Book Review: Salt

Salt by Hannah Moskowitz My rating: 3 of 5 stars Salt is an odd little book. I love the characters, but the plot and the world-building left me feeling a little cheated. Indi is an orphan and a monster hunter, sailing with his older sister and two younger siblings, looking for the monster that killed…

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Book Review: Roberto to the Dark Tower Came

Roberto to the Dark Tower Came by Tom Epperson My rating: 4 of 5 stars Roberto to the Dark Tower Came needs ALL the trigger warnings: Gore, death, torture, sexual assault, rape, cruelty to animals, death of animals, language, whatever you can think of. If that is enough for you to not read it, then…

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Book Review: Mask of Shadows

Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller My rating: 4 of 5 stars Mask of Shadows has been on my TBR list for a while, but it took being on a vacation in a cabin with no internet and inconsistent, minimal phone service for me to finally pick it up and dig in. Why did I…

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Five Friendly Places that Pay for Fiction

Finding a place to publish a short story can be intimidating. Submitting a story  I’ve poured my soul into out to a literary magazine is scary enough without worrying about what happens to it once it lands in someone’s slush. And there are so many places that publish fiction. I have to think about things…

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Twitter Pitch Parties Are About More Than Just The Likes

When seeking an agent or publisher for a novel, I participate in every twitter pitch party I get the chance to. So far, no one “like” or “heart” has landed me an agent or a book deal, but I still participate. They help me figure out what agents like the kind of stories I write, and…

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Replacing Textbooks With novels in First Year Writing

For the past five years, I’ve taught first year writing at community college and state universities. I assigned textbooks and/or trade books based on what other teachers used or what seemed like the kind of book college students should read. It didn’t work out so well. Now, I’m using books I get excited about. The…

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Another Book Review: Shadowshaper

Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older My rating: 5 of 5 stars Daniel José Older’s Shadowshaper series has been in my TBR list for a while. I bought it a few weeks ago, but had to work through the ARC’s I had to review before I got to it. I don’t know why I waited so…

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Book Review: Run in the Blood

Run in the Blood by A.E. Ross My rating: 5 of 5 stars Run in the Blood is like a breath of crisp, salty air proving you can have sword and sorcery fantasy set in a medieval-ish world without loading it up with sexism and misogyny. And you know what makes this book even better?…

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Book Review: The Girl in the Tower

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden My rating: 4 of 5 stars A slow start, an epic middle and a bittersweet end describe The Girl in the Tower. When I read the first book in the Winternight Trilogy last year, I hadn’t realized it was a series, but enjoyed it enough to request…

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A Review: Gender Identity in Queen of All Crows

The Queen of All Crows by Rod Duncan My rating: 4 of 5 stars Queen of All Crows When my request Queen of All Crows was approved on NetGalley, I was thrilled to hear that the wait to see what happened with Elizabeth Barnabus and John Farthing would be over. However, my experience reading the…

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