now you see her...
Bestselling author of historical fiction and the Five Queendoms epic fantasy series (SCORPICA, ARCA, SESTIA).
Remember when I said I had two online events this week? It’s actually three, surprise! I’m on Instagram Live with Kate Khavari, author of A Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poisons, talking about “Writing While Momming” tonight.
Join us if you can!
Suddenly, a flurry of events! I’m appearing online twice this week, and really excited about both.
First, I’m returning to Reddit for another AMA! I’ll be at r/Fantasy at 1pm on Monday, June 6, to talk about all things SCORPICA. Matriarchy! Fantasy! Queens dueling to the death! Why my female sorcerers are never called sorceresses! That kind of thing.
Then, on Tuesday, June 7, I’m on a panel with a bunch of fabulous ladies for the Edmonton Public Library, talking about women-centered stories (particularly historical fiction, but I’ll answer questions about fantasy too if you ask them.) You can register for that one here.
So catch me online if you can! And next week, I’ll actually be in person… see the Events page for details.
Great vote of confidence from Off the Shelf here — SCORPICA tops their list of fantasy and sci-fi reads for an “epic” book club discussion! Obviously, I have to agree.
Plus, have you seen the other names on this list? Jennifer Egan, N.K. Jemisin? Some pretty fantastic company.
“Why don’t we see more science fiction and fantasy novels set in worlds run by women?” It’s a question I’ve been asking myself ever since I got the idea for my epic fantasy series The Five Queendoms, and today, it’s a question I’m asking on LitHub.
In the process of talking about some potential theories behind the scarcity of matriarchy in speculative fiction, I get to call out some of my favorite recent novels that do incorporate matriarchal societies, like Rebecca Roanhorse’s Black Sun and Samantha Shannon’s Priory of the Orange Tree. Plus I get to cover the whole sub-sub-genre trend where women can only be in charge if most or all of the men get killed off — what’s up with that?
And here’s the kicker:
Some reasons for avoiding matriarchal settings are solid; some are sketchy. But here’s what I hope: I hope no writer out there is avoiding setting their story in a matriarchal society because they think it’s already been done.
Just a quick little link — I reviewed Emily St. John Mandel’s new novel, Sea of Tranquility, for the Chicago Review of Books. I liked a lot of it, and it bears some resemblance to her amazing Station Eleven, but it’s also:
far more focused. Station Eleven dipped into multiple characters’ points of view, following both the pandemic’s outbreak and the recovering world several decades on, and Mandel’s writing fully inhabited every character, immersing us in their particular angle on the stricken world. Sea of Tranquility keeps the multifaceted narration style, passing with ease between voices, but narrows the focus to a simpler question: What happened?
Hi there! Here’s one for the historical fiction fans in the audience — I’ll be interviewing Heather Webb about her fabulous new book THE NEXT SHIP HOME on Wednesday, March 30, at 7:30pm. (The graphic says 7, but I promise, it’s 7:30. Go ahead and click here to sign up.
If you’ve read the blurbs on the cover of Scorpica you know superstar author Kate Quinn was kind enough to put her stamp of approval on the book, for which I will always be grateful. (The woman gives amaaaazing blurbs.) And this week, her list of recent recommendations appeared at BookBub, with Scorpica high on the list!
Click to read the full list of 11 Beautifully Written Books Recommended By Kate Quinn. Scorpica’s in fabulous company.
Here’s a fun thing I’ve never done before — I’ve put the right to name a character in one of my books up for grabs! It’s part of the Book Aid For Ukraine auction, so you can win something fun and also know your money is going to help somewhere it’s needed. You can bid here.
Remember when I was having trouble blogging because there was just So Much? Three weeks out from SCORPICA’s publication, there’s nearly as much happening, but it’s a different kind of much! I’ve been neglecting the blog, my apologies.
Here’s a little bit of the latest muchness:
I recommended a Fierce Woman Character To Celebrate (who also happens to be a real woman from history) as part of this roundup at The Young Folks
I wrote about the particular challenges of writing birth scenes for Writer Unboxed
I really enjoyed my event at One More Page last night, and you can catch the replay of me reading from SCORPICA, fielding questions, and gesturing a lot in huge sleeves on YouTube
More to come soon, including an opportunity to name a character in my next book!
I’ve been having a great time writing essays about Scorpica and the wider world of epic fantasy it fits into, and here’s one that’s near and dear to my heart. Have female characters always been part of epic fantasy? Yes, but not always in great numbers, and not always in great ways. For SFBook, I wrote about what happens when a great big epic includes only a handful of women. “Representation isn’t a box to be checked; it’s a conversation, a range of expression, an opportunity to broaden perspective and help an individual work of epic fantasy live up to the genre’s name.”