death, she reminds us that there is also love and courage, and that after the dead have passed, life goes on.

The Star-Touched Queen, Roshani Chokshi's first novel, is a romance-centred fantasy based on Hindu history, religion, myths and folktales. It is a delightful read - Chokshi's prose is rich and smooth, and her protagonist, the princess Mayavati of Bharata, is an enchanting character from the first time we see her, hiding behind a screen to watch the funeral of one of her father's wives.

In short order we learn that Maya is the only unbetrothed daughter of her father the raja, that she survived her mother's death in childbirth, that she has an unfortunate horoscope that warns of a marriage connected to death, and that she is a bright, strong willed, independent young woman who has some mysterious magical/mystical past/destiny that she is wholly unaware of. Growing up with the knowledge that no one would want to marry someone with a horoscope as disastrous as hers, she has imagined herself with a future outside the harem, perhaps even in a position of power and authority in her country.

Then it all changes. In order to bring peace to a war-torn country, her father announces that she will marry one of the leaders of their enemies, although he promises to allows her to make her own choice from among the suitors. But afterwards he tells her privately that it is all a ruse to lure his enemies to the palace, and that he expects her to kill herself so he has a pretext to destroy them.

When a dashing and mysterious suitor calling himself Amar interrupts her attempted sacrifice and promises to take her to his kingdom where she will rule beside him, Maya goes with him rather than take her own life. But Amar is not what he appears to be, his kingdom is not an earthly one, and he is somehow connected to the mysterious hints she has received concerning her past.

I must admit that even without much knowledge of Hindu religious symbolism, I figured out the basics of the mystery of Amar and her connection with him long before it was revealed in the text. But it was still an engaging, though not particularly demanding read.

Light, romantic fantasies often leave out the difficult issues. A review of the book by Samira Nadkarni [1] that addresses the ways in which Chokshi handled the historical and religious source material, points out some of the problematic areas, notably the exclusion of India's diverse peoples - the book presents everyone as Hindu - and the omission of issues of caste and class, and a downplaying of the sexism that pervades much of the source material.

The Star-Touched Queen is a light and enjoyable read, but I would urge readers to look at critical reviews such as Nadkarni's to gain more perspective.

[1] http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/reviews/the-star-touched-queen-by-roshani-chokshi/

Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen, Lois McMaster Bujold's latest entry in her long-running Vorkosigan series, is a domestic romance, with nary a hint of military action or undercover missions, and only the barest of political subplots. But that's just fine, because the romance is both sweet and mature, and it allows for many reminiscences that harken back to the earliest volumes of the series and remind us of a lifetime of events.

It also asks us to accept a revisioning of one of the central relationships of the series, that of Aral Vorkosigan and Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan. We learn, with very little warning, that for the latter decades of Aral's life, their relationship had been not one between two persons, but one between three - Aral, Cordelia, and Aral's one-time military secretary Oliver Jole. From conversations and recollections, we learn that Aral had been the one to bring Jole into the relationship, and with his death, Cordelia and Jole had not continued the relationship, although they remained friends.

The book opens three years after Aral's death, as Cordelia, Vicereine of the Barrayaran colony of Sergyar - the planet where Aral and Cordelia first met - returns after a voyage to Barrayar. She is met, as befits her rank, by Jole in his capacity as Admiral and commander of the Barrayaran troops in Sergyar space.

Slowly, they discover that time has sufficiently healed the wounds made by Aral's loss that they are both ready to contemplate relationships again - and that they are drawn to each other even without Aral to be the bond between them.

Romance between mature adults is rare in fiction, and thus a delightful thing to read. One aspect of their growing relationship and how they handle multiple issues that could derail it is that being mature and intelligent people, they don't keep secrets or hide things, they talk to each other. They know that communication, not sex, is what keeps a a relationship of the level of intimacy they desire alive year after year. I was so delighted to read a romance that is not riddled with the standard foolishness of lovers who can't be honest with each other.

Family and continuance is also at the core of this gentle romance. Miles, Ekaterin and their children make a significant entrance, and Miles' clone/brother Mark and his partner are clearly part of the family even if not present. Even more, the developing relationship between Cordelia and Jole is woven around Cordelia's plans to use preserved genetic material from Aral and herself and extrauterine reproductive technology to have the daughters that she and Aral never had the time to bring into the world. And she offers Jole the use of some of Aral's genetic material, and several of her own ennucleated ova, so that he can, if he wishes, have sons who will be both his and Aral's.

In this novel, all the action, all the suspense, is driven by decisions surrounding relationship, and yet it captivated me as much as any high-octane thriller.

Heather Rose Jones's The Mystic Marriage is a sequel to the delightful Daughter of Mystery. Margerit and Barbara are key characters, and it is wonderful to see them further developing a unique and loving relationship throughout the events of this novel. The protagonists are Antuniet Chazillen, disgraced and self-exiled alchemical student and sister of executed traitor Estevan Chazillen, and Jeanne, Vicomtesse de Cherdillac, a wealthy and bored widow noted for her eccentricities, among them quiet affairs with other society women.

There are mysteries to solve and plots to unravel, and with all four women working to restore Antiniet's reputation and protect the royal family of Alpennia, an engaging story of intrigue and romance unfolds.

Now looking forward to the upcoming third volume in the annals of Alpennia.

Heather Rose Jones's delightful Daughter of Mystery, is a historical fantasy of the Ruritanian variety, taking place in a not-too-alternate Europe where the napoleonic wars (or something very like them) have taken place but where there is an extra country, Alpenna, nestled somewhere between France, Switzerland, Italy and Austria and having political and military involvements with all of them.

The fantasy element in the novel comes from the existence of the mysteries - real formal magic dependent on ritual invocation of the power of the saints. In that, it is somewhat reminiscent of the religious ritual magic practised by the Deryni in Katherine Kurtz' novels.

The novel combines a number of elements - coming-of-age, romance, political mystery. The protagonists, Margerit Sovitre and Barbara are both young women not quite of age, brought together by the will of the eccentric Baron Saveze, Margerit's godfather and Barbara's employer and bondholder.

Margerit, the daughter of a wealthy but untitled family, is just starting her dancing season, during which her family hopes she will attract the best possible match - but what Margerit most desires is to be able to study the philosophy and ritual of the mysteries. Barbara is Baron Saveze's armin - a servant of special rank, his bodyguard and a skilled duellist, the daughter of a man of noble rank who died impoverished in debtor's prison, who is at the same time his bondservant and as such a chattel and part of his estate.

When the Baron dies, he leaves the bulk of his estate to Margerit, including the bond service owed to the estate by Barbara - leaving to his wastrel nephew on;y the title and the lands that are legally attached to the Saveze name.

With her fortune dramatically increased, Margarit is now one of the most interesting single heiresses in the country. Her change in status means that she can persuade her family to allow her to occupy her new holding in the capital, where she can study at the university while seeming to circulate in high society and attract a suitable husband. Barbara, now her armin, and frustrated that the Baron had not freed her in his will as he had promised to, goes with her as bodyguard. And the Baron's nephew Estefen plots his revenge on them both.

The core of the novel is the developing relationship between Margerit and Barbara, which is a slow-moving and sweet romance with many obstacles, from the differences in their rank and the mystery of Barbara's heritage to the schemes of Estefen which draw them into a treasonous plot.

I enjoyed this novel very much, although it did move a bit slowly. The characters are very well delineated, and their romance a delight to read.

Jones has written a second Alpenna novel, The Mystic Marriage, and a third, The Mother of Souls, is due to be released later this year.

Elizabeth Peters' early standalone novel, the Camelot Caper, attracted me with its promise of an Arthurian theme. While there was just enough of Arthur to satisfy me, I was quite delighted to discover that this novel was very reminiscent in tone, plot and characterisation of one of my favourite childhood authors, Mary Stewart.

This novel, like many of Stewart's, is a sort of romantic suspense adventure built around a female protagonist who is neither weak nor stupid, although occasionally young and a touch naive. I'm not sure if anyone writes these any more - an everywoman who confronts some kind of unexpected danger, and who finds along the way a romance with a man who is not so much a saviour as a partner, who shares the mystery and the danger, but needs as much help as he gives. Wikipedia describes Stewart as "... a British novelist who developed the romantic mystery genre, featuring smart, adventurous heroines who could hold their own in dangerous situations." And that's very much the genre that The Camelot Caper falls into.

The protagonist is a young American woman, Jessica Tregarth, visiting Britain for the first time at the behest of a dying grandfather. Her own father, who died when she was young, had been long estranged from his family, but had kept a family heirloom, a not very valuable man's ring, which Jessica's grandfather had asked her to bring with her.

The mystery begins when Jessica realises that someone else wants to get the ring before she can take it to her grandfather, and seems prepared to go to some lengths to get it. Fleeing from the two men pursuing her, she meets David, a writer of romantic mysteries, who at first thinks her story is part of a practical joke cooked up by his friends, but who is soon drawn into the mystery and offers his help in getting her safely to her grandfather in Cornwall.

The Arthurian connection comes in through the belief of the grandfather that their family is descended from a bastard son of Arthur's. His conviction that there are remnants of an Arthurian fortress, perhaps Camelot itself, on the family land has nearly bankrupted the family with repeated archeological excavations.

Along the twisty path to Cornwall, Peters also treats us to visits to a number of historical churches, and of course a stop at Glastonbury, as Jessica and David chase, and are chased in turn - and captured on several occasions - by the two mysterious men.

There are no red herrings here - the resolution of the mystery is directly connected to the ring, the excavations, the bankruptcy and the ancient legend, in a satisfying way. The romance is handled lightly, growing slowly as Jessica and David manage to figure out the connections, escape their captors, and set things right.

In The Camelot Caper, Peters has written a fine example of a possibly dated but nonetheless enjoyable genre.

I first read Anya Seton's novel Green Darkness when I was a teenager, and I haven't had the opportunity to reread it since then. Nonetheless, the story of reincarnated lovers drawn together by their karmic debt to each other, fated by memories from 400 years before their birth to either relive their tragic past lives, or transcend them, struck a deep chord in me, and I've never forgotten that aspect of the book. What I had forgotten, as unbelievable as it is to me now, was that the couple's past lived had been played out against the years of the rapid succession of Tudor monarchs from Edward VI to Mary, and finally to Elizabeth I. So the person I was then was already familiar with the theory of reincarnation, but not yet a Tudor Dynasty fanatic.

Upon rereading, I note that the modern sections of the novel seem a bit forced, with psychiatrist Jiddu Akananda being perhaps too mysterious at the beginning and his explanations too didactic at the end of the book. But the sections set in the past are so lyrically written, so wonderfully rich with detail and so well researched that I have no other quibbles. Indeed, my enjoyment of the book was perhaps greater now than when I first read it, because the supporting cast of characters (many of them, particularly the families of Anthony Browne and his second wife Magdalen Dacre, real people who did most of the things we see them doing in the novel) and the turbulent period of constant religious and political upheaval are so well portrayed, and the story of the fictional lovers Celia de Bohun and Brother Stephen Marsden so delicately woven into what is known about the historical Browne family.

A rediscovered treasure.

I loved Lo's two earlier YA fantasy novels, Huntress and Ash, so I was quite naturally eager to read Adaptation, her foray into YA science fiction. Perhaps because of the "real world" setting - the US, only a little into our own future - the book was more obviously YA, and very much a coming of age story for the main character, Reese. It's also a story about finding your own identity, coming to terms with your own sexuality, and learning to question the authorities who try to define and confine your reality.

There's a grand government conspiracy involving aliens and biotechnology that Reese and her friend (and future love interest) David literally stumble into. There's also the beautiful stranger (also a future love interest) who turns out to be at the heart of the secret alien conspiracy. And there's a refreshing suggestion that there are more ways than one to resolve a love triangle. At the end, I found myself quite eager to read the second volume of the duology. I must add, however, that while I enjoyed it, I found that Lo's writing style is somewhat more suited to fantasy than to SF.

The genre of fantasy is rapidly subdividing these days, and I'm not entirely certain what the distinctions are any more. I am sticking with urban fantasy as something that ha
a definition of urban fantasy as something that involves humans interacting with non-humans (vampires, demons, werewolves, elves, whatever) and the use of magic or psychic powers virtually indistinguishable from magic, in an urban setting that is directly based on real world settings (modern-day Toronto or Chicago or whatever). It may involve crimes or mysteries, or it may involve supernatural romance. Or both. I"m not all that fussy.

Jes Battis, Inhuman Resources

Battis' OSI series has held my interest through three volumes to date, and I have the fourth in my TBR pile. The premise is that there is an investigative force, CORE, complete with Occult Special Investigators, that is charged with the responsibility of dealing with all sorts of non-human and occult communities (vampires, necromancers, sorcerers, and so on) secretly co-existing with "normate" human society, investigating crimes involving members of these communities, and keeping the whole business quiet so those ordinary humans can never know. The stories focus on OSI Tess Corday, a woman of mixed heritage (and by that I mean human and demon) and her investigative partner (and roommate) Derrick Siegel. Together they solve crimes! - with the aid of an interesting collection of supporting characters, of course. But behind the episodic nature of the occult crime procedural is a sweeping arc that has to do with Tess' demon heritage.

Katharine Kerr, Licence to Ensorcell

With her lengthy Deverry Cycle epic fantasy series completed, Kerr has decided to explore the urban fantasy/paranormal romance genre, and in my opinion she quite nails it with this first volume in the new Nola O'Grady series. O'Grady is a an operative with a secret agenct whose mandate you can probably figure out right away, and her new case is to find a serial killer targeting werewolves. It's personal - O'Grady's brother was one of the victims. Her partner on the case is a hard-boiled Isreali operative, assigned to work with her because the serial killer has claimed victims in both Israel and the US. I like this new series, and the next volume is in my infamous TBR pile.

J. A. Pitts, Black Blade Blues

This is a first novel from author J. A. Pitts, and there is some roughness to it, but the premise - a lesbian blacksmith who moonlights as a props manager and is part of a medieval reenactment society - was not the sort of thing I could resist. And there are dragons! To continue the refrain, the next volume is in my TBR pile.

Kevin Hearne, Hounded

Another first novel, and a very fine one too. But how could I resist a novel about the last of the Druids, currently living in Arizona under the unlikely name of Atticus O’Sullivan. The rest of the cast of characters includes his Irish wolfhound, a werewolf and a vampire who happen to be his lawyers, several Celtic deities, the spirit of an ancient Hindu sorceress and a coven of witches. And it's funny too - Hearne has a pleasantly dry wit that is well integrated into the style and storytelling. The next volumes is... oh, you know where it is.

Tate Hallaway, Almost to Die For

You, constant reader, already know that I think very highly of Lyda Morehouse's work, and of course you are aware that Tate Hallaway is the name Morehouse uses for her contemporary supernatural urban romance fantasy work (did I cover all the bases there?). This is the first volume in a new YA series about a teenaged girl whose father happens to be the leader of the vampires in her city, and by vampire tradition, that makes her his heir. I liked it, and... you guessed it, the next volume is in my TBR pile.

Tate Hallaway, Honeymoon of the Dead

And, to balance all these new series, this is the last volume in Morehouse/Hallaway's Garnet Lacey series. Garnet and her vampire lover Sebastian von Traum are finally married - but Garnet's past gets in the way of their planned honeymoon in Transylvania. A good ending to an enjoyable series. No more volumes to put in my TBR file. Sniff.

Michelle West, writing as Michelle Sagara, has another interesting series going full blast: the Chronicles of elantra, perhaps better known as the Cast series.

At this point, I've read the first two books in the series, Cast in Shadow and Cast in Courtlight, and I am enjoying them, although not quite as much as West's other work - but I'll get into that a little later.

Fantasy doesn't often pay attention to the function of policing, being generally more interested in the doings of princes, heroes, wizards and occasional thieves, assassins and other folks from the underside who have great destinies ahead of them, for whom the local police are just another obstacle to get around. In this series, West has made her protagonist - Kaylin, a young women with a mysterious and traumatic past - a cop. She and her colleagues police the streets of the capital city of Elantra, where humans and a number of assorted other races dwell in uneasy proximity, surrounded by a band of lawless territories known as the Nightshade.

Kaylin was born in the Nightshade, where as a child she was caught up in a macabre series of ritual murders of children. she's grown now, and happy with her life - until the murders begin again and shadowy characters from her past come into her life once more.

There's a lot that I like to this series - the character and development of kaylin, the highly complex and structured society she lives in, which its multiplicity of cultures and people, all with different abilities, psychologies and customs, Kaylin's interactions with many of her colleagues and acquaintances - but this is another series published by Luna, and as with Judith Tarr's Luna series (published under the name Caitlin Brennan), there's sense that the romantic elements - which West is quite capable of handing in a way that I appreciate in other books - are just a little too foregrounded and formulaic at the same time. There's a little too much of the stereotype in some of the dark and mysterious men out of Kaylin's past, too much of the "is he evil, or just misunderstood" in their characters, too much of the annoyingly eternal triangle in their interactions with Kaylin.

That said, I'm reading 'til the end, because Kaylin herself is just too interesting to resist. Plus, she has a mentor who's a dragon, and I'm just a real sucker for that.

The Fires of Bride, Ellen Galford

Lizzie is a researcher with Caledonian Television’s Features and Light Entertainment department. It’s time for the channel to fulfil its “statutory obligation to provide a certain number of programming hours of cultural and social material covering peripheral Scottish viewing areas” and so Lizzie is sent off to Cailleach, “the outermost island of the Utter Hebrides” to hunt down subject matter for a documentary.

There she meets former lovers Maria Milleny, an artist who has lived on the island for years but is still called “the incomer,” and Catriona MacEochan, local doctor and clan chieftain.

Their story, told in flashback, slowly unveils an ancient tradition of Goddess-worship centred on the island’s two archaeological sites – the ruined convent of St Bride and the standing stones of the Callieach Ring – and a renewed recognition of the social, sexual, economic and spiritual power of women on the island, much to the dismay of the Reverend Murdo MacNeish, minister of the Second Schismatic Independent Kirk of the Outer Isles.

A wise and witty exploration of women’s sexuality and spirituality, with a large dose of social satire and feminist sensibility – and it’s funny, too.

Romancing the Dead, Tate Hallaway

Yep, Garnet Lacey is back, with another mystery to solve among the undead of otherwise fantastical denizens of Madison Wisconsin. Sebastian, Garnet's vampire fiancé, is missing, his ghouls (human he has a feeding relationship with) are jealous of her, his renegade half-human son Matyas has reappeared in town, there's something terribly off-centre in the new coven she's trying to form, and there's a very strange shape-shifter on the loose.

The first two books in the Garnet Lacey series, written by Lyda Morehouse under the penname of Tate Hallaway, were pleasant supernatural romance romps with solid metaphysical underpinnings, and the third volume continues in that vein - part of what I like about them is that while both Morehouse/Hallaway as the writer and her protagonist Garnet are serious and respectful toward the occult, Garnet as a character is a woman with a keen sense of the ironic, the comic and the ridiculous as well as the serious. The combination of the two perspectives in one character, and one book, creates as if by alchemy a result that seems both satisfyingly real, and patently fantastic all at once.

As supernatural romance mystery "chick-lit" goes, this is definitely some of my favourite stuff.

In other serial reading, I have read two more books in Lois McMaster Bujold's series of books about Miles Vorkosigan, diplomat, courtier, spy (now retired), leader of a mercenary space fleet (now retired), and possibly the best-known hero with disabilities in all of science fiction.

In Komarr, there has been a serious accident in space that threatens an massive terraforming project, and Miles is dispatched in his new function as Imperial Auditor to determine if it was really an accident. The investigation morphs into a spy-terrorist plot thriller, and is all very standard Vorkosigan stuff, with one major exception - Miles is falling in love. With a woman that he really shouldn't be having anything to do with.

A Civil Campaign pursues the very tricky matter of Miles' love life against a background of court plots and significant challenges to Barrayar's very conservative thoughts on gender and sex.

Both are fun to read, and my only complaint is that after this, there is only one Miles Vorkosigan book left in the series.

Diana Gabaldon:
Voyager
Drums of August
The Fiery Cross
A Breath of Snow and Ashes

Last year, I discovered Diana Gabaldon’s timetravelling romance series about modern-day English nurse (later doctor) Claire Duchamp and 18th century scottish laird and Jacobite supporter Jamie Fraser. I read the first two volumes, Outlanter and Dragonfly in Amber, and enjoyed them very much. I liked the dynamics between the lovers, and the complexities resulting from the displacement of Claire, with her medical experience and modern values, to Jamie’s violent and often superstitious Scotland.

In Dragonfly in Amber, we met Brianna, the grown-up daughter of Claire and Jamie, raised in the 20th century by Claire and her first husband, Frank Randall (the descendent of Captain Jack Randall, the main villain of the first volume), and celebrated at last the reunion of Claire and Fraser after a 20-year separation.

But there were a lot of books in the series still to read, and earlier this year, I read them.

Voyager takes Claire and Jamie from Scotland to the New World, while in the 20th century, Brianna begins to form an attachment with Scottish historian Roger MacKenzie (who is the descendant of the timetraveller Geillis, who is a minor antagonist in the 18th century stoyline, and a collateral branch of Jaime’s own family). Drums of August, The Fiery Cross, and A Breath of Snow and Ashes tell the story of Claire, Jamie, Brianna and Roger in pre-Revolutionary America.

There are many twists and turns, with Jamie re-establishing himself as a landowner and leader of a community of (mostly) Scottish immigrants to the Colonies, trying to negotiate a path between the Crown and the growing revolutionary movement (warned by the timetravelling members of his family that the revolutionaries will win in the end) in an attempt to keep his family and his community safe in violent times.

After six volumes, some of the plot devices are becoming repetitive. This is Jamie and Claire’s second rebellion, this is Jamie’s second time trying to protect the people he counts as his from war and political turbulence. Just about everyone has been abduct at least once, and in some cases more than once, Claire keeps running into other timetravellers at the strangest moments and so on. But the sweep and momentum of the tale remains strong, and the story of Claire and Jamie is just as engaging, even compelling as ever.

I hear the there is at least one more volume coming, and I'll be waiting for it.

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My life in books

Books in my life

Entries tagged with g: romance

C. L. Polk: Witchmark

Heather Rose Jones: Mother of Souls

Cynthia Ward: The Adventure of the Incognita Contessa

Farah Mendlesohn: Spring Flowering

Ellen Klages: Passing Strange

Kai Ashante Wilson: A Taste of Honey

Mary Robinette Kowal: Ghost Talkers

Roshani Chokshi: The Star-Touched Queen

Lois McMaster Bujold: Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen

Heather Rose Jones: The Mystic Marriage

Heather Rose Jones: Daughter of Mystery

Elizabeth Peters: The Camelot Caper

Anya Seton: Green Darkness

Malinda Lo, Adaptation

2011: Urban Fantasy

Michelle Sagara: the Cast series

An island of women (mostly)

(no subject)

Vorkosigan Rules

A Scottish Laird in King George's America