Thoughts, scraps, lists, marginalia, and occasional news on my own projects
And we’re talking about Metal From Heaven again
In which I insist that everyone read not only this interview but METAL FROM HEAVEN
Featured Author: Bath Novel Award Success Stories
I am delighted to share that I was interviewed recently on the Bath Novel Award website by award founder Caroline Ambrose about signing on with Azantian Literary Agency! This is a very happy occasion for me, after quietly working on several different novels for a couple of years now without much fuss about it in…
Deeper Waters—Thoughts on Compassion and the Intimacy of Violence
Reading Notes: Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge I’ve read an extraordinary number of books this month, more than I have at almost any other time. The urge has come at a time when I don’t particularly like the thought posting even one little thing on social media. Which is interesting, because my good…
The 2021 Speculative Historical Novels Mega-List
This third annual mega-list of speculative historical novels features court intrigues, gothics, the “roaring ’20s,” postcolonial reimaginings, time travel, and stories at sea.
The 2020 Speculative Historical Novels Mega-List
A list of more than 50 adult and young adult 2020 speculative historical novels, organized by month.
Reading to be immersed
Over the past few years of total and partial restriction of social media and my conscientious efforts to read and write with intention, I’ve had to trade the feeling of relevance for better, more focused work that could lead to greater relevance over the long haul.
The 2019 Speculative Historical Novels Mega-List
A list of more than 50 adult and young adult 2019 speculative historical novels, organized by month.
“The Whale” Reviewed in the Wilds
Reneé Bibby has reviewed my Moby Dick-inspired poem, “The Whale” in the WILDS, and I couldn’t be more pleased and grateful! Here’s just a snippet of what she shared: …Line breaks and caesura evoke the voice of an animal, an ancient creature of the deep, breaching the line of water to sing a response, an ode…
The Role of the Outsider in Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko (Ploughshares blog)
When Pachinko by Min Jin Lee opens in Japan-occupied Korea in 1910 with Hoonie, whose cleft palate and twisted foot lead the village girls to avoid him, the significance of his physical appearance to the overall themes of the novel is not immediately apparent.
“The Whale” (Frontier Poetry)
Born bright, a lemon jarred in brine and oil pales; so it was with me in the deep, but this is a darker matter. Say of me “men dream and drown,” an unfathomable vastness, adrift. Who lives who impales the moon?
Cassandra Jeanne Farrin 