Six top SF/F novels with non-white protagonists

Lauren Naturale likes literary fantasy, the gothic, historical fiction, and sensational things to read on trains; she writes in and about all of these genres.

At the B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog she tagged six SF/F novels with non-white protagonists that aren’t by Octavia Butler, including:

Half-Resurrection Blues, by Daniel José Older

Older’s first novel, but third published book—he’s also the author of Salsa Nocturna, a collection of short stories, and one of the editors of Long Hidden, an anthology of diverse historical SFF —details the adventures of Carlos Delacruz, an “inbetweener” in a vividly realized alternate Brooklyn where ghosts and demons roam openly (still recognizable as the Brooklyn of our own world, where the walking dead are a bit more discreet). Carlos, who’s neither dead nor alive, works for the New York Council of the Dead (NYCOD) as a kind of mediator between the two worlds. When another inbetweener releases a horde of demons, it’s up to Carlos to stop him from before he destroys the city.

Read about the other books on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top ten bad boys with good(ish) hearts in YA fiction

Catherine Doyle lives in the west of Ireland. She holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology and a master's degree in English from the National University of Ireland, Galway. Vendetta, her debut novel, is the first part of the Blood for Blood series.

For the Guardian she tagged her top ten bad boys with good(ish) hearts in YA fiction, including:

Dante Walker in the Dante Walker series by Victoria Scott

"But let me tell ya, spend every day living only for yourself, every day indulging in little sins that aren’t that big of a deal, and one day I may be showing you the ropes in hell. Amen."
― Victoria Scott, The Collector

Dante Walker is about as bad as they come. Sinfully attractive, this boy is, quite literally, bad to the bone. Hailing from hell and on a mission to bring good people down with him, he collects souls for the Devil himself, and Dante definitely doesn’t care about where they come from. That is, until he encounters Charlie Cooper. Dante’s cavalier attitude to morality meshes seamlessly with both arrogance and charm, but when he meets his new good-girl target, he gets more than he bargained for. For the first time, being bad doesn’t feel so good, and unassuming, selfless Charlie Cooper is the only person who can show him that.

Read about the other entries on the list.

My Book, The Movie: The Collector.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven books to celebrate the Year of the Sheep

At B & N Reads Ginni Chen tagged seven books to celebrate the Chinese New Year and the Year of the Sheep, including:

The Woman Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston

No exploration of the Chinese immigrant experience in America is complete without Kingston’s critically acclaimed The Woman Warrior. Part autobiography, part collection of Chinese folk tales, this book explores a Chinese American woman’s navigation of life in 20th-century America and the age-old stories of her roots.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Woman Warrior is among Eva Hoffman's top five striking memoirs and Julia Alvarez's five most important books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top ten fictional troublemakers

Matt Sumell's new book is Making Nice.

One of the author's top ten fictional troublemakers, as shared at the Guardian:

Guy Grand in The Magic Christian by Terry Southern

A hilarious billionaire determines to prove that there is nothing so awful that someone won’t do it for money. Whether it’s paying parking officers enormous amounts of money to eat the tickets, bribing an actor on a live TV show to deviate from the script, or buying a prestigious advertising firm just to install a pygmy as the president – it’s a book so funny and irreverent it led to Stanley Kubrick hiring Southern for Dr Strangelove.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six great fictional evil geniuses

At B & N Reads Monique Alice tagged six great fictional evil geniuses, including:

Hannibal Lecter (The Silence of The Lambs and The Hannibal Lecter Series, by Thomas Harris)

If “evil genius” were a phrase in the dictionary, there’s a good chance the definition would include a picture of Hannibal Lecter. Part of what terrifies us so much about him is his grisly taste for human flesh (he even pairs it with fancy wines!), but this proclivity can be understood as merely the manifestation of Hannibal’s desire to dissect, possess, and consume his victims psychologically. We have no trouble believing that, had Dr. Lecter used his clinical cunning for good, he would have been a superb psychotherapist. Instead, it’s up to Agent Starling to get inside Lecter’s mind without letting him take control of her own.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Silence of The Lambs is among sixteen book-to-movie adaptations that won Academy Awards. Red Dragon appears on Kimberly Turner's list of the ten most disturbing sociopaths in literature and John Mullan's lists of ten of the best dragons in literature and ten of the best tattoos in literature, and the (U.K.) Telegraph 110 best books; Andre Gross says "it should be taught as [a text] in Thriller 101."

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten contemporary novels inspired by Shakespeare

At Flavorwire Alison Nastasi tagged ten contemporary novels inspired by Shakespeare, including:

The Dead Fathers Club

Matt Haig’s Dead Fathers Club embraces the murderous Oedipal tendencies of its inspiration, the Bard’s Hamlet. Transplanting the introspective, brooding princeling to contemporary Britain, the author’s teenage hero is exhorted to dispatch a villainous uncle by his deceased — and apparently murdered — father. Substituting a local pub for the court of Denmark, Haig’s quirky treatment of the venerable source material, viewed through the prism of his hero-narrator, brings familiar dynastic struggles to the fore.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Page 69 Test: The Dead Fathers Club.

My Book, The Movie: The Dead Fathers Club.

Also see: Sally O'Reilly's top ten novels inspired by Shakespeare, the greatest Shakespeare homages and cover versions in science fiction and fantasy and Matt Haig's top ten list of novels influenced by Shakespeare.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven of the best YA Hollywood novels

One title on Dahlia Adler's list of seven top YA Hollywood novels, as shared on the B & N Teen Blog:

Secrets of My Hollywood Life, by Jen Calonita

This book is the first of six that take teen actress Kaitlin from TV to high school to Broadway and beyond. From on-set rivals to managing a relationship with a non-actor to bad-girl phases getting caught on camera, this insidery series is especially perfect for younger YA readers who want to know all about the industry, through the eyes of a sweet, likable heroine.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Coffee with a Canine: Jen Calonita and Captain Jack Sparrow.

Writers Read: Jen Calonita (May 2014).

--Marshal Zeringue

Six top books that warp reality

Kelly Link is the co-founder of Small Beer Press. Her latest book of stories is Get in Trouble.

One of the author's six favorite books that warp reality, as shared at The Week magazine:

There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya

These are contemporary Russian fairy tales written by a short-story master. Petrushevskaya has a brisk, matter-of-fact style that you instinctively cede authority to, as if she were a tour guide to a place (where are we? who turned out the lights? did something just touch my hand?) that you were always meant to go.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nine novels about writers inspired by real-life events

At Bustle Jessica Ferri tagged nine novels about writers inspired by real-life events, including:

The Hours by Michael Cunningham

Michael Cunningham’s 1998 novel not only tells the story of Virginia Woolf, but reimagines her characters from her work in the lives of three other people: Samuel, a poet suffering from AIDS, his friend Clarissa, and Laura Brown, a depressed housewife living in Los Angeles in 1949. Obviously inspired by the work and inner struggles of Woolf herself, The Hours is, in many ways, the perfect example of literary-inspired fiction.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Hours is among Philip Hensher's top ten parallel narratives--i.e., novels that track unconnected but related stories.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top ten menaces in children’s fiction

Steven Butler is the author of The Diary of Dennis the Menace.

At the Guardian he tagged ten top menaces in children's fiction, including:

Peter Pan, in Peter Pan by J M Barrie

The ultimate trickster, Pan embodies the very essence of what a good menace is made from. His endless need for adventure, and ruthless determination to get exactly what he wants, crowns him (arguably) as the greatest menace ever to grace the pages of children’s fiction.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Peter Pan is on Melissa Albert's top five list of weird fictional crushes, Jill Hucklesby's top ten list of books about running away, and John Mullan's list of ten of the best pirates in fiction.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven new YA novels that deal with death

At B & N Teen Blog, Shaun Byron Fitzpatrick tagged seven new YA novels that deal with death, including:

My Heart and Other Black Holes, by Jasmine Warga

Aysel wants to kill herself, but doesn’t think she can go through with it alone. Then she meets Roman in a suicide chatroom, and they agree to be “suicide partners,” each making sure the other ultimately ends their life. But will Aysel still want to die after her feelings for Roman start to change? This darkly funny novel takes us inside the world of two talented but depressed teens who can’t decide if life is worth the heartache. Warga makes us fall for Aysel, while offering an unflinching look at teen depression and suicide.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

The top ten books about rivers

Katharine Norbury is the author of the debut novel, The Fish Ladder.

For the Guardian, she tagged her top ten books about rivers, including:

Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad

It too begins on the Thames, with The Nellie, a cruising yawl, as the dream-boat that carries Marlow, employed by “the Company”, as he heads into unmapped territory in search of missing company director, Kurtz. A journey to the heart of our collective subconsciousness.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Heart of Darkness is on Michael Palin's six favorite books list, Robert Twigger's list of five of the best books about rivers, Robert McCrum's list of ten of the best closing lines of books, Mark Malloch-Brown's lis of six favorite novels of empire, John Mullan's list of ten of the best fogs in literature, Tim Butcher's list of the top 10 books about Congo, Martin Meredith's list of ten books to read on Africa, Thomas Perry's best books list, and is #9 on the 100 best last lines from novels list.

--Marshal Zeringue