2018 Loves

Ahhh, it's that time of year when the book or story you poured your heart into isn't on anyone's favorites list, wheeee! It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I've read less this year so far, but that was intentional, given I had a book of my own to write (and did, thank you very much). The most notable change in my reading was reintroducing myself to poetry, perhaps no surprise, given a good local friend writes it. Hanging with them definitely was an influence (peer poet pressure perhaps). Here's some of what I loved, even if it wasn't published this year, even if it isn't on any other list.

Poetry:
Finding Baba Yaga, Jane Yolen
Take Me With You, Andrea Gibson
Prelude to Bruise, Saeed Jones
The Dream of Reason, Jenny George
Eating in the Underworld, Rachel Zucker

Stories:
"Mothers Lock Up Your Daughters, Because They Are Terrifying," Alice Sola Kim, Tin House
"A Witch's Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies," Alix E. Harrow, Apex Magazine
"Siren," Alex Acks, Sword & Sonnet
"This Lexicon of Bone and Feathers," Carlie St. George, Sword & Sonnet
"With Lips Sewn Shut," Kristi DeMeester, Apex Magazine
"A Dead Djinn in Cairo," P. Djeli Clark, tor.com (2016)
"Down Where Sound Comes Blunt," G.V. Anderson, F&SF
"Frozen Meadow, Shining Sun," Emily McCosh, Beneath Ceaseless Skies
"The Bodice, The Hem, The Woman, Death," Karen Osborne, Beneath Ceaseless Skies
"It's Easy to Shoot a Dog," Maria Haskins, Beneath Ceaseless Skies

Novels:
Circe, Madeline Miller
Blackfish City, Sam J. Miller
The Mere Wife, Maria Dahvana Headley
Blood Binds the Pack, Alex Wells
Creatures of Want and Ruin, Molly Tanzer
The Terror, Dan Simmons

Non-fiction:
A Journal of Solitude, May Sarton
The Cooking Gene, Michael W. Twitty
The Faraway Nearby, Rebecca Solnit