KateP, I love Circe so much. Checking out Bellweather Rhapsody.

Agreed with all Jemesin recs, always.

And Juliannna, if that book connects in your mind with TGE, that’s a great rec!

In unrelated news, Esquire has a story on Why Men Are Reading Romance Novels. Reminds me of years ago, I was reading a book in which a man picks up the romance novel a woman is reading, leafs through it and is AMAZED at what's in it (sex scenes ... explicit sex scenes).

Thanks for that, juliana! I read a review of The Hands of the Emperor a while back that made me want to check it out but it also mentioned another Goddard title that they didn't want to say you have to read it first but maybe you would want to and so I was dithering on that and meanwhile read something else and forgot why I knew the name Victoria Goddard at all. Now at least I can maybe remember to search for it here if I forget again...

Coming in late, but might I suggest just about anything by Connie Willis (Bellwether is my personal favorite). It's less ... fraught ... than some of her other things.

Toddson, I adore Bellwether. And my short story collection of Best of Connie Willis is open right now

Oh, I bought Hands of the Emperor but haven't read it yet. Right now I'm reading I Claudius and Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade, which seems charming.

Here's a rec: Deborah Coates has a series of very evocative supernatural mysteries, set in the Dakotas. Strong characterizations, great sense of place, neat stories. The first one is called Wide Open.

I, Claudius ... I didn't get through (although I watched the ENTIRE PBS series ... and tried to do a family chart for a friend showing the relationships). And I have some qualms about Robert Graves - there's a section of Suetonius that no one else would translate (with good reason). Spoiler Alert is charming - that's a good description.

Thank you, Consuela!

So despite all of your great recs, I thought I would see what was on the shelf at the library in the sci fi section, and came away with Nalo Hopkinson's Sister Mine, which seems great, but is it sci fi?? (I will still count it as such for the library contest, since the library says it is.)

My pleasure, hippocampus!

Here's another random rec: Violette Malan has a series of classic sword-and-sorcery novels, with a M/F pair of bonded mercenary fighters. It's all very old school, but I enjoyed the characters and their relationship, and the world-building was pretty good given the genre. The first one is called The Sleeping God. Sadly, I guess they didn't sell that well, and the 4th ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. But they're still enjoyable.

IIRC, I got both of those recs from Liz Burke, whom I have followed for yonks on LJ and Twitter. She's Sleeps With Monsters over at Tor.com.