I wear the cheese. It does not wear me.

Cheese Man ,'Chosen'


Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.

There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."


Jessica - Jun 04, 2021 12:35:41 pm PDT #26724 of 27912
If I want to become a cloud of bats, does each bat need a separate vaccination?

I have it on preorder! I can't remember how I came across it, probably Twitter?


amyparker - Jun 04, 2021 1:39:34 pm PDT #26725 of 27912
In the end it's only ever been one step, and then the next.

I read the line about their being room for cannons to deploy under a window without disturbing the window box full of petunias and was immediately looking around for the clicky "take my money" button.


-t - Jun 04, 2021 1:40:09 pm PDT #26726 of 27912
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration

Ooh, that does look fun! And considering how many similar looking covers with possibly interesting titles I see I would have dithered for a long time before giving it a try, if I ever did, so I appreciate having it pointed out


-t - Jun 04, 2021 3:30:11 pm PDT #26727 of 27912
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration

So, I read Mademoiselle de Scuderi and it was kind of a slog but that may have been the translation. The plot was kind of Law and Order: Louis XIV which was interesting but not really much with the detecting. What little there was led to wrong conclusions, the truth only came out (to the extent it did) from heartfelt confessions and people believing in the power of virtue and suchlike.

Part of me wants to jump back and reread Oedipus Rex but that would definitely mean finding a good translation. Does anyone have a favorite to recommend?

Or I could just go ahead with Bleak House, which is pretty conveniently available although there are certainly multiple editions of the audiobook and I am thinking switching between audio and print might be good for that book, or even doing the simultaneous thing which I tried out when I could not concentrate on . . . something . . . I guess it didn't help with the long term retention but it did seem to help in immediate comprehension at the time!


-t - Jun 06, 2021 9:46:11 am PDT #26728 of 27912
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration

[link] came out in 2018 but I am reading it right now and it is really good. I read The Ramshead Algorithm when it was published in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 2011 and it blew me away, but when I googled the author to find more to read there wasn't really anything available. I have been slowly reading through Some of the Best of Tor.com:2019 edition one story at a time in between everything else for ages (since 2019, probably, I don't remember (it's not like I decided to do this, it is just thing that has somehow come to be)) and came to Water: A History which was very good and then the About the Author that followed it mentioned this collection and the title lit up all those YOU HAVE TO FIND THIS AND READ THIS NOW neural pathways that had been prepared way back when. There are 10 "other stories" and I ajust finished number 4 because I need to stop and think about each one after I finish it - they are all wonderfully weird and cryptic and yet feel complete, as if I will be able to understand a lot more that is hidden within them if I can just ponder them a little longer - but I wanted to come and recommend it now anyway. So good.


Pix - Jun 06, 2021 5:43:29 pm PDT #26729 of 27912
We're all getting played with, babe. -Weird Barbie

So if anyone needs a ridiculous romp of a book set in a queer-gender-fluid fantasy world that vaguely resembles Victorian England if there were magic and trolls and a skeletal mouse who says "BONG," I highly recommend "The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry" by C.M. Waggoner. I didn't realize there was an earlier book set in the same world ("Unnatural Magic," which I just started reading), but it clearly wasn't necessary for context since I zipped right along. Wonderful queer love story mixed with a bit of a detective subplot. I enjoyed the heck out of it.


-t - Jun 15, 2021 11:17:32 am PDT #26730 of 27912
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration

Thanks for the rec, Pix! I decided to read Unnatural Magic first because why not and they are both a lot of fun. I hope to see more in this world, it's got a lot to explore


amyparker - Jun 15, 2021 12:35:59 pm PDT #26731 of 27912
In the end it's only ever been one step, and then the next.

Thanks, Pix! I've put it on hold.


Pix - Jun 15, 2021 6:06:59 pm PDT #26732 of 27912
We're all getting played with, babe. -Weird Barbie

I ended up not liking "Unnatural Magic" as much. It was fine, but it wasn't the joyful romp that I loved in the other.


-t - Jun 16, 2021 12:36:54 pm PDT #26733 of 27912
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration

I can see that, they are different in tone and such, and the plot of Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry is, I would say, more satisfying. I liked them both, and what I like most is the world they take place in, it's very thoughtfully put together with a lot of different cultures and religions and languages and Waggoner is clever about having different POV characters think in pretty identifiably different voices without being precious about it. More, please.

I went from those to The Wisteria Society for Lady Scoundrels which is also pretty fun but completely different, or maybe not completely but much more different than I subconsciously supposed by the similarity in title construction and cover art so that I had to do some reminding myself that THIS IS NOT THE SAME SERIES early on but once I got that thoroughly clear I quite enjoyed it