Category Archives: sf/f

My September Reading Log

Posted on October 17, 2025 by Victoria Janssen

Fiction: Brigands and Breadknives by Travis Baldree will be out in November. It takes a different path from Legends and Lattes and Bookshops and Bonedust; rattkin bookseller Fern is reunited with the orc coffeeshop proprietor Viv in her new life, … Continue reading →

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#TBR Challenge – Here There Be Monsters: Troll: A Love Story by Johanna Sinisalo

Posted on October 15, 2025 by Victoria Janssen

Here There Be Monsters: Troll: A Love Story by Johanna Sinisalo [2004] is speculative fiction, but also has a feel of literary fiction. I would probably call it dark fantasy because of tone, themes, a killing, and some domestic abuse. … Continue reading →

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My August Reading Log

Posted on September 12, 2025 by Victoria Janssen

Fiction: I re-read Lois McMaster Bujold’s initial three books set in the “world of the Five Gods,” The Curse of Chalion, Paladin of Souls, and The Hallowed Hunt. I’d loved them when they first came out, but it’s been well … Continue reading →

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#TBR Challenge – Back in My Day…: Siren Queen by Nghi Vo

Posted on July 16, 2025 by Victoria Janssen

Siren Queen by Nghi Vo is fantasy set in 1930s Hollywood. The nameless first person narrator, whose Chinese immigrant father owns a laundry, first sees silent films by selling an inch of her hair; later, she plays the roles of … Continue reading →

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#TBR Challenge – Road Trip: John Constantine, Hellblazer Vol. 18: The Gift by Mike Carey and Denise Mina, Leonardo Manco, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Lorenzo Ruggiero, and Frazer Irving

Posted on June 18, 2025 by Victoria Janssen

John Constantine, Hellblazer Vol. 18: The Gift by Mike Carey (Author), Denise Mina (Author), Leonardo Manco (Illustrator, Artist), Giuseppe Camuncoli (Artist), Lorenzo Ruggiero (Artist), Frazer Irving (Artist) is a road trip to hell (rather than from hell, heh). The story … Continue reading →

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My May Reading Log

Posted on June 14, 2025 by Victoria Janssen

Fiction: The Monsters We Defy by Leslye Penelope is historical fantasy set in the 1920s Black neighborhoods of Washington, D.C.. Clara Johnson is able to speak with spirits called Enigmas, which can help humans with problems via a “Charm” but … Continue reading →

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My April Reading Log

Posted on May 16, 2025 by Victoria Janssen

Fiction: In Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri, Mehr is the illegitimate daughter of an imperial governor whose mother, from the desert Amrithi tribe, abandoned her and her sister when they were young. While living in relatively pampered seclusion with … Continue reading →

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#TBR CHALLENGE – Previously, In Romance…: This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Posted on February 19, 2025 by Victoria Janssen

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone is an epistolary novel, with opposing time-traveling rival agents attempting to win a war. Also, they gradually fall in love. The fun of this book, for … Continue reading →

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My December Reading Log

Posted on January 17, 2025 by Victoria Janssen

Fiction: You might be surprised to know that A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher is the first book by this author I have ever read, after receiving many recommendations for her work over the past I don’t know … Continue reading →

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My November Reading Log

Posted on December 13, 2024 by Victoria Janssen

Fiction: The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst is a very cozy romantic fantasy set in a world that, to me, felt very dreamlike because there were a number of fantastical creatures with magical origins. Some of these, like the merhorses, … Continue reading →

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