alfreda89: 3 foot concrete Medieval style gargoyle with author's hand resting on its head. (Mascot)
"When Did You Get Hooked?" John Lanchester asks in a review in the London Review of Books.

Actually, I'm not. I read the novella when it appeared, long ago, thought it fascinating, and decided that I did not want to read something that violent. There's a quote from Renaissance Faire that I like to use, from the crier for the abbreviated Hamlet performed at the fair. The young man's patter always finished with: "Everybody dies, I die last!"

That's A Song of Fire and Ice. The people I like die, the people I despise die, and the very thing that Lanchester offers up as a selling point -- that Game of Thrones, the HBO hit, is a metaphor for our economic and climate uncertainty -- is what I hate the most. My life is filled with uncertainty. It's not recreation for me to read about that topic. After seeing Peter Dinklage playing Tyrion Lannister, "a worldly, jaded, funny, highly intelligent cynic" who is both a dwarf and possibly the most moral member of the Lannister family, I do root for Tyrion to win the Game of Thrones. But I won't watch that violence and debasement of everything we fought centuries to accomplish as a species.

A famous SF writer once suggested that she preferred SF to fantasy because the medieval age had nothing for women. That is an exaggeration...but not by much.

The review is interesting, whether you love the story or want to know why others like it so much.
alfreda89: 3 foot concrete Medieval style gargoyle with author's hand resting on its head. (Fires of Nuala book cover)
So last October a fellow writer (waves at Pooks!) mentioned www.shinybookreview.com as a reviewing group doing thoughtful reviews on all books, including ebooks. We're talking so serious they won't review books published by their own publishers. So I sent them my books, got a polite thanks, and forgot about it while moving and getting into the swing of job hunting.

Then, earlier this month, I heard from one of the reviewers. She was planning to review FIRES OF NUALA, and wanted to give me a heads up. I was hoping the review was mostly good, as she said she'd read the book more than once to get depth on the world, and planned to read the others.

I didn't expect her to LOVE it. Like in, A+ ?

WOW

"THE FIRES OF NUALA, written in 1988 and reissued** in 2010, is a book that should be in every science fiction library as it is complex, engrossing, interesting, compelling, and outstanding."

Not sure it gets any better than this! Spread the word!
alfreda89: 3 foot concrete Medieval style gargoyle with author's hand resting on its head. (Boobies!)
Is THIS what this book is about?

I am speechless. I thought the book was merely derivative, mildly erotic, and poorly written. This is appalling.

At the least, this is a well thought-out analysis of FIFTY SHADES OF GRAY. So what do you think?

June 2025

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