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Terri
Registered User
(4/12/01 7:35:13 am)
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New Books
I'd like to start a thread in which we can alert each other about good new book publications (or warn each other about bad ones!) By new, I mean books that have been published or re-released in roughly the last 12 months, as opposed to old books recently discovered, which is a whole separate topic. Any books rooted in fairy tales, folklore, or myth are eligible, both fiction and nonfiction, including children's picture books, art books, and comics.
I'll start by recommended Wild Life by Molly Gloss (Simon & Schuster), a novel set in the Pacific Northwest of America in the early 1900s. The main character is a writer of women's adventure stories and a single mother of five boys, living on the western frontier. When her housekeeper's granddaughter vanishes, she goes into the wilderness to search for her, at which point the story takes on themes from European "Wildman" myths and American "Big Foot" legends. It's a beautifully structured, elegantly written work of fiction (told in the form of journal entries) as well as an engrossing tale, with a lot to say about frontier life and the role of women in it.
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Richard
Unregistered User
(4/12/01 9:01:18 pm)
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New Books
I can recommend "Written in Venom" by Lois Tilton. It's a retelling of the Norse myths from Loki's point of view. Published by Wildside Press last May.
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tlchang
Registered User
(4/13/01 8:27:45 am)
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Re: New Books
The last few I've read and enjoyed may have already been mentioned elsewhere:
I read "Daughter of the Forest" by Juliet Marillier last month, which I very much enjoyed. Detailed, character driven retelling of the 7 Swan tale (actually 6, in this case).
I am currently reading Terri's latest anthology "Black Heart, Ivory Bones" (Ack! Is this really the last one?!?).
I have recently picked up 2 very lovely picture books: one is "The Serpent Slayer, and Other Stories of Strong Women" illustratred by Trina Schart Hyman and retold by Katrin Tchana (who is her daughter). TS Hyman is one of my all time favorite illustrators anyway, and this is a very fun collection. The other one is Kinuko Y. Craft's "Cinderella". It is beautifully done - her work gets more appealing every year. (She has illustrated a number of Patricia McKillips book covers. This has much of the same feel).
Those are my new picks for the last month. :-)
Tara
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janeyolen
Unregistered User
(4/15/01 7:04:10 pm)
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New Books
If you have not yet read Kij Johnson's lovely, lyrical, moving, sensual Fox Woman set in a mystical medieval Japan, run don't walk to your story. Especially if you like shape-changing stories.
Also I really loved The Red Tent by Diamant. (Sp?)
And hope someone reads my Boots and the Seven Leaguers: A Rock and Troll novel as well as the just published Odysseus and the Serpent Maze, both middle grade novels.
Jane
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Gregor9
Registered User
(4/16/01 4:59:59 am)
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Recs
I second Jane's rec of Kij Johnson's Fox Woman. Just a superb novel, really.
Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy, mentioned all over this site, is another I would highly recommend.
Added to Terri's recommendation of Gloss's latest, would be her earlier science fiction novel, "The Dazzle of Day". And the frontier aspects remind me of Carol Emshwiller's "Ladoyt," which will require searching but will reward you. A terrific novel, outside the genre (Carol, I think, is her own genre.)
And I recently read Hussain Hadday's translation of "The Arabian Nights." If you've never read these tales, or tried and failed to chug through the Victorian translations, this one is emminently readable and more accurately rendered as well.
Greg
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Kate
Unregistered User
(4/30/01 1:33:15 pm)
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The Great Petrowski: An Illustrated Fable
Terri, thanks for recommending Gloss. I've been meaning to read her, and now am, with pleasure.
I also kept meaning to note this title for everyone--though you probably have all seen it--The Great Petrowski It was Gina Berriault's final book, published last year (she also died last year). It's a touching, lyrical fable about a singing parrot . . . and other things. Counterpoint is the press.
On a MUCH LESSER NOTE, since Berriault is, well, Berriault, after all . . . I also wanted to let anyone interested know that excerpts from my novel as featured in the current issue of Alt-X (Mark Amerika's site). They're not chronological, but a sample of what comes in the novel. You can find these at www.altx.com/profiles. Ralph Berry wrote a nice introduction contextualizing the work along with the others from FC2 shown there (he mentions my book in his second to last paragraph). The book won't be out until September, but . . . I may as well plunge in and let people take a look now, to get used to the potential trauma. I think they're fixing a couple of small errors in the excerpts this week, so if you see something a bit funny, please know it'll disappear soon enough.
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Terri
Unregistered User
(5/2/01 6:21:03 am)
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book excerpts
Kate, thanks so much for posting this info. I'm on a crazy deadline over the next few days, but then I'll go over and take a look!
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