Apparel Black Widow Jacket While the Black Widow movie has been pushed back to next year, we can still get excited for it with this great Black Widow jacket. It’s faux leather with a high collar that will make you look and feel fashionable and dangerous. Your comic book fan can wear it to the movie opening next year. Spider-Man Cufflinks These Spider-Man Cufflinks are a great addition to the dapper looking people in your life....
A list of recent SFF books by trans and gender-nonconforming authors? We have you covered. A list of books about gender identity? We have you covered there, too. We’ve written a list of LGBTQ books that will make you cry, and a list of LGBTQ books with happy endings. We have a list of books featuring ‘queernorm’ worlds — worlds in which homophobia and transphobia do not exist. We even have a list of TikTok’s favorite LGBTQ books....
Distinctly different from its cousin, southern gothic usually features eccentric, flawed characters, sinister events, elements of the supernatural or fantastical, and themes relating to race, class, decay, violence, and isolation. Magical realism and social commentary are staples of southern gothic literature. The grandiose mansions of traditional gothic literature are replaced by derelict plantations, swamps and bayous, lonesome deserts, and small towns that act as independent societies. Southern humor is known for being ironic, dark, and even macabre....
These 20 novels cover pivotal moments in history, revealing instance of both tragedy and triumph. I continue to find that books are often my very best education, filling in the gaps that were often cough intentionally cough left in my history textbooks. Maybe that’s not surprising, but I still remember the shock I felt when I first realized the history I had been presented was so flawed there were whole chapters of it that were inaccurate or missing altogether....
Looking for more great reads to enjoy this summer and beyond? Check out our list of the best funny book club books, and where to find the best romance book subscription services over at TBR: Tailored Book Recommendations! Want more great recommendations in general? Sign up for TBR! TBR is a personalized book recommendation service that send you books you’ll love to read. Here’s how it works: Simply fill out the reader survey and let us know what you want more of—such as new beach reads—and what you’re not keen on....
Potential Origins: History of Enemies-to-Lovers Fantasy Books Discussions of the origins of the enemies-to-lovers trope rightly point to both fanfic and Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur written in 1485 with Gareth and Lynette. I would also point to the relationship between the old wife and the knight in Geffrey Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” from The Canterbury Tales written in the 1300s. I would consider the tale a reference for enemies-to-lovers fantasy books, as the old wife is a shape changer and magic user who some scholars point to as being a representation of Morgana le Fey....
Let’s talk about some highlights. The list is dominated by women, with 5/6 women finalists in Novel, Novella, Novelette, AND Short Story, and 4/6 in Best Series. That’s amazing and proves what all we Rioters already know—women rock at writing SFF. We always have, and we always will. And in these five categories, nine nominations go to authors of color, a decent amount, though SFF awards in general still need more diversity....
A promising trend surfaced amongst this year’s winners. The 2020 Goodreads Choice Award winners feature eight authors of color, making up 40% of the winning authors. This provides a sharp contrast to the 2019 Goodreads Choice Award winners, in which only one author of color’s book won (Ali Wong’s Dear Girls in the Humor category). Let’s hope this trend continues. While reviewing the winners in each category, a few more notable voting patterns emerged....
The £50,000 prize is split between the winning author and translator. Each shortlisted author and translator will receive £1,000, bringing the total prize money to £62,000. The winner will be announced May 20. This is the first year that the prize is known as the International Booker Prize, after the Man Group’s sponsorship came to an end. The prize is now sponsored by Crankstart. — The Booker Prizes (@TheBookerPrizes) April 2, 2020 Ted Hodgkinson, chair of the judges, wrote of the shortlist: “Each of our shortlisted books restlessly reinvents received narratives, from foundational myths to family folklore, plunging us into discomforting and elating encounters with selves in a state of transition....
This year’s ceremony was hosted by Connie Willis and Neil Gaiman and awarded authors of speculative fiction released in 2021. Many former and current SFWA board members joined the ceremony virtually, including Amal El-Mohtar, Martha Wells, DaVaun Saunders, C.L. Polk, John Scalzi, and more. Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books. A Master of Djinn, P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom; Orbit UK) NEBULA AWARD FOR NOVELLA And What Can We Offer You Tonight, Premee Mohamed (Neon Hemlock) NEBULA AWARD FOR NOVELETTE “O2 Arena”, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (Galaxy’s Edge 11/21) NEBULA AWARD FOR SHORT STORY “Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather”, Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny 3–4/21) A Snake Falls to Earth, Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido) THE RAY BRADBURY NEBULA AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING DRAMATIC PRESENTATION WandaVision: Season 1, Peter Cameron, Mackenzie Dohr, Laura Donney, Bobak Esfarjani, Megan McDonnell, Jac Schaeffer, Cameron Squires, Gretchen Enders, and Chuck Hayward (Marvel Studios) NEBULA AWARD FOR GAME WRITING Thirsty Sword Lesbians, April Kit Walsh, Whitney Delagio, Dominique Dickey, Jonaya Kemper, Alexis Sara, and Rae Nedjadi (Evil Hat Games)...
Born in 1948, Gurnah grew up on the island of Zanzibar, now part of Tanzania, but arrived in Britain as a refugee in the 1960s. He was 18 years old. He began writing at 21, and while Swahili was his first language, he wrote his novels in English. His prose, however, often includes Swahili, Arabic, Hindi, and German. His novel Paradise was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1994 and his most recent work is Afterlives....
When a young bride goes missing, her loved ones are forced to question how well they knew her… and how well they know themselves. From Marybeth Mayhew Whalen, the author of When We Were Worthy, comes a riveting new novel about big family secrets laid bare in a small southern town. Read Only Ever Her. Juicy. Scandalous. Dangerous. Heartbreaking. Friendship ending. We’re talking about secrets, of course, and all the things they can be and consequences to come once they are told....
Scratch-and-sniff AND a pun on a bookmark?? You can’t lose. This set of Dr. Seuss bookmarks for kids is perfect for a fledgling bookworm. Got a nature lover? Bring the wilderness inside the reading nook with these animal bookmarks. Same, Snoopy. Coloring in these charming bookmarks will be as much fun as using them. For out-of-this-world reading, look no further than these space-themed kids’ bookmarks. What about a personalized bookmark with your kiddo’s name?...
For decades, Sylvia Plath was better known for her cause of death than for her brilliant writing. It is difficult—perhaps impossible—to not blame her terrible husband for this, as he maintained control of her work after her death and edited it so that it barely resembled her intentions. In recent years, however, her journals and letters have been published and new information about her marriage has come to light, ensuring that her name is once again on people’s minds and her work in front of new generations of eyes....
Read through this list and then hit “follow” accordingly! 1. Stephanie Danler (@smdanler) A post shared by Stephanie Danler (@smdanler) on Sep 11, 2019 at 12:23pm PDT The Sweetbitter author posts lifestyle images mixed with behind-the-scenes snapshots of her writing and television creation process (Sweetbitter is also a television show on Starz), plus book recommendations. Follow her account for a stream of literary inspiration. 2. Alexandra Bracken (@Alexbracken) A post shared by Alexandra Bracken (@alexbracken) on Jun 10, 2019 at 9:08am PDT Don’t miss Bracken’s gorgeous, Bookstagram-quality photos!...
A good book makes the best gift. Check off your holiday shopping list with the best books for friends and family. I always find that no matter how early stores start putting out decorations and radio stations start playing Christmas music, the Christmas season seems to fly by. One way that I’ve found to help me be present in the season is to go through a book that has daily readings through Advent....
Her earlier faerie books (Tithe, Valiant, Ironside, and The Darkest Part of the Forest) are definitely great. But it’s her newest series, The Folk of the Air (consisting of last year’s The Cruel Prince and this year’s The Wicked King) which has really cemented her status as the best YA authority on the fae. Here is a collection of some of the best things she’s written – whether they’re inspirational, relatable, romantic or just plain pretty....
With 14 novels to the series plus a prequel novella, Robert Jordan’s notoriously massive series has an equally massive fandom, with over 80 million copies sold since the first book released in 1990. It was a true tragedy that a terminal illness led to his death before he was able to finish the series himself, though Brandon Sanderson took up the mantle for the final three novels from Jordan’s notes, to praise from fans....
“I love you.” “I know.” I’m sure you know this one, the Star Wars romantic scene that beats out the lackluster sand conversation of Attack of the Clones. People get it on t-shirts and pillowcases and tattoos and…well, it’s everywhere. To me, this is not romantic; this sounds like a bad relationship. If you are Leia-fucking-Organa, you don’t have to take some arrogant flyboy brushing off your admission of deep feelings....
Looking for ways to get your dollars to indie bookstores? Here are 3 new platforms to checkout. “Nora Roberts was a young stay-at-home mum with two small boys when 3ft of snow hit Maryland in February 1979, and the family was stuck inside. She picked up a notebook and had a go at writing a romance novel. “I thought, I’m going nuts here, so I’ll take one of the stories out of my head and write it down,” she says....
