6 Books with Laura Anne Gilman

Laura Anne Gilman is the author of more than twenty novels, including the Nebula award-nominated The Vineart War trilogy and the award-winning Devil's West series from Saga Press/ Simon & Schuster.  Her current projects include the Huntsmen books, Uncanny Times and Uncanny Vows (November 2023),  and a series of paranormal romance novellas focusing on non-traditional partners, starting with Something Perfect. She has also dipped her pen into the mystery field, writing as L.A. Kornetsky (Collared, Fixed, Doghouse, and Clawed). You can contact her directly at LAG@Lauraannegilman.net

Today she tells us about her Six Books:

1. What book are you currently reading?

I just finished up a client manuscript, and took a break to read a few category romances to rest and reset my brain. Just cracked open White Fragility by Robin Diangelo, which has been sitting on my desk for a while, waiting for me. That's going to be a slow (careful) read.  In genre, I'm working my way through Dreams for a Broken World, edited by Julie Day. I joke that I only read things that are several years old or haven't come out yet..

2. What upcoming book are you really excited about?

A Syndicate of Doxies, which is the next Sarah Tolerance novel by Madeleine Robins.  She just sent me the manuscript, because it doesn't have a publisher yet, and I've been jonesing to read it since she sharted writing it! They're great fun- period mysteries about a "fallen" noblewoman who, instead of meekly crawling back to her family in disgrace, becomes an "agent of inquiry." I'd call these guilty pleasures but I have no guilt whatsoever in loving them.

3. Is there a book you're currently itching to re-read?

Right now, the earlier Sarah Tolerance novels! But in general, I don't reread books. There are so many new ones I haven't gotten to yet, who has time to go backward? And if I do get the itch, my brain recalls plots well enough that I can sort of tell the story to myself, at need.  

I don't know if that's a legacy of my time as an editor, when I had to be able to hold details of a book in my head through several editing passes and to be able to discuss it with the sales force, but. there it is.

4. How about a book you've changed your mind about - either positively or negatively?

I hated Dune when I first read it, as a teenager. Hated, like, "throw across the room," hated. It's possibly the only book I've ever spite-finished, just so I could tell my male friends at the time (who all loved it) how much I hated it. Fast-forward a few decades, and I challenged myself to read it again. It's still not a beloved book, and I can go on about all the things that annoy me about it, but it's easier now to see and acknowledge the interesting, and occasionally brilliant things Herbert did, too. I still think it's a period-typical example of Man Trying to Be Feminist and Missing the Point, though.

5 What's one book, which you read as a child or a young adult, that holds a special place in your heart?

 Oh, A Fine and Private Place by Peter Beagle.  It's deceptively simple in terms of story - a ghost story, a love story, a murder mystery - but the language is so gorgeous, it's like eating the very best hot fudge sundae, the mix of warm and cool and crunch in your mouth blending perfectly.  I was in awe of his writing talent then, I'm still in awe, and occasionally will pick it up just to look at a passage and think "godDAMN that's skill."

6. And speaking of that, what's your latest book, and why is it awesome?

The awesome thing about Uncanny Vows is that it comes with a brand-new eSUV with purchase!  Okay, no, that's a lie. Sorry.

The "elevator" pitch for this book is, in the early 1900s, Huntsmen Rosemary and Aaron Harkers have been charged with finding the uncanny that attacked a well-to-do lawyer in his Boston office. And they need to do it without attracting attention, or creating a fuss (something readers of Uncanny Times will know is. difficult for them). 

I'm biased, yeah, but I think Uncanny Vows is awesome because it dives headfirst into the tangles of culture and class, new immigrants versus established ones, not only human, but supernatural. And while most of my books deal with found families, and the obligations that come with that, Uncanny Vows has the additional complication of a secret that could overturn the entire Huntsmen applecart.

It's also awesome because of Botheration, the Harker's hound. Bother is the epitome of awesomesauce.

Thank you, Laura Anne!

POSTED BY: Paul Weimer. Ubiquitous in Shadow, but I’m just this guy, you know? @princejvstin.