Month: October 2018

Urban Fantasy 101: A Quick Guide to Dastardly Demons

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Urban Fantasy 101 - A Quick Guide to Dastardly Demons

Demons are another urban fantasy and paranormal romance staple and, like the vampires and shifters I’ve written about before, they encompass a wide range of various supernatural species across different cultures. A demon in one urban fantasy or paranormal romance series might not be recognized as a demon in another and, generally, these demons don’t look like the ones in demonology around the world.

What even are these demons?

We talked about this in UF101: Mythology Soup: sometimes, we squish a whole lot of things together that maybe… don’t quite need to be squished together. In the urban fantasy and paranormal romance genres, demon can sometimes count as an umbrella term under which a whole bunch of other supernatural beings are expected shelter.

Case in point? In Hannah Jayne’s Underworld Detection Agency series, the term “demon” kind of encompasses anything that’s not human. That includes “actual” demons like the kind we’re used to seeing as villains of the hour on episodes of Charmed and Supernatural and other supernatural species that aren’t typically associated with the demonic. Like werewolves, zombies, and vampires.

Talk about casting a wide net, huh?Read More »

Stitch Recs Spoopy Stuff

Stitch

Just in time for Halloween, here’s a list of ten of my favorite spoopy things that y’all should consider checking out. If you need specific content warnings for anything, send me a message here or on Twitter!

Note: most of the links that lead to Amazon are affiliate links!

Certain Dark Things Cover1. Silvia Moreno Garcia’s Certain Dark Things

WHERE TO BUY IT

Back in 2016, I did a review for SMG’s fantastic urban fantasy stand-alone novel for Strange Horizons where I say that it is “the book I wish had been my introduction to vampires in literature back when I was a kid”.

Certain Dark Things is a dark and innovative urban fantasy novel that gets you to reimagine the vampire as we know it, subverting the species as the genre tends to do it, and offering an interesting take on those bite-y bloodsuckers.

Food of the Gods Cover2. Cassandra Khaw’s Food of the Gods (the Rupert Wong duology)

WHERE TO BUY IT

Gorgeous and gloriously gory, Cassandra Khaw’s lush writing makes the horrors of Rupert Wong’s life and his experiences as a chef for a bunch of human-eating ghouls and gods almost… appetizing. I’m constantly torn between being flat out grossed out by and salivating over food I shouldn’t want to eat. (I reviewed the second book in this duology – Rupert Wong and the Ends of the Earth – for Strange Horizons and talked a ton about Khaw’s use of Greek mythology.)Read More »

[Stitch Likes Stuff] Venom (2018)

Stitch

venom_poster

Everything I saw my friends say about Venom on social media was spot-on.

From the use of Eminem on the soundtrack to Tom Hardy’s EVERYTHING, Venom feels like it fell into a timewarp right before it was originally supposed to air in 2004 and fourteen years later, we got it.

This movie appeals to my inner:

  • superhero fan
  • anti-hero stan
  • monster fucker
  • cannibalism (in fiction) fancier

Seriously, it has something for everyone and it’s entertaining to boot.

Venom is NOT a serious superhero movie even when it tries to be a couple of times. It’s an action-comedy that’s more about Eddie Brock’s fall from grace and how he and Venom develop together than anything else. Sure, Riz Ahmed is in the film playing Carlton Drake, a scientist with eugenicist dreams, and Michelle Williams is Eddie’s long-suffering ex-girlfriend Anne, but the movie isn’t really about them.

It’s about two losers realizing that they literally can’t live without each other and falling in love.

Read More »

Breaking and Entering: Narrated

Stitch

(This was supposed to be cross-posted between here and Patreon hours ago, but I haven’t been home since earlier and could’t get the hang of uploading things on my phone.)

Breaking and Entering_ Narrated

Happy Birthday to me!

This is a narrated version of my story “Breaking and Entering”, a cosy and quietly queer story set in another world. Fair warning, this is a goofy read that is definitely kind of… impacted by the fact that I have trouble reading aloud.

If you like straight, serious reads of your favorite things this is not that, so you can read the original story here:

Breaking and Entering – Original Fiction

Asra has spent much of his life alone, traveling across Anatea in search of the home he never had. On an unplanned return trip to the capital city’s God Quarter, Asra finds himself taking shelter from the rain in a seemingly abandoned temple. When Asra meets the god whose temple sits gathering dust in a lonely part of the God Quarter, he isn’t expecting much beyond a swift kick in the rear. He certainly isn’t expecting that he might finally find the home he’s always wanted to have.

Thank you all for celebrating my 28th birthday with me!

❤

[Review] Untouchable (Ravenswood #2) by Talia Hibbert

Stitch

Untouchable Cover

Black British romance author Talia Hibbert is one of my newest favorite authors in Romancelandia.

Hibbert’s romances – which primarily focus on interracial romances with at least one main character of color finding and falling in love – are set in idyllic small towns that are full of secrets, drama, and unbelievably sweet dudes. I’ve been a fan of Hibbert’s writing from last year, but she really got me invested with her recent-ish release Untouchable. Untouchable, the second in her small-town romance series Ravenswood, is focused on the people that live in one of the most stressful towns this side of an English breakfast, Ravenswood. Ravenswood has shown up in a novel and novella so far, both stories having sweet romances between characters who’ve been hurt and could stand to do some healing with a person squarely in their corner.Read More »

[Review] The Neon Boneyard (Daniel Faust #8) by Craig Schaefer

Stitch

The Neon Boneyard Cover

We’re eight (and a half, there’s a novella) books into Craig Schaefer’s Daniel Faust series and I’m still as huge a fan as I was when I cracked open the first book a couple years ago.

Schaefer’s Daniel Faust series is urban fantasy that blends the supernatural with elements that wouldn’t be out of place in heist/gangster movies. Daniel Faust is a con-man, a practitioner, and a pain in the ass to a whole bunch of powerful people in the supernatural and mundane parts of Las Vegas.Read More »

Fleeting Frustrations # 2: Fan Studies, Like Fandom, Isn’t the Best About Race

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Most, but not all, of these books were a product of my attending PCA 2017 and sweeping the book dealer’s room right before closing… This isn’t even all of my collection.

I am grateful to fan studies scholars for giving me a name for what I’d been doing before I ever knew that fan studies was a thing. I love fan studies as an academic discipline and I wish that it wasn’t seen as that slight a niche. Fandom is huge and fans are everywhere, so the fact that fan studies as we know it isn’t a bigger and more popular discipline – and that’s the fault of the general academic powers that be crawling slowly towards recognizing it as a wide-reaching discipline that can mesh with other academic avenues, I’d say – is ridiculous.

I could literally go on for ages talking about my favorite aspects of fan studies or the fan scholars that inspire my own work because there’s a lot to love about this discipline. However, this is the second installment of Fleeting Frustrations so let’s save the love-in for a later post. Right now, it’s time to air my biggest grievance with fan studies as a whole – but specifically the parts of fan studies that focus on the identity of fans and their favorite characters or ships.

Fan studies, despite frequently focusing on or having texts written by marginalized people, isn’t exactly great at intersectionality or recognizing that intersectional feminism is a must especially when your fan studies focus lands on gender and sexuality.

Read More »

[Review] Taste of Wrath (Sin du Jour #7) by Matt Wallace

Stitch

Note: I am going to spoil the HELL out of this novella so if you haven’t read any of the books yet… Go buy them all, pour yourself an increasingly intense series of alcoholic drinks (if that’s your thing), and alternate between Matt’s books and my tipsy reviews.

Matt Wallace Taste of Wrath Cover.jpg

Choose your buy link here.

Audio companion: 

When we last saw the Sin Du Jour crew in 2017’s Gluttony Bay, shit had officially hit the fan.

I’m talking “we’ve lost people and the bad guys are shaping up to kick everyone’s butts” levels of badness. Of course, I’ve loved Matt Wallace’s Sin du Jour series from the moment that I stress bought the first book right around my twenty-fifth birthday almost three years ago. Envy of Angels changed my life and honestly? So did Taste of Wrath.Read More »

[Book Review] Rafe (Loose Ends #1) by Rebekah Weatherspoon

Stitch

Rafe cover copy

After her live-in nanny bounces without warning, leaving her twin six-year-old daughters alone for several hours, Dr. Sloan Copeland finds herself in desperate need of a new nanny as she works long hours and the girls are set to start school very soon.

Enter Rafe.

A big, bearded, babe of a man, Rafe has been working as a nanny for a while and, after his most recent family heads to Australia, he’s starting to consider whether or not he wants to keep working in childcare. He loves his job and the kids he takes care of (seriously swoonworthy, y’all), but he’s contemplating changing careers… right until he sees Sloan and her cute as heck little girls.Read More »

Stitch Reads Stuff: October TBR List

Stitch

Stitch Reads Stuff - My October TBR List

This October, I’m focusing on young adult books and supernatural fiction!

I’m doing some necessary re-reads for reviewing purposes, diving into some books I haven’t had the time to read, and reading one of my most anticipated reads for Fall 2018. I’m looking forward to getting into these books and talking to y’all about them!

So, what’s on my reading list for October 2018?

First up are the physical books! I tend to read on my kindle more than anything else – partly because I have a bunch of kindles from years of buying them and so I’ve always got one charged – but some books you just have to have in your hand. You know?Read More »

Stitch Does Stuff in October

Stitch

Stitch does stuff in October

September was another notably busy month, but I got a huge chunk of work done and a majority of what I wanted to write in September done and posted. Here’s hoping October will be as successful as I try to find a balance between my critical writing and just… having fun and sharing my favorite pieces of media with y’all.

It’s also my birthmonth so I’m trying to return to my tradition of giving gifts to y’all in the form of writing and a wee giveaway (but I won’t say no to gifts anyone wants to buy me off of my book wishlist!)

Now, on to what’s on the menu for October:

My Website

Stitch Reads Stuff – October TBR List

#IKnowWhatIReadLastSummer Book Reviews

  • Taste of Wrath (Sin du Jour #7) – Matt Wallace (Plus an audio send-off for my favorite series.)
  • Trail of Lightning (The Sixth World #1) – Rebecca Roanhoarse
  • Borderline (The Arcadia Project #1) – Mishell Baker

Fleeting Frustrations #2 – Miss Me With Non-Intersectional Fandom Analysis

Regular Reviews

  • Rebekah Weatherspoon’s Rafe
  • Talia Hibbert’s Untouchable
  • Craig Schaefer’s The Neon Boulevard
  • (More to be added as I read more things)

Gratuitous Birthday Story

Gratuitous Birthday Giveaway

Urban Fantasy 101: A Quick Guide to Dastardly Demons

Patreon

Audience Participation: Choose Your Own Essay

Patrons at the $5 and $10 Tier get a week to choose an article they’d like to read from a list of three different options. The next week, it goes live for them. By the end of the month, all Patrons will have access to it! There’ll also be a 2-month delay between when my Patrons get it and when it goes up here. (More details will be posted on the Audience Participation intro post!)

Read More »