The wonderful book recommendation site Shepherd.com once again asked me to contribute my best reads for 2024 (read in 2024 vs published in 2024, which is why one of my recommendations was published in 1959. At least the other two came out in 2023….

You can read my list here, but be sure to check out the full list here. New recommendations are still being added and, no matter your interests, you’re sure to find something good to add to your list.

Time for the reading update.

FICTION

The Shamshine Blind, Paz Pardo. California noir set in a world in which Argentina defeated the US thanks to the use of psychopigments, colourful chemicals that produce emotion on contact. Our heroine is a the classic downtrodden detective hero – a Psychopigment Enforcement Agent caught up in a tangled web of conspiracy. Lots of fun.

Some Desperate Glory, Emily Tesh. This year’s Hugo winner. Solid stuff, if somewhat predictable.

Mammoths at the Gates, Into the Riverlands, Nghi Vo. I caught up on these novellas in Vo’s Singing HIlls Cycle. Always rewarding reads.

Poison in Their Hearts, Laura Sebastian. Finished off this series about three sisters struggling against the schemes of their royal mother.

A Half-Built Garden, Ruthanna Emrys. What happens when the aliens arrive on earth and make first contact with an anarcho-syndicalist commune? Ok, not really – but the watersheds are run by consensus and are committed to restoring Earth’s fragile environment. Warm, hopeful, funny, and engaging.

NON-FICTION

The Heat Will Kill You First, Jeff Goodell. A not-quite-so-hopeful take on the impact the increasing temperature will have on our lives. I listened to it while going on my walks in the very warm Toronto summer, which did add a bit of unnerving verisimilitude.

A City on Mars, Kelly and Zach Weinersmith. Another Hugo winner. A very funny look at the perils and promise of space settlements. It is, of course, not nearly as simple as Elon makes it sound.

Midnight Light, Dave Bidini. Musician/writer Bidini’s account of his season as a guest columnist for the local paper allows him to explore life in Yellowknife, and the larger-than-life personalities who inhabit it.

Venice, Dennis Romano. Which I read AFTER my trip to Venice and promptly made me want to go back. Covers the broad span of the city’s history, not just the maritime empire high points.

I was home for a grand total of 4 1/2 days last month. I had a great time, but I admit my own bed was welcome on September 30th.

First up, two weeks at the cottage. Fabulous weather for walking, swimming (we only missed 3 days), lounging, eating, visiting, reading…. all the usual cottage things. A few things will change for next year’s stay, but the view will be almost the same.

In August, my father, brother, and I decided to fly to New Brunswick to visit my dad’s old hometown. Air Canada spent the first two weeks of September in “strike/no strike” mode so we made an alternate plan to drive if necessary. My dad is 90 and my brother had a limited window to visit, so missing the trip was not an option. The airline and the union settled just before we were to go – but we realized that we’d all been looking forward to driving (ok, my dad and brother would be driving. I was looking forward to sitting in the back popping and up and down like a meerkat and looking at scenery). So we took our flight credits and, after I had one day to do my laundry, we hit the road. It was a wonderful experience full of family, memories, and some truly epic breakfasts.

To wind up the month, the other side of the family hit the road (or the train tracks) to Ottawa for a wedding and a few days of sightsighting. The wedding was beautiful, more excellent food was eaten, and we saw a few sights.

A good time was had by all (I certainly had one) but I’m glad to be home and getting back to work. Sort of.

Open Road Media, who have released the new editions of my ebooks, have several very dangerous daily newsletters that promote all the special deals on their books. You can choose the genres that make you the happiest and get ready to add more books to your collection.

For example, the latest Portalist newsletter features sf and fantasy by Joe Haldeman, Alan Dean Foster, Liz Williams, Fred Saberhagen, Nancy Springer, and more. Cult classics, curated book lists, upcoming authors and more.

On Wednesday (Sept 25) A TERRIBLE BEAUTY takes its turn in the spotlight.

So dangerous, but so good.

Keep an eye out for the OG (otherwise known as my first novel) on sale in various ebook spots in September. So far, it’ll be available for most of the month in the US and from August 30 through September 6 in the UK.

It’s COLD HILLSIDE’s turn for the $1.99 offer. On sale August 25th on the usual sites (US, Great Britain, and Canada). And just because it’s so pretty, here’s the fabulous new ebook cover again.

While the Witch Novel is off being reviewed by my third reader, I’ve been going through my notes for the Glass World project to see if I can turn it into something that makes sense. I found a note about the stages of my writing (which must have been part of a book exercise, because one of my favourite writing-avoidance behaviours is to read books about writing). This is all still true.

1. A vague idea and optimism

2. Research, some necessary, some avoidance

3. Writing the easy bits or just the next bit

4. Despair

5. Review, research, reorganization

6. Soldiering on again…

7. Despair – Repeat

8. Brute Force

9. The End

P.S. BLOOD & CHRYSANTHEMUMS is on sale for $1.99 until August 23rd. Which I guess proves I used to be able to make this work.

Flash! August 4th! BLOOD & CHRYSANTHEMUMS is on sale for $1.99, wherever you get ebooks.

Now that’s out of the way …

As a change from book promotion, here are some vacation pictures instead. We went to Italy for two weeks in May. This was our first real travel since 2019 and our third trip to Venice, so it was a good warm-up for trying (again) to go to Spain.

We stayed in the Castello region, near the Arsenale. It was a great area, full of good restaurants, little shops with odd hours, people, dogs (and dog poop), and ordinary life.

We saw no shortage of animals, both real and imagined.

We went to our third Venice Biennale, which once again provided a wide variety of artistic experiences, from the beautiful to the baffling and everything in between. Don’t worry, I’m not going to subject you to the many, many pictures we took.

Then it was off to the Lido. Sadly, most of the resort beaches seemed to be closed. We trudged our way down to the public beach, paddled our hands in the Adriatic, and then headed back to Venice.

We spent two and half days in Bolzano, a four-hour train ride up into the Italian Alps. We were pleasantly surprised by the number of vineyards (and happily tasted the local wines) and my husband observed that his limited knowledge of German seemed more convincing than his less limited vocabulary in Italian.

Bolzano turned out to be a lovely town, with a pedestrian center full of restaurants, food stalls, and the best gelato we’d ever had. (Seriously, Gelateria Portogallo was mind-blowingly good. Go there.)

Despite the fact that the tourist board for the region brags that ‘the sun always shines’, our days there were mostly rainy and overcast. But we still managed to slog through the downpour up to Runkelstein Castle. We were rewarded by rooms of beautiful frescoes, a sleepy cat, and an amazing display of handmade musical instruments by the talented and energetic Max Castlunger. He was giving a tour and demonstrations to several wet families and enthusiastic kids who dutifully banged, tapped, and chimed on request. Ok, my husband was also happy to ‘bang a gong’ on cue.

The next day, the weather cleared enough for us to head up to the top of the Rittner horn ski resort, which involved two gondolas, a small train, and a bus. And another bus filled with students on the way back down to Bolzano.

Then it was back to Venice for one more afternoon of art and eating. Still one of my favourite places in the world.

All photos by Nancy Baker

I was asked by the good people at the book recommendation site Booklisti to put together a list on whatever I wanted. What I wanted was to talk about my favourite retellings and reimaginings of fairy tales, because that is one of the sub-genres I love the most. (So much that I indulged in it myself, with A Terrible Beauty.) I picked seven titles from authors such as Robin McKinley (twice), Tanith Lee, Catherynne Valente, and Diana Wynne Jones. Each author brought to their chosen fairy tale (from Beauty and the Beast to Koschei the Deathless to Tam Lin – also twice) their own perspective, fascinations, and rich, beautiful prose. I’ve read these books more times than I can count and I hope you find something new to delight you as well.

Most of the great offers on the new ebooks have been for the US sites, but now it’s time for Canadian and British readers. BLOOD & CHRYSANTHEMUMS is on sale for $1.99 all this week.