keilexandra, posts by tag: author: bear elizabeth - LiveJournal

Some of these have been sitting in my bookmarks for a while, so I'll try to mention the new stuff first.

* Wyrding Studios is having an end-of-year clearance sale! I have my eye on Skylit Revisited #6, a gorgeous choker-style necklace; but I don't really need to spend $50 on a necklace when I hardly wear the jewelry I already own, so someone else go buy it and remove the temptation.

* Two great stories from Strange Horizons: Meredith Schwartz's How to Hold Your Breath, which packs quite a lot into under 700 words; and a lovely modern fairy-tale from Elizabeth Bear, Love Among the Talus (Mongolian-inspired worldbuilding is a bonus).

* The NYT publishes an interesting college admissions Q&A with reps from Yale University, Pomona College, Lawrence University, and the University of Texas - Austin. It's a representative mix and a good portion of the responses are enlightening; the other portion is amusing in its dodge-the-intent tactics.

* I haven't read Cherryh, but apparently her novels feature an unusual common theme--the rape of men.

* If you haven't seen it already: Every Fanfic Ever Written.

* vagabondsal summarizes, with a brief anecdote, the Avatar casting issue. shati does the same with a smiley face. And here's how you can help. --I did say some of these links were old.

* *bounce* Also also, people other than my recipient like my Yuletide story! I am so happy inside, because I do like it myself (which is rare). No link, of course, although I welcome guesses. I limit myself to offering only fandoms whose canon I own, which is a decidedly short but secretive list. (And I'm so curious about my own mystery author, because the prose and the characters are just. Perfect.)

Via Strange Horizons, which seems to specialize in stories that I don't expect to like but end up liking anyway (and with a readable site layout):

* "Little Brother (TM)" by Bruce Holland Rogers, a just-longer-than-flash SF story about sibling rivalry that starts out ordinary with a dark twist ending.
* "Huntswoman" by Merrie Haskell, a unique fantasy retelling of Snow White in sparkling, sparse prose. The end didn't entirely convince me, but I admire its boldness and the story proper is just beautiful.
* "The Jenna Set" by Daniel Kaysen, one of the longer online stories that have sustained my interest. It's semi-plausible SF written in a light and entertainingly sardonic style, the characters very realistic and reminding me of contemporary romance novels like Sex as a Second Language. Although I must say, I prefer the geeky Kelly/Abbie relationship over the protagonist's (Jenna/Ray).

* From Clarkesworld, "Orm the Beautiful" by Elizabeth Bear is a melancholy dragon story set in alternate-present-day--and a dragon story rec from me is rare indeed; I still can't get past the first chapter of Temeraire.

* I actually dislike the style of "The Empire of Ice Cream" by Jeffrey Ford, and I don't find the characters particularly compelling, but: synesthesia! And musical composition! And the ending satisfactorily resolves the central conflict without dipping into my expectations, which was, well, unexpected. (Don't recall who rec'd this story originally, but yhlee would like the musical bits a lot, I think.) Warning: the site archives, where I read this, has a terrible split-color background. You'll probably want to be smarter than me and Ctrl-A/Ctrl-C the story into Word or Notepad.


I conclude that endings are absolutely crucial for me; I culled several stories from this linkblogging post because the ending fell flat, and the ending of Ford's piece let it slip in despite the protagonist's irritating arrogance.