5 Reasons I Won't Read Your Work

Having reviewed books somewhat spottily for over half a decade, I've developed a mental checklist to use when deciding whether I will read or review a book.  Most often, I just don't have the time to read 159,997 novels in a year, so I turn down a lot of reviews because I know I won't be able to get to it.  Otherwise, I usually reject a novel for one of the follow reasons:

My Top 12 Books Read in 2014

I said on Twitter that I would make this list because I had such a hard time picking a winner for the 2013/2014 WISB Awards.  Basically, this list is my guilt getting the better of me, because I love so many things and hate having to pick.

So, in no particular order (because I cannot rank these books without feeling as though I have committed a great atrocity against these authors), here are my top 12 books read in 2014:

Great SF/F Books by Female Authors: A Massive Twitter List! #sffbywomen

Earlier today, I posted seven sf/f books by women worth checking out for International Women's Day.  This led to a tweet asking folks online to list a single sf/f work by a woman that they think is exceptional.  Folks promptly ignored the "single" part and sent me a lot of suggestions.  You can add your own suggestions in the comments here or via the #sffbywomen tag on Twitter.

In any case, if you're looking for something new to read and care about gender parity, here's a massive list of great works of sf/f by women (note:  the list may be edited later; I may send the question to Facebook and Google+ to make things interesting).

Enjoy!

7 SF/F Books by Female Authors to Pick Up on International Women's Day

If the title didn't make it clear, today is International Women's Day!  In celebration of that, here are seven wonderful books by female sf/f writers that I think you should check out, if not now, then certainly before the weekend ends.  Consider it homework...the fun kind...

Here they are:

A (Possibly Evolving) List of Great Novels by African Writers -- for @jmmcdermott

I've been commanded by Lord McDermott to put together a list of great novels by African writers so he'd have some stuff to read.  And that's exactly what I've done.

I've intentionally chucked out the books everyone has likely read, such as Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (I know for a fact that Mr. McDermott has read this one, so that's an easy task).

In no particular order, here are the novels (a very VERY short list):

The Diversity Pledge: Crunching My Numbers for 2013

I think this is the first time I've seriously looked at my reading numbers.  And now I'm going to share them with the world.

The list only includes novels, collections, and narrative non-fiction.  I have not factored in multiple books by the same author.

Here's the author list:

My Hopes and Anticipations for Science Fiction and Fantasy in 2014

2014 is almost upon us, and I'm already thinking about what is to come.  What will 2014 be like?  Will it be awesome?  Will someone release a stunning science fiction novel or an exciting YA fantasy or an *epic* epic fantasy?  The only way to find out is to live long enough to see it, I suppose (that's my early New Year's resolution).  But I do have my hopes for next year.  Big, juicy hopes.  And they are as follows:

10 Books I'm Looking Forward to in 2013

Now that I've covered movies and television, I think it's time I hit the big stuff -- books.

Here's the ten books I'm looking forward to this year (feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments):

Dear Christmas: My Favorite SF/F Re-Reads

There's still time to get to the shops and buy that special gift for your estranged husband or twice-removed cousin.  Okay, let's face it.  You're not buying gifts for them.  If you've popped onto this page, it's for one of three reasons:

1. You read this blog.
2. You told me to write on this topic.
3. You've got a weird scifi and fantasy geek child or friend and you have no idea what to get them.

If you're in the #3 category, then prepare yourself for this completely uneven list of books I enjoyed enough to read more than once!  Here goes:

The #ThoroughlyGoodBooksbyPoc Reading List

Update:  The list is now alphabetical by author!

(Note:  The following books are what was listed on Twitter under the #ThoroughlyGoodBooksbyPOC hashtag at 5:45 PM EST (the 21st of August).  Twitter will not allow me to view anything that might have appeared earlier than the morning of the 21st.

It should also be noted that some folks have expanded the list to include books featuring POC characters, even when such books are written by white authors.)

A little background:

In response to the recent Weird Tales fiasco, author Jim C. Hines decided to switch things around to get people to list their favorite novels by people of color, irrespective of genre.  I've decided to compile as many of those books as I possibly can.  The following list will, I hope, be updated over the course of the week (please understand that I am in grad school, which begins anew tomorrow, and so my time may be limited to do this).

(Note:  Some authors will not have specific titles listed.  This is either because people suggested practically everything written by those authors or specifically stated "anything by."  Please excuse any repetitions you may find.)

Now for the list: