I started reading Jane Lindskold quite by accident. I’d seen–and even picked up–her Wolf series, but was just never in the mood to start a multi-book series, so the books languished and I soon forgot about her.

However, at a trip to the bookstore I ran across Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls and was intrigued by the title. Then I read the paragraph:

“Morning falls on the just and the unjust,” I observe, and the nurse smiles politely and continues brushing my hair. Betwixt laughs from where I clutch him in my hands, Between, snores. He is not a morning dragon. “Turn us over Sarah,” Betwixt coaxes, and I do this carefully, balancing the four stubby legs in my pant leg just above the knee. Betwixt growls approvingly, “That’s a good girl. Now, be a love and scratch in front of my left horn, right above the eye ridge.” I do this, studying my friend as I do. Betwixt and Between are a two-headed dragon. They are small as dragons go, standing only ten inches long from barrel chest to tail tip. They also have blue scales, red eyes, and faintly smell of strawberries.

Sarah–and those with whom she has lived for years–are being released from the asylum after budget cutbacks have lead them all to be deemed capable of functioning on society. Her past is unknown, and she can communicate only by repeating verses (the bible, Shakespeare) that seem a suitable response to the situation.

I ended up reading the book in a single sitting.

I then looked for more books by Jane Lindskold, and came across Child of a Rainless Year.

Mira is the only daughter of Colette Bogaty, the town eccentric: She dresses in a style more fitting to a previous century. Mira also has an unusual childhood, growing up with such a mother, but when her mother disappears her life changes completely and absolutely. But for the most of the book, Mira is a frumpy middle aged woman who after the death of her adopted parents, decides she wants to discover her past and what happened to her mother.

Again, I didn’t want to put the book down, and was completely engrossed in the story.

Now both of these stories, as well The Buried Pyramid, despite their descriptions, are fantasy. The world of these books is almost–but not quite–our world. These are not multi-book epic fantasies, but instead are stories told over the course of a single book.

I love books like this.

I still haven’t read her wolves series, again, because I’m not in the mood for “epic” fantasy. And I’m one book into a series her Thirteen Orphans series, but I’m moving slowly, because I had getting into an unfinished series.

But the two books I’ve mentioned above? Both are absolutely fabulous, and you should check them out if you are looking for something different to read.

Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls (1994), The Buried Pyramid (2004), Child of a Rainless Year (2005), Thirteen Orphans: Breaking the Wall (2008)

I was first introduced to Sean Russell when a friend loaned me a copy of The Initiate Brother and Gatherer of Clouds. Except that it ended up being a trade. I had loaned him a volume of The Year’s Best in Fantasy and Horror (Volume 6 perhaps?) and then he moved and that was it. So I still have his copies of The Initiate Brother and Gatherer of Clouds.

I’m pretty sure I got the better end of the deal.

Sean Russell is fabulous at world building. His worlds are not full of dragons or demons or fairies or vampires. The worlds he builds are lush and beautiful. The are akin to our world, but somehow at right angles, and with a subtle magic throughout.

Even better, he has also written several duologies, which I have always preferred to trilogies.

When I read a Sean Russell book, I read unusually slowly (for me). I am drawn into the stories and enjoy the details and the scenery and the journeys. His characters are complex and there is never simply good versus evil–in fact sometimes it’s hard to see who is acting for good and who is acting for evil.

He reminds me somewhat of Guy Gavriel Kay, who also writes amazing stories with complex stories that are often classified as fantasy simply because they occur in a world that is not ours.

He has also written two mysteries with Ian Russell under the pseudonym TF Banks, about the Bow Street Runners–the precursors to Scotland Yard. Unfortunately, there are only the two books, and as the last was written in 2003, it doesn’t look like there will be any more coming, which is unfortunate.

I love just plain love Sean Russell’s writing, and if you’re looking for something different to read, I highly recommend checking out something by Sean Russell.

The Initiate Brother (1991) and Gatherer of Clouds (1992)
Moontide and Magic Rise: World Without End (1994) Sea Without a Shore (1996)
The River into Darkness: Beneath the Vaulted Hills (1997), The Compass of the Soul (1999)
The Swans War: The One Kingdom (2001), The Isle of Battle (2002), The Shadow Roads (2004)

I was 20 when I stopped eating mammals.

Since that time, I have become only more aware of industrial food production in the United States, and the problems it causes, for those who eat it, for those who produce it, and for the land.

At this point, nearly twenty years later, most people have heard passing complaints of the food industry, but it’s often hard to listen to those who are evangelical vegans and PETA supporters. Which is why I’d like to talk about some books that are not written by extremists or with an agenda. The following books are extremely well-researched, and present the results of that research in an even-handed manner.

Of course, since some areas of the food industry are be litigious, they need to be.

The first author is the one I read most recently, Michael Pollan. He’s written The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food. The first, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, details Michael Pollan’s experiences as he tries to follow food from the fields to the table. He even bought a single calf, and spent time with that calf over various parts of its life’s journey. He was not, however, allowed into the slaughterhouse to see the conditions there.

He details the life of a calf raised for commercial slaughter, as well as the conditions of the animals on a strict organic farm. He looks at the fertilization of commercial fields as well as the field conditions on the same organic farm. And he even spends some time as a hunter gatherer, creating a meal with ingredients he had gathered himself.

In Defense of Food looks the Western Diet and its affect upon our health. As with The Omnivore’s Dilemma, this book did not hold any surprises for me, but did contain a comprehensive review of the current research on health and diet.

Both of these books are well-written, and present his discoveries through personal experience, which makes the information far more relevant (and interesting) than you would read in a medical or agricultural journal.

Another book is Andrew Weil’s Eating Well for Optimum Health. This book is not quite as accessible as Michael Pollan’s books, but takes a deeper look at the research regarding diet and health, including talking about some of the studies that were quite surprising. (Including, IIRC, a study that was halted when it discovered that beta carotene supplements actually increased the incidence of cancer, when dietary research saw a link between a diet high in beta carotene and a reduction in cancer.

All of which points to the fact that whole foods are almost always going to be better for you than processed foods and supplements–a theme of Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food.

One of the best books I’ve read about the American Food Industry is Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation. He looks specifically at the fast food industry, and follows a meal from the field to the paper bag, and looks not just at the treatment of animals, but also the safety of the food and the treatment of food workers along the way.

One of the most disturbing chapters was on slaughterhouses. Although the treatment of the animals is of concern to me, far more disturbing was the treatment of the humans who work in these slaughterhouses. In order to keep costs down, these individuals work under horrific conditions and are frequently injured–often severely–in the line of work.

This book is why I refuse to eat at any fast food restaurant unless that restaurant is specifically known to treat its employees well. And is also why I will never eat commercial beef, even if I one day decide to start eating mammals again.

Food is a necessity for us, but it is also something that should be enjoyed. And for me, that enjoyment is greater if I believe that the food I am eating is not just good for me, but good for the world as well.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma (2006), In Defense of Food: An Easter’s Manifesto (2008), Fast Food Nation The Dark Underside of the All-American Meal (2002)

I started reading Nina Kiriki Hoffman when I came across A Fistful of Sky in a bookstore and picked it up on a whim.

I read it in a single sitting.

Nina Kiriki Hoffman writes what I consider Urban Fantasy, which is very different from Supernatural Fantasy, which is full of vampires and boinking. Her stories remind me a bit of Charles de Lint. Her characters live in our world, except that they can see or manipulate magic. In A Fistful of Sky, Gypsum comes from a family that can manipulate magic, only for Gypsum, the powers she receives are neither simple nor easy, and she must come to terms with those powers, as well as her family and herself. It is a coming of age book, only without the angst–well, without too much angst.

But what makes the story for me is that Gypsum is a real woman. She is plus sized. She likes to eat. She considers “Ultimate Fashion Sense” a horrible curse. She has a difficult family, yet loves them despite the problems. I love Gypsum, and wish she was a real woman, because I bet she’d be a lot of fun to hang out with.

And that sums up most of Nina Kirki Hoffman’s books. Her characters are teenagers or are coming of age–she also has this in common with Charles de Lint, but although these may be categorized as Young Adult books, they are most definitely a good read for actual adults, though you should share them with the youths in your life.

Although she as written multiple books in similar worlds, books that occur in the same world are not necessarily part of a series, but may contain characters that recur in multiple books–in other words, you can pick up any book and dive in, and not have to worry whether the book you are reading has a sequel or a prequel.

She also writes short stories, and her stories have appeared in many of the anthologies I own, including Swan Sister (2003), The Repentant (2003), Children of Magic (2006), and The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales (2007). Like her books, characters may or may not appear in multiple tales, and the worlds she creates may or may not appear in multiple tales, but what you can count on is that she can build a world and create complex characters in a short story just as well as she can in longer stories.

She has also, apparently, written Star Trek books, but I have not read any of those.

If you are looking for an author who consistently writes excellent stories, in both the long and short form, then you won’t go wrong reading Nina Kiriki Hoffman.

The Thread that Binds the Bones (1993), The Silent Strength of Stones (1995), A Red Heart of Memories (1999), Past the Size of Dreaming (2001), A Stir of Bones (2003), A Fistful of Sky (2004), Spirits that Walk in Shadow (2006)

One of the first “grown-up” books I ever received was The Complete Sherlock Holmes. Since then, I’ve had a love for mysteries set in Victorian or Regency England, which branched out to historical mysteries in general.

You may have noticed there are a lot of these mysteries on the shelves in the book stores. Some are good, some are terrible, but most fall in between. Because most historical mysteries fall into the in between category, I’m always delighted to find a series that stands out. I discovered several years ago that the Sebastian St. Cyr series by C.S. Harris is a mystery series I find to be consistently good.

Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, is a young aristocrat who went and fought in the Napoleonic War and came back a changed man–a bitter man with a sharp temper, yet still a strong sense of justice. When Sebastian is believe to be the perpetrator of a horrible rape and murder, his desire for justice is helped along my his desire to keep his neck out of the noose.

Sebastian believes himself to be a bitter, cynical man who doesn’t care what happens to anyone else, however, he isn’t really, and his desire for justice only strengthens over the course of the series.

One of the things I particularly like about this series is how Sebastian became a detective of sorts, and how those around him–especially his family–react to his investigations. C.S. Harris did a very good job of creating a background for Sebastian that all but forces him to continue to look into crimes, after he has cleared his own name.

Another strength is that characters are easily recognizable and not easily confused–they have distinct personalities that seem reasonable to their backgrounds and to the time. An example is Sebastian’s sister. She’s typically comes across and cold and calculating, however, when you consider the time in which she lives, and how heavy the opinion of society laid upon women of the time, her actions are understandable, even if they are completely foreign to a modern woman.

I also really like Kat, who sees far more clearly than Sebastian her place in society, and how his association with her affects him. She is one of the rare women of her time who made her own future, despite knowing what her place in society is supposed to be.

If you like historical mysteries, then I highly recommend the Sebastian St. Cyr series. It’s unusual, but it’s also very good.

What Angels Fear (2005), When Gods Die (2006), Why Mermaids Sing (2007), Where Serpents Sleep

Despite the fact that the second book in Simon R. Green‘s Eddie Drood series was sub par, you really should be reading the rest of Simon Green’s books. Especially his Nightside series.

John Taylor is a private eye who also happens to have mystical powers. These powers give him the ability to find lost things. Unfortunately for him, despite thinking he has escaped the Nightside, he’s drawn back in, and one there, he’s returned to the intrigues and mystery that drove him away in the first place.

What is the Nightside you ask? It’s where dark deeds are done and your worst nightmares are available at any price. It’s where all the scary things you were hoping didn’t really exist actually live and hang out.

Nightside is appalling. But so is John Taylor.

The Nightside is full of Gods and monsters, visitors from the past and from the future, and people who simply don’t fit in the real world.

Like John Taylor.

John Taylor is Spenser living in a modern Thieves’ World, only with magical powers. John Taylor is wanted dead by many in Nightside, although he has no idea what he’s done to earn that death sentence. And of course many who want him dead are also willing to hire him, because he may be a right bastard, but he’s also John bloody Taylor, part of the Nightside royalty although no one is quite sure why.

These books are both fantasy and horror, but they’re not frightening (which is what I typically associate with horror). The creatures that fill the Nightside are horrifying monsters, misshapen and evil. Because that’s what the Nightside is. The place where evil can go and hang out.

Why, you are asking, would anyone want to read about John Taylor and the Nightside? Because these are tales well told. Good mysteries, but most importantly they’re a lot of fun. John doesn’t take himself seriously–nor does he take anything or anyone else seriously. Despite his powers, he often relies on slight of hand and a nasty reputation to get things done. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t do nasty things–he does, and sometimes quite willingly. But he also tries to do good, at least in his own way.

That doesn’t mean these books are for the faint of heart. Nightside is a dreadful place where dreadful people and creatures live. Really awful creatures in many cases, such as the Lamentations or even Dead Boy.

Best of all, since Nightside is such a terrible place, Simon Green can have his characters do really terrible things and you don’t feel bad about it at all. But John Taylor and his friends are witty and amusing, so even when they’re being appalling, they’re still a lot of fun.

Nightside: Something from the Nightside (2003), Agents of Light and Darkness (2003), Nightingale’s Lament (2004), Hex and the City (2005), Paths Not Taken (2005), Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth (2006), Hell To Pay (2006), Unnatural Inquirer (2007)

I love mysteries almost as much as I love fantasy (fantasy and mystery together is perfect, but not always well done) and I’m willing to take more of a chance on an unknown mystery than an unknown fantasy. (The fact my grandmother loves to read mysteries probably encourages this habit.)

About a year ago I picked up Bangkok 8 by John Burdett. I’ve always been fond of British mysteries, and I’ve branched out to Spanish and Italian mysteries in recent years, so a mystery set in Bangkok (by a Western author) seemed interesting, so I picked it up.

Sonchai Jitpleecheep is a detective on the Bangkok police force. He’s half Thai, half white, and his mother worked as a prostitute to make sure Sonchai received a good education and future. His boss is corrupt, but pretty much all the police in Bangkok are corrupt, except Sonchai. Not that he wouldn’t be judged as corrupt by Western standards, but by Bangkok standards he’s a clean.

And Bangkok standards are very very different from American standards: prostitutes work openly, drugs of all kinds are common, and corruption is as common as the pollution.

These books are different from my usual reading, first and foremost because of the sex. Prostitution is common and the Thai in Bangkok have very different ideas about sex than Westerners (even if many of the customers are Westerners). But although there is sex, it’s simply part of the landscape: people have sex. That’s life, get on with it. I like that attitude towards sex; it doesn’t bother me the way heaving bosoms tend to annoy me.

And Sonchai himself is fascinating. He’s a bundle of contradictions and foreign to the Western mind. He lives in a corrupt city and accepts that corruption as a way of life, yet lives by his own beliefs.

The other thing that is different about Bangkok is that the Thai are quite open in their belief of spirits. It’s the way things are, and in these books everyone accepts this as fact. In reading some reviews, this apparently bothers some people, this open acceptance of the supernatural. Me? I like it. But then I also love urban and supernatural fantasy, so this should hardly come as a surprise.

If you like mysteries, and enjoy stories set in foreign settings, and aren’t squeaminsh, then you should check out John Burdett’s Bangkok series. It’s complex and fascinating and well worth reading. In theory, you should be able to pick up any book in the series and start there, but although each book is self contained, there is character development in each story, so you may prefer to read the books in order. And as all the books are easily available, it’s probably worth doing so.

Bangkok 8 (2003), Bangkok Tattoo (2005), Bangkok Haunts (2007)

Last week I talked about one of the mystery series I’ve been reading, this week I want to talk about a supernatural fantasy series. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been reading a lot of supernatural fantasy recently. Some just so-so, but much of it has been very good.

One series I am especially enjoying is Ilona Andrews‘ Kate Daniels series.

Kate lives in a world that used to be ours, but at some point magic surged and now magic and technology battle for predominance, so sometimes phones work while sometimes hexes work, and you never know from one day to the next what will work at any given time.

Kate is a mercenary who is both trained a trained fighter and a born magic user–however her skills as a fighter usually serve her in better stead than her quirky magic skills. And as this is a world in which both vampires and shape shifters are fighting for predominance, her physical skills are used quite frequently.

What I like most about this series is we learn now just about Kate as the series continues, but also about the world in which she lives, and how it came to be the way it is. It’s a fascinating idea that Ilona Andrews does a very good job of slowly unfolding. She also does a very good job with Kate. Sometimes in supernatural fantasy series, the heroines are a little too good, and things come a little too easy to them. Kate is very good at what she does, but it is made quite clear that she has gotten where she is through very hard work (this is further emphasized in the third book where she describes her childhood and her training).

There is a romance that is slowly developing over the course of the series, however this is in no way the focus of the series, which I believe some people find off putting about supernatural / urban / paranormal fantasy, so if you’re not certain about this type of fantasy, this may be a good series to put your toe in the water and see how it feels.

The nice thing about supernatural is it takes our world and twists it in some manner–supernatural creatures have come out of the closet and the world has changed because if it; supernatural creatures exist but are still in hiding; something changed the world and after that change magic and supernatural creatures became common. So the world is familiar, and yet very strange at the same time.

Although the story arc is complete within each individual book, Kate’s character develops further in each book, and in each book we learn a little more about her past and why she has been hiding. So although you could start the book at any point in time, the world is somewhat complex and takes a bit of getting used to, and you learn new things about Kate in each book, so I think one might prefer to start at the beginning and work their way forward.

Magic Bites (2007), Magic Burns (2008), Magic Strikes (2009)