6 Books with Jordan Kurella

Jordan Kurella is a trans and disabled author who has lived all over the world (including Moscow and Manhattan). In his past lives, he was a photographer, radio DJ, and social worker. His work has been nominated for the Nebula Award, the Sturgeon Award, and the LA Times Book Prize. He is the author of the fantasy novella, I Never Liked You Anyway, the short story collection, When I Was Lost, and the climate fiction novella, The Death of Mountains. Jordan lives in limbo with his perfect dog and practical cat.

Today he tells us about his six books.

1. What book are you currently reading?

Right now I’m doing a re-read of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones as I am answering these questions a day or two before I’m due at the L.A. Times Book Festival. I’m on a panel with Stephen Graham Jones and Catronia Ward. I have Ward’s book ready to read on the train to Los Angeles. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is one of my favorite horror books I’ve read in a very long time, but then again, I’m an enormous fan of Dracula by Bram Stoker (probably read that four times). The book is paced and constructed similarly (but not samely) to Dracula but with more revenge, more justice, and more skill in voice (in my opinion). Jones does an absolutely incredible job in the narrative voice differences between Etsy, Good Stab, and the Pastor. This is the kind of thing I just gobble up. I’m about a third of the way through my re-read, and picking up on clues I dropped the first time.

2. What upcoming book are you really excited about?

This was originally going to be a very difficult question to answer, as my two big books I was anticipating were Year of the Mer by L.D. Lewis and Ignore All Previous Instructions by Ada Hoffman. But Year of the Mer is already out, so! This makes answering this question far easier (get Year of the Mer at your favorite indie bookstore). As Ignore All Previous Instructions is due out in May, I’ll talk about that one. This book is an incredible rocket-ride of spacefaring adventure and romance with the kind of drama that I don’t usually see in science fiction—by which I mean relationship/romantic drama—and that kinda messy stuff is totally my jam. I love fictional relationships that mimic soap opera levels of mess, and Ignore All Previous Instructions has that with trans characters, neurodivergence, space travel, and a total and scathing takedown of LLMs. Hoffman is an incredible writer, and I’ve been a fan of their work for ages. This book is my favorite of theirs so far.

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

I always want to re-read The Mountain and the Sea by Ray Nayler. This is my answer every time. When I’m in-between books, I see it on my shelf and want to read it again. Had the fortune of talking to Ray about this at the 2025 Seattle Worldcon, and he said that he wrote that in the hopes that folks would find it that way—like their favorite Pixies album—but to me, The Mountain and the Sea is itself about language and communication and the problems and benefits of it. So re-reading it again and again (I’ve read it twice) makes me understand the book on a deeper and deeper level, like listening or replaying a conversation in my head might do. See where I erred, or where maybe someone wasn’t being completely on the up and up. It also makes me a better writer, I think? Re-reading something that I love so completely? Because I can pick it apart and get to the makings of why it works so well.

4. A book that you love and wish you yourself had written?

No. 

I don’t get jealous or envious about other authors’ work, and when someone else writes a book concept that was close to something I was thinking of, my immediate thought is, “Oh thank gosh, now I can put that idea aside.” And then I read their book to see how much better they did it than me, and then sit back and enjoy it. Authors are all unique and bring their own life experiences to the page. Ideas might be chaff, but every idea is built upon the backbone of experience. To get to the question? The closest I got to this was Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera, which thank gosh he wrote that. Chandrasekera wrote Rakesfall as a far better book than I could write, and executed the nascent idea I’d been playing over in my head so much better and more masterfully than I ever could do. Which is cool! How can I be upset, now I get to read it! I just love reading, and I love reading a lot of things. So when I come across something that is similar to something I want to write? I am just super happy go along for the ride.

5. What’s one book, which you read as a child or young adult, that has had a lasting influence on your writing?

This is a complete toss-up between D’Aulaires Book of Greek Myths and The Stranger by Chris Van Allsberg. Each of these books I was given by my parents when I was around nine or ten years old, and I wore the copies out so much that the covers fell out and pages fell out. I still have the originals I was given. But I’m going to talk about The Stranger. This book is not one of Allsberg’s more famous works, it’s about Jack Frost, who gets hit by a farmer’s car, and is brought into the farmer’s home to recover from amnesia. Like much of Allsberg’s work, the illustrations are phenomenal, and there’s a mystery to be solved. When the seasons don’t change, and the harvest doesn’t come, Jack Frost suddenly regains his memory, and winter arrives. I’m getting chills just typing this. It made me seek out and have curiosity about more things. Books, nature, and beauty in the world around me.

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

The last book I had published is called The Death of Mountains and it came out last year (March 2025). It features Plundered Mountain, who is a middling hill of the Appalachians who does not want to die. When she is visited by the Death of Mountains who has come to usher her along? Plundered Mountain bargains for her life through the trading of stories back and forth over the course of one night, but it becomes more involved than that, as stories always tend to do. Told in three points of view in novella length, this book was a fun thing to write, an experiment in how weird can I go? There’s a book called Before the Feast by Saša Stanišić translated by Anthea Bell. I read it about six years ago, and in it, there’s a town that speaks in a first person plural. Reading this book changed my entire perspective on how a book could be told. I could not have written The Death of Mountains without Before the Feast. But I’m getting lost in my answer: Death of Mountains, the character, is terrible at his job, while Plundered Mountain is exceedingly good (and stubborn) at being a mountain. The two clash in the kindest and gentlest of ways as they tell stories and ask questions over the nature of permanence, what is life, what is joy, and how there is no life without a little suffering. I had a lot of fun writing this book, and I hope others enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Thank you Jordan!

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POSTED BY: Roseanna Pendlebury, the humble servant of a very loud cat. @chloroformtea.bsky.social

Six Books with Jeremy Szal

Jeremy Szal was born in 1995 and was raised by wild dingoes, which should explain a lot. He writes epic fantasy and dark space opera of a character-driven, morally grey nature. His main series is the Common trilogy from Gollancz/Hachette, which includes Stormblood, Blindspace, and Wolfskin, about a drug harvested from alien DNA that makes users permanently addicted to adrenaline and aggression. He’s the author of over fifty short stories, translated into fifteen languages, many of which appear in his short fiction collection Broken Stars. He was the editor for the Hugo-winning StarShipSofa until 2020 and has a BA in Film Studies and Creative Writing from UNSW. He carves out a living in Sydney, Australia with his family, where he loves watching weird movies, eating Japanese food, exploring cities, learning languages, cold weather and dark humour. Find him at https://jeremyszal.substack.com/ or @JeremySzal

Today he tells us about his Six Books.

1. What book are you currently reading?

I'm currently reading The Strength of the Few by James Islington (a fellow Aussie!). It's engrossing, dark, twisty, and deeply intricate. I know that the puzzle pieces will inevitably fall into place soon, and now I'm just along for the ride, waiting for the penny to drop, while dreading what is coming.

2. What upcoming book are you really excited about?

Red God by Pierce Brown. I first discovered Red Rising when I was still a teenager, back in 2015. I don't want the story to end, but end it must, as all stories do.

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

Not a book, but the manga series Beastars by Paru Itagaki. I discovered the series just before COVID hit, and so many rainy weekends were spent cooped up on the couch, exploring this world of animal protagonists. The writing is rough around the edges, but the characters and story are so well executed, and the art is truly spectacular. I'd read the whole series again just for the artwork. Maybe I will.

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

I usually wouldn't do this, because I try to never speak ill of my literary brothers and sisters, or their books, but I've spoken with the author about this, so I'll make an exception: Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio. When I first read it, I thought it long-winded, melodramatic, dull and too stuffy and full of purple prose for its own good. And make no mistake, the book is rough, as all debut novels are, including my own. But I heard that the series got better with each installment, so I gave Empire another read. I learned to appreciate the voice and style, found solace in the flowery language that helped to build this great galactic world brick by brick. The third novel, Demon in White, almost had me light-headed with just how epic and awesome it all was towards the end. If I allowed my hasty first impression to get in the way, I'd have deprived myself of one of the best SF epics in modern publishing.

5. What's one book, which you read as a child or a young adult, that has had a lasting influence on your writing?

Red Rising by Pierce Brown. The entire series has been a part of my life for a long time, and has shaped me and my writing in a multitude of ways—something about a lonely, broken man, desperately seeking friendship and a home and a place where he belongs, resonated so strongly with me in my late teens, when I was seeing the end of university approaching and knew that I'd soon be ejected out into a new world to fend for myself. Although the world is one of limitless horrors and violence, it is also one of nobility and bravery, interspersed with epic and traumatic moments. I care deeply for Darrow and his cast of feral characters, and I know that I'll always have a home with them, whenever I flip open the pages again.

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

My latest book is Wolfskin! It's the third book in the Common series, where the DNA of an extinct alien race is turned into a drug, making users permanently addicted to adrenaline and violence. The story is centred on Vakov Fukasawa, the protagonist, and his younger brother Artyom, as they're embroiled on opposite sides of a conflict that starts off as a drug war, and escalates into a grand galactic war, where the Shenoi—the source of the stormtech—prove to be not quite as extinct as everyone believed.

Wolfskin is awesome (although I could be biased) because I've finally been able to explore a bunch of the themes and plotlines that have been gathering speed since the first book. Vakov and Artyom have (mostly) healed their relationship and are now locked in and fighting side by side against the enemies that want to see them both dead. There's no secret as to who they are fighting—the Shenoi are not friendly, and here we get to see them in their full, grotesque, gory glory. And I think Wolfskin is the book where all the characters step up and truly set out on their own path, reach their full potential. It has always been my dream to write a fully-fleshed out space opera, on a scale similar to that of Star Wars, with tons of factions and aliens and ships and superweapons, and in Wolfskin I was given the chance to do just that.

Of course, I've also tried my damnest to keep things centred on character as well, where Vakov and his relationship—both with his friends, family, and his own body, take centre stage, and I think I've achieved that. I had to make some hard decisions in this installment, with how each character would end up, but I do think that I've ended it the way it demanded to be ended. The way it needed to be.

And now, I'm just extremely happy for it to soon be out in the world.

Thank you, Jeremy!

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

6 Books with R.J. Barker

R.J. Barker is a critically acclaimed and award-winning author of fantasy fiction. He won the British Fantasy Award for Best Novel for his fourth novel, The Bone Ships, and his debut trilogy The Wounded Kingdom was nominated for the David Gemmel Award, the Kitschie Golden Tentacle, the Compton Crook, and the BFS Best Debut and Best Novel awards. R.J. lives in Leeds with his wife, son, and a collection of questionable taxidermy, odd art, scary music, and more books than they have room for.

Today he tells us about his six books:

1. What book are you currently reading?

I am currently reading Children of Strife by Adrian Tchaikovsky, which is the fourth if his ‘Children of…’ books. I am quite a slow reader now so I am not a long way into it but it is just wonderful so far. I think Adrian is probably one of the best writers working in SFF right now. The breadth of his imagination is extraordinary, as is how quickly he manages to work which should probably be illegal (I have tried writing to my local Member of Parliament about this but they were strangely uninterested.) I love the way that he makes everything interlock and how work often calls back on itself and the depth of his creations is just wonderful. You can tell he’s done the work, which is always quite impressive to me as I try to do very little work.

2. What upcoming book are you really excited about?

This was a really hard question for me as I am a very live in the moment person I don’t tend to be thinking about what’s coming or what has gone by much. I’m always too busy enjoying what I am doing now and writing is such a precarious occupation I think it’s often best not to think too much about the future. So I don’t. However, because of this question I found out that James Lee Burke released a new Dave Robicheaux book on the 12^th of February so now I know about that I am looking forward to it immensely. His writing is absolutely beautiful and the way he balances a sense of  impending violence and (often but not always) very subtle supernatural themes with the nature and environment of the deep south is incredible. The book is called The Hadacol Boogie. I have no idea what a Hadacol is but I am looking forward to finding out.

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

Not really. Life is way too short to re-read things (with one exception but we’ll get to that below) and I’m always in search of something new. I don’t really like nostalgia and I think, for me anyway, every type of art I’ve consumed has its enjoyment tied to a place and a situation that I can never go back to. And wouldn’t want to really, so often going back to things I’ve loved is just an exercise in disappointment. I will never reclaim the sense of awe in the new I had when I first read Iain M Banks Culture books. Or find again the joy of C.J. Cherryh’s Morgaine cycle revealing to me what was really going on. So instead I want to find new things that will wow me in new ways.

4. A book that you love and wish that you yourself had written.

There are so many but RECENTLY that is Pagans by James Alastair Henry. It’s a police procedural set in a modern day England where Christianity never happened in the same way it did in ours. (I don’t think it’s ever underlined why but it doesn’t seem the Roman Empire never happened either). It’s an incredible book, not just because I love a crime novel, but the world just works. It’s a great bit of creation and feels entirely possible. The UK is very much a backwater, America never existed, and Africa and the Mughal empire of India are the main superpowers. There’s never a moment in the book where it doesn’t feel real.

But, bit of bad news if you are in the US, I don’t think you can get Pagans yet and you are really missing out. Sorry.

5. What’s one book, which you read as a child or a young adult, that has had a lasting influence on your writing?

Watership Down. I think some aspect of Watership Down is in everything I write and it remains the only book that I go back to and each time I find something new. Richard Adams was quite dismissive about the book, and thought it was for children but I think that just shows the author never quite knows what they are writing. On one level it is just an adventure with some rabbits for kids. But it’s also a deep and complex political allegory and a book full of lessons on how we treat each other. It’s just a wonderful thing and I love it dearly.

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

My latest book is Mortedant’s Peril and it comes out in May of this year. It’s always hard as Brit when someone says ‘what makes this thing you did Brilliant.’ As you’re kind of first instinct is to go, 'well, it’s alright' then deflect off as we don’t do self congratulation particularly well. Having said that, I think people will love Irody and his friends. Even though Irody at first approach is not that loveable, I think readers will see past his mask to what’s within. Then there’s the world, I’ve created quite a few worlds and they are often hard to approach, and require a lot of patience in the reader where this isn’t that. The world has all the complexity I enjoy giving a place but you can more or less step straight in to Elbay. It’s a city and we understand cities, even if it is one like no other you’ve ever come across. There’s also no build up, the danger (or peril!), is there right from the start, you’re thrown right in to the murder mystery that puts Irody’s life in danger..

And it’s funny. Not in a jokes way, but in the way people are, when they hide from themselves or don’t see the truth that you, the reader, can see from your lofty position above the page. It’s just all something very enjoyable, I loved writing it, and I hope you will love reading it.

Thank you, R.J!

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

6 Books with A.C Wise

A.C. Wise is the author of the novels Wendy, Darling and Hooked, along with the recent short story collection The Ghost Sequences. Her work has won the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, and has been a finalist for the Nebula Awards, Stoker, World Fantasy, Locus, British Fantasy, Aurora, Lambda, and Ignyte Awards. In addition to her fiction, she contributes a review column to Apex Magazine.

Today, we find out about her six books.

1. What book are you currently reading?

I recently started reading The Villa, Once Beloved by Victor Manibo. I’m not that far into it yet, but I’m very much enjoying it thus far. It’s an atmospheric Gothic that looks to be playing with some of the tropes of the genre. There’s a desolate and run-down mansion, and the idea of the family curse, but there are several characters who could fulfil the role of the outsider coming into the situation. Sophie isn’t a member of the family; she was adopted as a child, leaving her feeling in an in-between state of both being from the Philippines and not from the Philippines; her boyfriend spent time at the estate as a child, but didn’t exactly grow up there; and other members of the family are estranged, semi-estranged, or don’t fit in. Thus far, everyone is also very up front about the idea of the curse, which makes me think there are other buried secrets yet to be revealed. I’m looking forward to seeing how the dynamics and expectations of the genre play out over the course of the book.

2. What upcoming book are you really excited about?

There are a few 2026 titles that I was lucky enough to get an early look at, and I’m very excited for other folks to be able to read them. The Iron Garden Sutra by A.D. Sui is a gorgeous, slow-burn locked room mystery set in space. Cabaret in Flames by Hache Pueyo is a lush novella exploring trauma and healing in a world of ghuls. Stephanie Feldman also has a lovely collection upcoming, The Night Parade and Other Stories. As for works I haven’t read yet coming out in 2026, I’m looking forward to John Chu’s debut novel The Subtle Art of Folding Space and Paul Tremblay’s new novel Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep.

3. Is there a book you’re currently itching to reread?

I saw a really beautiful edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray the other day, and while I resisted buying it, it did make me want to reread it. I’ve also been contemplating giving Moby Dick another try. From what I recall, I got almost of the way through it, but never actually finished it.

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

A book I’ve changed my mind about multiple times over the years is Catcher in the Rye. The first time I tried to read it in a high school English class, I bounced off of it. I gave it another shot a few years later and ended up really liking it and finding Holden Caufield more relatable. Looking back now, I suspect Holden would be irritating and I’d be impatient with him. I also get the feeling that may be intentional, and the way a reader reacts to Holden may very much be a factor of age.

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

The Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark trilogy both continues to have a lasting influence on my writing and holds a special place in my heart. So many of the stories are mere snippets or leave events wholly unexplained, which means there’s room to imagine all sorts of things around the margins. Being drawn from folk/fairy/traditional tales and urban legends gives the stories an enduring and timeless feel. Plus, there are those gorgeous illustrations, which I feel like are absolutely burned into the brains of many authors and readers of my generation. Several things I’ve written over the years have drawn inspiration from those stories and their accompanying artwork.

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

My latest book is Ballad of the Bone Road, and while it’s not strictly horror, there are horror-adjacent elements, and there are ghosts involved. It’s set in an alternate version of New York City, which was once occupied by the fae. Two supernatural investigators get caught up in a particularly tricky haunting involving a movie idol, and things get increasingly complicated from there. I love stories where the fae are as dangerous as they are lovely, and where ghosts are more tragic than frightening. This novel has both, and there’s also romance and friendship and people making terrible decision with the best intentions in mind. I had a lot of fun writing it, so hopefully people will enjoy reading it!

Thank you!

6 Books with Stew Hotston

With a Celtic-Indian mother and a father of North African/Roma descent, Stewart Hotston is a somewhat confused second-generation immigrant living in the UK. His novels include the BFS and Subjective Chaos finalist Entropy of Loss, as well as the tech thriller Tangle’s Game and the science fiction novels based in UBISoft’s Watch Dogs universe—Daybreak Legacy and Stars & Stripes. He is also co-owner of one of the UK’s largest LARP systems, Curious Pastimes, and is an internationally competitive historical fencer with a PhD in theoretical physics.

Today he takes that diverse curriculum vitae and tells us about his Six Books.

1. What book are you currently reading?

I’m reading Blood over Bright Haven by ML Wang. For nonfiction I’m reading Judith Butler’s Who’s Afraid of Gender? I’m really enjoying both. Wang’s feels pretty timely, and an interesting take on a whole number of issues that are important to me (intersectionality, prejudice, colonialism) wrapped up in a meticulously crafted fantasy world.

2. What upcoming book are you really excited about?

Mahmud El Sayed’s science fiction novel The Republic of Memory is the one most on my radar. Having just seen the cover and read the first chapter, I’m really very excited for what he’s bringing to the genre—a unique cultural perspective, a fascinating stor, and what looks to be interesting structural choices.












3. Is there a book you’re currently itching to reread?

I’m not much of a rereader, but I have promised myself I’m going to reread The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez and the Tyrant Philosopher series by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

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

Annie Bot. I’m not sure I’ve changed my mind—I really disliked it when I first read it, but it then went on to win the Clarke Award, and I’ve promised myself I’m going to return to it and reassess to see if what I found so difficult the first time remains a sticking point on a second readthrough.












5. What’s one book, which you read as a child or a young adult, that has had a lasting influence on your writing?

Oh, wow. That’s a difficult one because I read A LOT as a younger person and much of that has stayed with me. In terms of lasting influence on my writing, though? I think I was about 25 (I’m 50 now, so I’m going to let it count) when I read House of Leaves, and that really showed me that writing was more than content, more than delivering plot, that it could be about the words, the structure, the form itself. I’ve never written anything like it (and probably never will), but it remains a revelation to me that I return to again and again. Especially when I encounter people telling me there are rules to writing.

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

My latest is Project Hanuman, which is a space opera in the Culture mode, if that’s not too pretentious to say. More specifically, it’s also a retelling of how the god Hanuman lost his powers (and got them back), wrapped up in the collapse of a pan-galactic civilisation called the Arcology, and follows three of the survivors as they seek to build back. I am a trained physicist, and as a result this is one weird book, because modern physics says some incredibly strange things about reality, and I wanted to make those part of the story as much as the mythic elements around Hanuman.







Thank you, Stewart!

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

Six Books with Chloe N. Clark

Chloe N. Clark is the author of Collective Gravities (a pick for Best Books of 2020, NPR and The Brooklyn Rail), Patterns of Orbit, Escaping the Body, and more. She is a founding co-editor-in-chief of Cotton Xenomorph. Her next book, Every Galaxy a Circle, is forthcoming from JackLeg Press.

Today Chloe tells us about her Six Books!

1. What book are you currently reading?

What book am I not currently reading might be a fairer question at this point. After a period of not having much time to read, I've started carving out more dedicated reading time, and now I am feasting upon these long overdue delights. I can balance one non-fiction, one novel, and one short story collection at a time basically. Currently reading Why I Love Horror edited by Becky Spratford, Happy People Don't Live Here by Amber Sparks, and First Kicking, then Not by Hannah Grieco.

2. What upcoming book are you really excited about?

Oh gosh (depending on when this runs), I am looking forward to quite a few in my pile of TBR and pre-orders, including Ken Liu's All that We See or Seem, The Earth Room by Dana Diehl, Bitter Over Sweet by Melissa Llanes Brownlee, and so many more! I am cheating so much at this one book thing!

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

I love re-reading books, so I'm always hoping to re-read something. Right now, I want to re-read Victor LaValle's Devil in Silver before the show comes out.

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

There's a lot of books I've changed my mind about in a more negative manner (some because the book no longer connects to me and some because the author has turned out to be terrible). In positives, though, I think I had to age into Mary Oliver's poetry.

5. What’s one book, which you read as a child or a young adult, that has had a lasting influence on your writing?

The Alvin Schwartz Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series had a profound effect on me as a child. I got deeply into exploring folklore because of them. I also think the very disturbing and almost impressionistic illustrations greatly inspired the way I think about describing horrifying things.

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

My latest book is Every Galaxy a Circle. It's a collection of stories that spans almost two decades of writing and revision (it has a story that was my very first fiction publication way back in the prehistoric times). Story topics include pie, basketball, space ghosts, monsters, and the scariest thing that's ever existed—yes, I'm talking about leopard seals.











Thank you, Chloe!

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

6 Books with Olivia Waite

Olivia Waite writes queer historical romance, sff, and essays. She is the romance fiction columnist for the New York Times Book Review.

Today, she is here to tell us about her Six Books.

1. What book are you currently reading?

The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses — been saving this as a post-deadline treat! Sci-fi and mystery and delicate relationship beats, my favorite combination.

2. What upcoming book are you really excited about?

Enchanting the Fae Queen by Stephanie Burgis — the sequel teased at the end of Wooing the Witch Queen, starring my favorite terrifying character from that book. Burgis ranges from super-light supernatural romances (Austen plus dragons in Scales and Sensibility) to dark political supernatural romances (Congress of Secrets with its shadowy horrors and secret police), but her books are always a wonderful time.

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

Prince of Midnight by Laura Kinsale — a washed-up highwayman in exile is brought back to England for revenge by a furious young woman whose family was murdered by a cult. I’ve been rereading a lot of Kinsale lately — some for the first time, like the exquisite For My Lady’s Heart — and this one was my favorite of hers from back when, so I’m dying to find out how it works for me now.

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

Two series: I recently reread both the full Hitchhiker’s Guide series and Ann Leckie’s Imperial Raadch trilogy back to back, and was very surprised to find that Adams’ comedy now feels nihilistically bleak, while Leckie’s far-future imperial civil war leaves breathing room for hope and resilience.

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

Growing up as a kid, I never lost an opportunity to check a bookstore or library shelf for anything new or reprinted by Diana Wynne Jones — but the one I reread until it fell to pieces was A Tale of Time City. A bit of mystery, a bit of fantasy, incredible characters, and the impossibly delicious-sounding dessert 42-Century Butter-Pie.

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

My latest book is Murder by Memory — on a generation ship where you’re issued a new body every time your old one wears out, and your memories are saved in book form in the Library, ship’s detective Dorothy Gentleman wakes up in a body that isn’t hers just as a murder is committed. It’s my love letter to classic mysteries, sapphic sci-fi, and utopias with problems because people are still people even if they have everything they need.

Thank you, Olivia!

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

6 Books with Suzan Palumbo

Suzan Palumbo is a Trinidadian - Canadian, dark speculative fiction writer and editor. Her work has been nominated for the Nebula, Aurora, World Fantasy and Locus awards. She also co-founded the Ignyte Awards with L.D. Lewis. Her debut dark fantasy/horror short story collection Skin Thief: Stories is out now from Neon Hemlock. Her queer, Caribbean, space opera novella Countess will be published by ECW Press on September 10th 2024. She is represented by Michael Curry of the Donald Maass Literary Agency. When she isn’t writing she can be found gardening or being a goth.

Today she tells us about her Six Books:

1. What book are you currently reading?

I’ve just begun Witch King by Martha Wells. The opening has grabbed me by the throat. If an author writes the words: “…a drop of his blood hardened into a red pearl buried in her heart…” on the first page of their book, I am going to sit up and be ready to be told a story! It’s a super goth line!

I recently got to meet Martha while she was in Toronto at a signing event. She was incredibly gracious. I’ve been a fan of Murderbot for some time but I’m excited to read a fantasy book about revolution by her. I think she will deliver a narrative I don’t expect and I’m a big fan of people surprising me. Throw me a curve ball and I am happy.

2. What upcoming book are you really excited about?

I’m excited to read Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera. My mother practices Hinduism and the concept of reincarnation was one she spoke about a lot while I was growing up. As a result, I’m always keen to read speculative work about transmigration by writers who grew up with similar belief systems. I think Vajra’s book is going to be epic, profound and thought provoking. Again, give me the unexpected and the unpredictable. I’m here for all of that!

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

I tend not to re-read many books these days, though I did reread books often when I was younger. I read 1984 several times as a teenager. If I do re-visit a book now, it’s to look up a paragraph or phrase that struck me as well written, insightful or pertinent to a situation I’m encountering in the present. Sometimes, I’ll reread a text for research purposes.

A friend once said, “We only have the capacity to read a certain number of books during our lifetime.” That struck a chord with the absurdist in me. So, while I’m all for everyone re-reading generally, I tend to always be working on my new TBR pile so I can experience as many new books as possible. After Witch King, I plan to read The Wings Upon Her Back by Samantha Mills.

4. Is there a book that you love and wish that you yourself had written.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo. I have to preface this by saying I don’t think I could write The Empress of Salt and Fortune. I think what Vo accomplished with that novella was stunning and unique and only she could have done it. What was so revolutionary about it for me was Vo’s ability to tell the stories of characters who are often given little space or notice. She showed how ordinary people can have a profound impact on the course of history and she did it so elegantly. It is probably the best novella I’ve ever read.

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

I read Jane Eyre when I was fourteen and it blew my mind. I had never before related to a character as strongly as I did with Jane. Her hopes, struggles and loneliness seemed so visceral to me. I was shocked that I could connect with a book that was written almost one hundred and fifty years before I was born. That book’s earnestness informs all of my work. The writing felt so confessional and heart wrenching. It is indelibly part of who I am as a person and writer.

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

My latest book, Countess, is a queer, Caribbean, space opera novella with a gothic arc at its core. It is full of Caribbean food and culture as well as romance, space chases and curses. It is also a deeply anticolonial story about a Trinidadian descended lieutenant in the future who must come to terms with what she has been taught about empire and the self-hate empire has fostered within her.

I’ll add that the protagonist, Virika Sameroo, is one of the first, if not the first (I could be wrong), femme Indo-Caribbean space officers to be written and published in a novella or novel. I have never encountered a character from my demographic in this type of story before. Virika is passionate and has a temper but she also has a good heart and she cares for her community and people. Her story isn’t an easy one but she is brave despite the odds. That is what makes her and the book awesome. I hope Countess will resonate with those who have never, or rarely, seen themselves and their point of view represented in science fiction and space operas. I hope everyone walks away from the book with indomitable hope in spite of the odds.

Thanks so very much for having me here and letting me talk about some books I love, Paul!

Thank you, Susan!