Tsana's March Status

...is slowly recovering from exhaustion. My PhD defence is behind me (I am officially a doctor) and I am theoretically on holiday. I say theoretically because there are a lot of upcoming deadlines that I have to submit work stuff for and we are in the midst of the last push for Defying Doomsday (which isn't too much work right now, but it's also not none).

I have been feeling more relaxed though and have been reading more. That said, feeling relaxed also means I've been reading more longer things, so I don't think my actual review output has changed significantly. Oh well.

Oh, also, the Aurealis shortlist was announced since my last update. I have a post collecting the Aurealis, Ditmar and Norma K Hemming award shortlists here.

What have I read?

• The Wicked + The Divine Vol 3: Commercial Suicide by Kieron Gillen — the continuing story of gods being reincarnated every 90 years
• Sugar Scars by Travis Norwood — a disappointing look at a post-apocalyptic America through the eyes of a diabetic (I had high hopes)
• Black Widow Vol 1: The Finely Woven Thread by Nathan Edmondson and Phil Noto — my first foray into Black Widow comics, which I enjoyed
• Sourdough and Other Stories by Angela Slatter — <3 one of my favourite writers of short fiction
• Kaptara Vol 1: Fear Not, Tiny Alien by Chip Zdarsky — a surreal SF comic with astronauts stranded on a pretty weird planet
• Runaways: Battleworld by Noelle Stevenson and Sanford Greene — a weird Secret Wars concoction riffing off the original Runaways series
• The Lyre Thief by Jennifer Fallon — the first in a new series set in the same world as The Demon Child Trilogy and the Hythrun Chronicles
• Captive by Amanda Pillar — a novella set in the same universe as Graced
• An Alphabet of Embers edited by Rose Lemberg — an anthology of mostly surreal flash fiction
• The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu — a gorgeous collection of the writer's best stories

What am I currently reading?

Winged Histories by Sofia Samatar, which is set in the same world as A Stranger In Olondria, which I haven't read and turns out I probably should've before starting Winged Histories. I was very confused at first, but by the time I realised the problem was not having read the other book, I was in too deep.

I also just started reading Monstrous Little Voices, an anthology of Shakespeare retellings, although they are turning out to be less direct retellings than I expected. So far, even better than I expected.

New Booksies

I went on a bit of a buying-spree to celebrate finishing my PhD (and also to take advantage of a few sales). This is a longer list than usual...

• Mars Evacuees by Sophia McDougall — bought because cheap
• Black Widow Volume 1: The Finely Woven Thread by Nathan Edmondson — gift
• Batgirl Vol. 1: The Batgirl of Burnside by Brenden Fletcher — gift
• Flesh & Wires by Jackie Hatton — for review
• The Lyre Thief by Jennifer Fallon — bought because fan
• Black Widow Volume 2: The Tightly Tangled Web by Nathan Edmondson — bought because can
• Spider-Woman Vol. 2: New Duds by Dennis Hopeless — as above
• Black Widow Vol. 3: Last Days by Nathan Edmondson — as above
• The August Birds by Octavia Cade — for review
• Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia — bought because heard good things
• Legion by Brandon Sanderson — bought because cheap
• Legion: Skin Deep by Brandon Sanderson — sequel to above
• Please Do Not Taunt the Octopus by Mira Grant — bought because title
• Broken Nation by Shaunta Grimes — bought because series
• Bloodlines by Amanda Pillar — bought because friend
• An Alphabet of Embers by Rose Lemberg — for review
• A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab — bought because cheap
• The Beatriceid by Kate Elliott — bought because podcast
• The Terracotta Bride by Zen Cho — bought because cheap
• Rae And Essa's Space Adventures by Donna Maree Hanson — bought because sequel