Friday Five: Seize and Hold the Wind Edition

I’m 99% sure this one will be going out on Saturday morning as I feel rather worn out. Not exactly the new year vibe is it? Still, I do have a lot of things I want to share with you, so Friday Five is still on.

Let’s get cracking, shall we?

1. Undoubted pride of place goes to CL Polk’s fiction tweet thread. It’s a great read, and made me quite eager to see what her upcoming novella will be like

it’s new year’s eve, 1940, and when the sun rises, you will only have ten days to live.

— C.L. Polk (@clpolk) December 31, 2021

2. I also found some interesting deep dives onto various fantasy subjects –

Angeline B Adams’ Octocon talk on Disability and Heroic Fantasy is now up, and is a very good listen.

Remember Arcane? I’m sure lots of you do. For those who didn’t get into it and are thinking of doing so, and want to hear the sell on it, Para’s review of Arcane as To Other Worlds has you covered.

And John Mendez has a great in-depth spoilertastic critique of Zamil Akhtar’s Gunmetal Gods, which I won’t read too much on as the concept sounds fantastic.

3. Reviews and lists of books.

Still looking for more ideas of what to look out for this year? Misty’s published her list of most anticipated and at FanFiAddict, Ashley Brennan has a list of her most anticipated novellas

And if ya really like Angry Robot, Rachel Read It has a round up of twelve upcoming

Looking backwards? Dianthaa has put up Quick Thoughts on 19 Books She Read and Imyril has some mini-reviews too

Reading about witches? Jodie at Witty & Sarcastic Bookclub has the bristles for your broomstick

Finally, I totally clicked on this review solely because a) Long is a writing name of power and b) Cold the Night Fast the Wolves is a strong title, but Nathalie DeFelice’s review at NerdDaily is very thoughtful and well written

Wait, not finally, MD Tjong Ayong at Whistling in the Dark has a review of Micah Yongo’s Lost Gods – Yongo’s an author I found intriguing when I read him, so totally touting that.

4. A couple of good author tweets on the writing process

One from Melissa Caruso

Hmm, let's see…How about a craft thread on structure?

I love structure & feel pretty confident working with it—I feel like it's a strength for me, and I can give decent structural feedback.

But the funny thing is that I know VERY LITTLE about classic structural models. 😅

— Melissa Caruso (@melisscaru) January 5, 2022

And one from RJ Barker

Doing edits. I love edits. Said before I good editor makes you more you. They do that by pointing out weakness. Ina good way

"Your weakness is your face.' *Punches you in face.' BAD

'Your weakness is your face. Have you thought of wearing a visor?" GOOD.

— RJ Barker (@dedbutdrmng) January 7, 2022

5. Esoterica time!

We’re starting with a couple of reading challenges. Normally I avoid such things, as I do most organised fun – and all of my friends who just said the word organised is redundant can do one – but these two look very cool and, well, me.

So Mayri at Bookforager has a picture prompt book bingo – I think the Ex Libris pic is my favourite – and Ari Augustine at Bookish Valhalla has a thematically based backlist bingo. Very much looking forwards to Fire and Ritual there. Hopefully I’ll see some of youse doing them too.

Other cool things I found out include

Diagnostic Tattoos

Sfincione, known as/the ancestor of Sicilian pizza in the States

And last but not least, a cool piece of cyberpunk art

Cyberpunk character: Scion. pic.twitter.com/asIhhht7pw

— 𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐆𝐎𝐃𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐒 (@RenderGoddess1) January 7, 2022

And that’s it! Have a nice weeke- what do you mean it’s already started?