It’s rapidly reaching that time of year when the grey descends on Berlin and then lingers until January, so I’ve been taking the rare opportunity to leave my desk and Go Places; which last weekend meant a trip to the Sanssouci palaces at Potsdam. Dressing for my role as an eccentric aristocrat somehow born into the lower classes, I did my best to unnerve poorly-dressed tourists with my sheer opulent beauty.
Or maybe it was the lipstick, who knows.
Anyway, let’s get on to the latest news…
Shepherd Book Recommendations
I was very pleased to have Shepherd.com reach out to me asking for a list of themed recommendations. Shepherd is a new site dedicated to helping people find books, recommended by actual authors, which is refreshing in a world of menacing algorithms and gamed review systems. The theme I chose was ‘The best novels exploring polyamory and non-traditional love’, because of cause it was.
The recommendations were a lot of fun to write, and I wholeheartedly suggest reading these stories if you’re interested in poly lives and loves. You can read the recommendations here.
The Offset Review
Perhaps you’ve noticed my last few book reviews have been somewhat negative. For the past couple years it’s followed the same pattern: there’s a new sci-fi novel being released by an author I really like. I request it for review and then read it only for the familiar sinking feeling to start collapsing its way through my body, because too many well-established authors seem to stop making the effort to produce well-written, insightful work. So I was delighted to finally review a book that I actually really enjoyed, by new writing duo Natasha C. Calder and Emma Szewczak, writing under the name Calder Szewczak.
Check the review out at Strange Horizons.
The Leapfrog Prize
Finally, I’m happy to announce that my short story collection received an honourable mention for the Leapfrog Press Global Fiction Prize. This is especially pleasing as Leapfrog Press was established by the husband of one of my favourite authors, Marge Piercy — who just happens to be among my recommendations with Shepherd.
That’s it for now! I’ll be getting back to the final draft of Proud Pink Sky, which is to be released in the autumn of next year.
Until then, palace wanderers!
- Redfern