Kimiko’s LesFic reviews

Turning Point by Lara Zielinsky has finally arrived this week, nearly three months after I ordered it. Shame on Libertas, not only for not getting the book here sooner, but also for twice taking more than a week to answer emails from me about it. I don’t know what’s going on there, but it definitely isn’t the service I’m used to from them.

I really should go and read more though. I have four books lying around now that I haven’t read yet (in addition to TP mentioned above and FG listed in the sidebar, there are Melissa Scott’s Dreaming Metal and Burning Bright).

Title: Night Sky Mine
Author: Melissa Scott
Editor: -not credited-
Publisher: Tor, 1997
Genre: Science Fiction
Overall rating:

Captivating setting, complex characters, intriguing plot, what more could you ask for?
Continue reading Night Sky Mine, by Melissa Scott…

..why I haven’t finished Night Sky Mine yet; my other addiction hobby of playing computer games has flared up since last week.
I’m now happily immersed in the GameBoy Advance game Sword Of Mana, with some other GBA, PlayStation and SNES games waiting after that.
I’m even considering buying an actual Nintendo DS Lite so I can play newer games like Puzzle Quest and Children Of Mana

Title: Nightshade
Author: Karen Williams
Editors: Alice Frier, Lee Boojamra
Publisher: Rising Tide, 1996
Genre: Fantasy/Romance

Ratings:
Overall:
Writing:
Characterization:
Plot:

Too convoluted plot, flat characters
Continue reading Nightshade, by Karen Williams…

Title: Dreamships
Author: Melissa Scott
Editor: -not credited-
Publisher: Tor, 1992
Genre: Science Fiction

Ratings:
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Plot:

Intriguing plot and setting, but a little unbalanced in pacing and detail
Continue reading Dreamships, by Melissa Scott…

I’ve added links in the sidebar for email subscriptions. I know that people should really be able to handle RSS subscriptions these days, but I suspect that many of my potential readers haven’t graduated from Web 1.0 yet. Site views peak whenever I refer to one of my reviews on Lesfic_unbound, much more so than after posting a new review.

So, in order to attract more readers (and hopefully commenters too!), I’ve added links to RssFwd. Just put in your email address, select when you want to receive your email and whether you want nice looking email or text-only, and press the button. After a quick confirmation request you’ll start receiving your choice of email updates. Is that easy, or what?

I’d like to have a green theme on this blog, but that’ll have to wait until the folks at WordPress.com add a nice one to our choices. For now, I’ve added a nicer looking header to the blog. The List of Authors page has been updated with links to the homepages of the authors who have them.

More important though, except for Turning Point, by Lara Zielinsky, which I’m still waiting for Libertas to send me, I’m out of books to read at the moment. Keeping in mind my reading tastes, what books would you suggest I read next?

Update (29-8): It turns out Libertas are waiting for an order themselves, that’s why they haven’t sent Turning Point yet. I wish they would indicate that on the website. I like it that it takes only three days for books to arrive here from them if they are in stock, but if they have to wait for an order from the USA, I might as well order there directly. The reason they hadn’t answered my question about it is that they’re short staffed at the moment. Ah well, it happens I suppose. At least I got two books today so I have something to read again.

Title: Brain Plague
Author: Joan Slonczewski
Editor: not credited
Publisher: Tor, 2001
Genre: Science Fiction

Ratings:
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Writing:
Characterization:
Plot:

Would have been perfect if it had lesbian characters
Continue reading Brain Plague, by Joan Slonczewski…

Title: Water Witch: The Deceiver’s Grave
Author: Nene Adams
Editors: Penelope Waren, Barb Coles (credited), Kay Porter (acknowledged)
Publisher: PD, 2007
Genre: Fantasy/Romance/Adventure

Ratings:
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Awesome pirate tale straightjacketed into LesFic standards
Continue reading Water Witch, by Nene Adams…

Title: Water Logic
Author: Laurie J. Marks
Editors: Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant (acknowledged)
Publisher: Small Beer, 2007
Genre: Fantasy

Ratings:
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Writing:
Characterization:
Plot:

A good book, but the puzzling characters are beginning to wear on me
Continue reading Water Logic, by Laurie Marks…