Category Archives: reading

Espresso Bookstores

Posted on May 26, 2012 by Pat Bowne

A while back some friends and I were talking about how bookstores ought to be run, and lo and behold here’s someone making almost all the suggestions we tossed around! The best idea, I think, is the print-on-demand machine inside … Continue reading →

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Boo– I mean, Girl Genius

Posted on April 7, 2012 by Pat Bowne

Every now and then I pick up something and discover that it is aimed above me, written for readers who are more intelligent, virtuous, or self-disciplined than I am. The Royal Canadian Airforce XBX plan, for instance, or Kant’s Prolegomena. … Continue reading →

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Transplanted Ethics

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Pat Bowne

Today’s #feministSF twitter chat got me thinking about Victorian ethics. We were discussing girls’ books, and since the most recent girls’ book I read was the one which prompted this rant about Persecuted Witches, it sprang to my mind. As … Continue reading →

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The Thick Night by Sunny Moraine

Posted on February 5, 2012 by Pat Bowne

We discussed The Thick Night on #feministSF twitter chat today, and I’m still thinking about the story. I like stories that challenge me, and this one really did — it’s a story about a third world woman who’s given a … Continue reading →

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In Which I Rant About Unspecified Witches

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Pat Bowne

If there’s a fantasy trope I absolutely despise, it’s the Persecuted Witch. You know her. She lives her life in fear of being identified as the witch she is and burned, stoned, tortured, whatever, by benighted neighbors. Yet she uses … Continue reading →

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Poetry Friday

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Pat Bowne

A fragment from a brand-new poem by Theodora Goss. Click here to read the rest on her blog. What would you think if I told you that I was magical? That I had russet hair down to the backs of … Continue reading →

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Poetry Friday

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Pat Bowne

I’ve always loved this poem for both its physical imagery (‘nut-strewn roads,’ ‘hunch in the foc’sl,’) and its evocation of the great tension in life — freedom or perfection? Do we have to choose? Poetry of Departures Sometimes you hear, … Continue reading →

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The Magician King by Lev Grossman

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Pat Bowne

I’m very happy to have read this book. When I read the first volume in the series, I ended up frustrated and gave the book to another fantasy fan with a warning that while the magic was great, the protagonist, … Continue reading →

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Feel the Meh

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Pat Bowne

Lev Grossman wrote about fantasy on his blog last week, suggesting that fantasy addresses our longing for one thing in particular: A different kind of world. A world that makes more sense – not logical sense, but psychological sense… To … Continue reading →

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Terry Windling Fundraiser

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Pat Bowne

Sofia Samatar’s blog alerted me to the Magick 4 Terry auction, at which you can bid on all things fantastical while also helping out Terry Windling, who has contributed so much to modern fantasy and now faces unspecified medical expenses. … Continue reading →