Tsana's February Status

Status: tense. My PhD thesis defence is imminent, so I've had rather a lot on my mind of late. Nevertheless, the past month has involved books reviewed, books received and books read.

Oh, and we announced the Defying Doomsday table of contents. In case clicking on a link is too much effort, I'll reproduce the super cool list of stories below:

Defying Doomsday

And the Rest of Us Wait by Corinne Duyvis
To Take Into the Air My Quiet Breath by Stephanie Gunn
Something in the Rain by Seanan McGuire
Did We Break the End of the World? by Tansy Rayner Roberts
In the Sky with Diamonds by Elinor Caiman Sands
Two Somebodies Go Hunting by Rivqa Rafael
Given Sufficient Desperation by Bogi Takács
Selected Afterimages of the Fading by John Chu
Five Thousand Squares by Maree Kimberley
Portobello Blind by Octavia Cade
Tea Party by Lauren E Mitchell
Giant by Thoraiya Dyer
Spider-Silk, Strong as Steel by Samantha Rich
No Shit by K Evangelista
I Will Remember You by Janet Edwards

And in other news, the (preliminary) Ditmar Awards ballot/shortlist was announced. If you're eligible to vote and enjoy this blog, you might consider voting for me in the fan writer category...

What Have I Read?

• Harley Quinn Vol 1: Hot In The City by Amanda Conner — your (my) problematic fave
• Fool's Quest by Robin Hobb — Yes good. Mostly what you'd expect from Hobb and Fitz and the Fool.
• Gwenpool Holiday Special by Gerry Duggan — Lol. Excited that there will be an ongoing Gwenpool series.
• SHIELD Vol 1: Perfect Bullets by Mark Waid — Meh.
• On the Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis — READ THIS! Or, well, pre-order it. Especially if you are waiting for Defying Doomsday because a) it 100% fits our theme (but is a novel) AND Corinne's story in Defying Doomsday is set in the same universe with some cross-over characters.
• Private Eye (Deluxe Edition) by Brian K Vaughan — worth the time, more SF than expected (because I tend to wipe blurbs from my memory once a book is acquired)
• Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan — a near future/parallel fantasy world YA retelling/remix of A Tale of Two Cities
• Their Fractured Light by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner — conclusion to the YA SF trilogy 

What Am I Currently Reading?

I just finished two books but am still part way through several others. I shall note them in the order I currently think I'm likely to finish them. I'm more than half-way through Sourdough and Other Stories by Angela Slatter, a mosaic novel similar to and set in the same world as The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings.

I picked up Runaways: Battleworld and got one issue in before deciding I wasn't in the mood for comics. Despite having read to other trades since then, I haven't come back to it. That said, it's not like it's long, so when I pick it up again, I imagine I'll run through the rest in one sitting. Probably.

I'm also part way through Mythmaker by Marianne de Pierres. This is another one I started and decided I wasn't quite in the mood for, but fully intend to return to.

New Booksies

The never-ending accumulation of awesome books continues with...

• Meeting Infinity edited by Jonathan Strahan, bought on the recommendation of a friend (Hi Nick!)
• Captive by Amanda Pillar, a novella set in the Graced universe, for review from publisher via NetGalley
• Harley Quinn Vol 2: Power Outage, purchased at local SFF bookshop
• Schild's Ladder by Greg Egan, also purchased at local SFF bookshop
• Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan, YA novel, review copy, already reviewed
• The Wicked + The Divine Vol 3: Commercial Suicide, comic for review, will purchase, review forthcoming
• Sugar Scars by Travis Norwood, for review from NetGalley because of the Defying Doomsday-esque subject matter.
• Map of Bones by Francesca Haig, also for review from NetGalley, sequel to The Fire Sermon
• Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire, also for review from NetGalley
• The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu, also for review from NetGalley because his stories are awesome