Hi, lovelies. Once again, I’ve let the task slip by me (mostly because of the amount of creative work I’ve been doing), so I’m blending once again two months together. This time, I’m keeping everything in one place, regardless of the length. So…, this is going to be a long post.
Without further adieu, here are my two months in books, movies, television, and games.
Books
The City We Became is another masterpiece from N.K. Jemisin. I love the concept, in which the city of New York changes a group of ordinary humans into avatars for its various boroughs (Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Staten Island) in order to combat a great and ancient enemy that would destroy it.
I’ve never been to New York, but I could feel the love Jemisin has for the city in every line and description. I’ve never longed to live in New York more than after reading this book. I cannot freaking wait for the sequel.
Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher is a gorgeous dark fantasy about Marra, a shy princess turned nun, who begins a quest to save her sister from her abusive husband, a man protected from retribution by his status as a prince. The story begins with Marra in a desolate region attempting an impossible task, which she accomplishes through sheer perseverance. This done, she begins gathering companions to accomplish the final impossible task — murdering a prince.
I’m in love with this book and its assemblage of wonderfully quirky characters, from grave witches to former soldiers to bone dogs to fairy godmothers. Somehow they bring a light to what otherwise would be a grimly dark tale — which is really a testament to Kingfisher’s phenomenal skill as a writer.
Gwendolyn Kiste is a fantastic horror writer and her latest book, Reluctant Immortals, is another fantastic entry. The book a beautifully creepy sequel to Dracula and Jane Eyre, telling the stories of two forgotten women. Set in the ’60s, Lucy Westenra (turned vampire) and Bertha Mason (turned immortal by Rochester via some other arcane means). Facing eternity while fighting off the men who changed them, the two women band together in sisterhood to take a stand for themselves against the dark. A great read.
Let’s kick things off with a couple of fantastic poetry collections.
Second, This is How the Bone Sings by W. Todd Kaneko is a stunning collection of poems focus on Minidoka, a concentration camp for Japanese Americans built in Idaho during World War II. The author blends history with myth and folklore to explore how the scars of the past carry through generations — from grandparents through to their grandchildren. The wounds caused by racism and hate are continue on through memory and story. These poems are evocative and beautiful, providing an important memorial for an aspect of American history that should never be forgotten.
Delving into fiction, Nnedi Okorafor’s Noor is the story of Anwuli Okwudili, a woman who prefers to be called AO, who has a number of necessary body augmentations on her arm and legs — a fact that that makes some superstitious people in Africa believe she is evil or wicked. When she is attacked by men in her local community, she fights back with incredible power and flees into the desert. On her journey, she finds new companions, faces off against an powerful corporation, and finds hope filled utopian community finding safety within the winds of a man-made natural disaster. I loved the characters and communities portrayed with Okorafor’s Africanfuturist vision of a future. It’s a great read.
Cosmobiological: Stories by Jilly Dreadful is a collection of hopepunk short stories that explore love, relationships, passion, the resilience of the human spirit, and the possibilities of hope through myth, fantasy, and science fiction.”5×5″ (which you can read at 
Isabel Yap’s 
“I realize I want to hear my voice and only mine. Not the voice of my voice within a cacophony of old pains. Just min, now.”