Tag Archives: gail carriger

HPL Patrons Can Borrow These LGBTQ Fiction Ebooks Right Now!

22 Mar

At the end of February the miniseries When We Rise premiered, which chronicled the evolution and trials of the LGBT Civil Rights movement.  It is poignant to think back on all that has occurred in the last few decades.  I can remember when it was groundbreaking that Ellen came out back in the 90’s; fast forward to today when there are gay characters in many of shows I watch.  Recently I read three ebooks set during different time periods and I was struck by how the lives of different characters varied with the time of the books’ settings.  Two of these ebooks you can click over and borrow right now on Hoopla Digital if you are a HPL or other BCCLS library card holder and another is available on the tablets and ereaders for loan to Hoboken Resident Library Card Holders.

The Death of a Much-Travelled Woman and Other Adventures with Cassandra Reilly by Barbara Wilson

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The Death of a Much-Travelled Woman is the third in Wilson’s Cassandra Reilly series, which were written and set in the 1990’s.  Cassandra is a translator of Spanish Fiction and her work brings her to many different locations around the world.  Unlike the other three books in the collection, which are novels, this is a collection of short stories.  Wilson often weaves issues of the day into her fiction and it frequently has a feminist perspective, which was refreshing since many of the cozy mysteries I read seem to exist in a reality outside of our contemporary issues.  Cassandra travels all over the world in the stories including Mexico, the English Moors, and Iceland.  My favorites of the stories are one that is set in Maui which revolves around artwork Georgia O’Keefe created while visiting the island, and the other is the last story in the collection which has a very meta twist.  The first Cassandra Reilly novel Gaudi Afternoon was adapted into a movie by the same name starring Judy Davis, Marcia Gay Harden, Lili Taylor, and Juliette Lewis; it can be borrowed from BCCLS libraries.  Barbara Wilson is the pen name of Barbara Sjoholm, who besides translating works in Norwegian and Danish has also written a memoir and several travel books.

Looking for Group by Alexis Hall

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You may remember I previously wrote about Alexis Hall’s terrific Kate Kane mystery series which had been previously available on Hoopla.  Unlike that series which was in the paranormal mystery genre, Looking for Group would be best described as Contemporary New Adult Fiction.  In the story Drew, a college student in England, begins playing an online game (which Hall admits is an homage to World of Warcraft) with a new group of players and feels drawn to one of them who lives nearby.  When he learns that Kit is male and not female like he expected it causes him to do some soul searching about his attraction, but in a way which reflects the fluidity that sexuality is often accepted with today.  The novel also deals with the very modern issue of friends that you spend time with in person versus online friends and the validity of both.  One of my husband’s friends from high school met his girlfriend of 10 years playing World of Warcraft but people who don’t participate in online gaming or take part in online communities can often not understand the dynamics so I liked seeing Hall handled this situation in fiction.  Even being married to a gamer, I found some of the gaming jargon a little confusing at first, but there is a glossary at the back of the story you can jump to if you need help.

Romancing the Inventor: A Supernatural Society Novella by Gail Carriger

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Image via Amazon

I am a huge fan of Carriger’s work and have written about some of her novels in previous posts.  Romancing the Inventor is part of a series of standalone LGBTQ romance novellas that she is self-publishing that are set in the same Steampunk universe as the Parasol Protectorate and Finishing School series.  The first of these, Romancing the Inventor features fan favorite cross dressing inventor Genevieve Lefoux.  However the protagonist in the novel is not Genevieve, but her love interest Imogene who leaves her home to become a maid for a household of vampires, the only place Imogene believes her lesbianism might be accepted.  Too often Steampunk takes the trappings of the Victorian era like corsets and airships but has the social milieu be that of our own era.  Part of what I enjoyed about this work was that despite the inclusion of vampires and werewolves it looked at some of the class issues that were experienced during that time in history in a way that seemed more compelling and authentic than other Steampunk fiction.  Hoboken resident library card holders can check out the story on one of our ereaders or tablets we have to lend at the reference desk.  If you have never experienced an ebook before this a great opportunity to check out some different styles of ereaders and to see if the device is something you’d be interested in investing in.

Read any great LGBTQ fiction recently?  Let us know in the comment section.

-Written by Aimee Harris, Head of Reference

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Steampunk Heroines: Prudence by Gail Carriger and Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear

18 Mar

Ed. Note: This is the 100th post to the Hoboken Library’s Staff Picks blog! A million thanks to our readers! 🙂

The Victorian Era is one often associated with women being the angels of the households concerned primarily with raising children and staying home, while men were off having adventures.  Steampunk stories often rewrite history and give women a more starring role than they would have often had at that time.  Two steampunk novels Prudence by Gail Carriger and Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear both feature strong women characters written by two terrific female Speculative Fiction Authors.

Prudence by Gail Carriger

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Image via Amazon

Prudence is the first in Gail Carriger’s Custard Protocol series, a follow-up to her Parasol Protectorate series of books.  All of Carriger’s novels are set in an alternate British Empire where werewolves, vampires, and ghosts exist in addition to airships and other steam powered contraptions.  If you like to avoid spoilers be aware that it is difficult to discuss or read this series without revealing a few things that happen in the earlier books.  You can read my blog post about her earlier series here.  Rue (short for Prudence) has the ability to take on other supernatural beings’ powers while turning them into regular mortals (though this eventually wears out as she gets a certain distance from them).  Both her birth parents and adoptive father are well-off so Rue has led a pampered life.  The first half of Prudence sets up the series with Rue gathering a steamship crew in London for what she thinks is a mission to India involving a rare new form of tea.  Many of the crew includes the children of characters from the Parasol Protectorate series.  If you haven’t read the previous books this works to catch you up on things, but it is also of interest to those who are familiar with Carriger’s other books to see what has happened to some of those characters over the twenty years that have elapsed since Timeless.  Prudence takes a whimsical look at Victorian manners and is a fairly light read though it does hint at some of the historic issues of colonialism.  Rue proves herself to be a strong and competent leader as both a steamship captain and working as an ambassador to come up with a solution to a tricky political situation involving the supernatural community in India.  I appreciated that Carriger included some of the mythic creatures of India in Prudence that many readers in this country might not be as familiar with.  There are a few hints of romance, but I was unsure and intrigued to find out who Rue might wind up falling for by the end of the series.  With Prudence, Gail Carriger continues to be my favorite steampunk author.  I can’t wait to hear from her in person for the first time at the Steampunk World’s Fair happening in New Jersey this May.  In the fictional world, I’m looking forward to seeing in the next novel where this new crew of adventures chooses to float.

Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear

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Karen Memery unlike Rue does not come from a privileged background, but she has just as much spunk and spirit.  The book’s title is a misspelling of her name, which is very appropriate since Karen is very memorable.  Karen Memory is set in Rapid City, a fictional amalgamation of Pacific Northwest Cities like Portland, Vancouver, and Seattle where airships fly through the air and mechanicals are used for everyday tasks like cooking.  Karen’s father trained horses and was accidentally killed while working with one, leaving Karen an orphan.  Until she can save up the money for her own stable, she finds a position at Madame Damnable’s Sewing Circle at the Hôtel Mon Cherie, which is a nice way of saying brothel. Despite the nature of her and the other women’s work Karen Memory avoids describing their activities directly and the focus is more on their sense of sisterly comradery and general living conditions than their occupation.  Karen along with the other women of Hôtel Mon Cherie offer shelter to a women escaping from Peter Bantle who holds her indenture, which leads him to seek revenge all the while a murderer reminiscent of the Jack the Ripper is plaguing the streets.  It is much bleaker and less comedic in tone than Prudence and felt so well researched and atmospheric that if it were not for an occasional steam-powered device, I might have felt like I was reading a historical novel.  The action sequences at the end of Karen Memory would make a great movie, but there is also a sweet blossoming romance at the story’s heart.  I had been hearing many good things about Bear and after this novel, I definitely plan to seek out more of her work.

-Written by Aimee Harris, Head of Reference

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