Title: The Sharing Knife
Author: Lois McMaster Bujold
A few weeks ago, Scrinnameless sent me word of a wonderful used bookstore in Mobile, Alabama.
Turns out Scrin is a dude – and he later wrote to me:
I think I’ve nerved myself enough to submit myself to the Will of the Bitchery. Who can suggest some good sf or fantasy romance to start me off on?
As for about myself… I’m a 22-year-old college student in Mobile, Alabama, pursuing a degree in geology. I play video games. I read, naturally, all over science fiction and fantasy, along with odds and ends here and there. I have a thing for snarky dialogue and commentary (which is how I found SBTB in the first place).
So, yes, O Masters of Romance, teach me!
Oh yeah, like I’m going to be able to resist bringing a 22 year old rock-student into the massive awesome that is romance.
I asked Scrin for more details about what he likes to read, and here was his reply:
Favorite authors: Terry Pratchett, Alan Dean Foster, Timothy Zahn, David Eddings, R.A. Salvatore, Lilian Jackson Braun, Anne George.
Titles I’ll hang onto forever: I will hurt someone over my Discworld books. But I also try to replace copies of the early Eddings when they start to wear out. Also, I intend to hang onto the Anne George Southern Sisters stuff. Oh, and my copies of Trigun (a manga, if you’re unfamiliar with it).
Why Geology: I was wiping out my core requirements to put off deciding what I wanted to do. Then I took Geology 111 (the basic course), and, well, the Uncyclopedia article on Geologists describes it pretty close.
My reply: “There are three words you need to know, and those words are “Lois McMaster Bujold.”
O RLY? replied Scrin. YES RLY, I said. A few days later, I heard back: “I Has a Bujold!”
First lesson, O Bitchery: never let a geologist near your map of the inside cover of your book. Herein is Scrin’s first account of his reading (there’s more, so hang on to your seats. And your rock hammers).
It might be unusual to start with a critique of the obligatory fantasy map inside the cover the cover, but I am a geology student. Landforms are interesting to me, and this might be good practice.
Right off the bat, I notice the Dead Lake at the north side of the map and the Limestone Country at the south. There are also several rivers, but they’re flowing south. Nothing wrong with that, except they’re all flowing down to drain the Limestone country (which tells me that this place used to be covered by the sea). A lake is pretty often a low point to the surrounding terrain, so it stands to reason that at least some of the rivers would be flowing down to it.
But wait, it’s the Dead Lake. Maybe it’s dry…Oh, wait. It’s right by what appears to be Bog-Ague Country. Sounds nasty. And boggy. And it’s right by the lake. It’s probably a gradual slope down to the lake, hovering right around the water table. So, nope, the lake doesn’t appear to be dry, and doesn’t have rivers flowing through it.
Huh. Maybe the land around there will be described at some point. I’ll reserve judgment on the map until then.
The scale of the map is measures out fifty miles, and isn’t far at all on the map. It seems the map is 17.6 cm, and fifty miles is 1.7…. Ah, heck, call it 500 miles from east to west. It’s a pretty fair piece of ground.
This should be fun, don’t you think? So behold, we commence: Scrin’s Read-a-log of The Sharing Knife: Beguilement:
Chapter 1
I am starting the actual book. I grabbed it since it’s volume one, and I’d be sure of it not starting in the middle of something.
The main female seems to be a woman named Fawn. She’s a farmgirl who’s 20 years old and, she thinks to herself, a widow. She’s also short.
The female lead seems to be a rangery nomad-type named Dag. Actually, I like that name. Short, hard, and easy to say. Well-suited for shouting. I wish I could say I like the name ‘Fawn,’ but I grew up deer hunting. My ears hear ‘Fawn,’ and my brain substitutes ‘yearling.’ Anyway, they set up quite a bit in this chapter.
I just finished chapter one, and I know that Fawn’s had man trouble. I know the Lakewalkers are a nomadic rangery-type of people who dedicate themselves to fighting something called a malice. I get the strong impression that malices affect an entire area, and also creates subordinate creatures. They also seem to be connected to the blight, a condition which makes a sizeable area to the west uninhabitable. Anyway, Dag’s one of them, and is apparently an old hand at fighting these things…I apologize for the ‘hand’ pun. See, Dag’s missing his left hand. Gee, I wonder what did that…
My immediate guess about the Lakewalkers being a matriarchal culture was correct.
Anyway, not a bad beginning. It starts off with a mundane kind of abnormal situation, and then it moves quite smoothly into setting up the supernatural. I especially liked how the Lakewalkers have a kind of life-sense (as found out from a bit that’s written in Dag’s point of view) which let them know when living things are around and, apparently, if there’s a malice affecting the area. As extra senses go, it’s unusual. Much cooler than boring old telepathy.
Chapter 2 Preliminary
I’m going to try to avoid this, as a rule, but I’m going to record an impression immediately after I read what caused it.
It starts off from Dag’s point of view. His partner catches him as he slips. Dag rebukes him. The partner, Saun, defensively mentions he’s heard Dag’s overprotective of any woman he’s partnered with—not romantic partner, but an assigned partner. For this reason, women aren’t assigned to be his partner; possibly he worries about them so much he puts himself—and by extension them, too—in danger. Given the insight into his mind last chapter, I’d say he’s protective of women in general. He probably lost a partner; possibly at the same time he lost his hand. He may have even been romantically involved with her. Saun’s apparently new at this. He’s nervous. Dag isn’t sure how Saun’ll do.
Bet you a dollar that Saun dies from his own mistake.
Chapter 2 main
…Well, Saun doesn’t die. He does, however, make a dumb mistake and gets a hammer right in the chest. The only thing that stops him from dying is Dag. Ah. This buddy system makes a lot of sense now.
Anyway, Dag arrives in the nick of time to prevent Fawn from being raped. Also, he was not too late. This seems to be important. Anyway, the guy about to rape Fawn gets shot, quite factually, in the ass, and then the monster—which seems to be a corrupted man—get away, Dag figures he can track it. Except, whoops, turns out Mr. Rapist is unschooled in anatomy any more sophisticated than where Slot A is and how Tab B fits into it; presumably, he also knows where to hit someone so they’ll die. He pulls out the arrow, tears an artery, and bleeds to death before Dag can come patch him up and take him prisoner.
Also, turns out that Fawn has a very strong life-force. This seems to be what triggered her getting captured, and it’s also how Dag recognized her.
I feel this will be important later on.
Chapter 3
Oh, bottomless joy! Stars and garters!
Remember how I said I liked Dag’s name? Turns out, the name is short and easy to shout by design.
“I have a tent name, a camp name, and a hinterland name, but Dag is easier to shout.” The smile glimmered by again. “Short is better in the field. Dag, duck! See? If it were any longer, it might be too late.”
First an author who knows something about fighting (the fight scenes earlier weren’t bad at all), and now, the Lakewalkers intentionally make their everyday names short and easy to shout as a survival aid? Hell yes.
Anyway, the plot thickens. Fawn’s pregnant, which is apparently the source of her man troubles. The father’s evidently a dullard. Dag says it’s a girl, and it happens to be why her life-force is so strong—so strong that it’s like a beacon to mud men.
Dag’s awesome. Fawn’s assessment of him is that he lives ‘inside his own head.’ And he totally he gives that impression. He says what he’s thinking at the moment, and can correct himself in mid-sentence as his brain catches up to his mouth. Dag’s speech patterns are also telegraphic, as if he cuts out excess words and goes right to what he wants to say, as he thinks it. My mental ear is imagining him having a pretty quick delivery when he’s speaking.
Anyway, at the end of the third chapter and this first part of a liveblog, Dag’s bone-tired and still out scouting because he’s got too much to do and Fawn’s about to be attacked by more mud-men.
On a more general level, I’m enjoying myself. The characters—the handful introduced so far—are pretty cool, and Dag surpasses cool and goes into awesome. The writing’s flowing pretty well, and doesn’t get in the way of what the author wants the reader to know.
Stay tuned for more of Scrin’s read-a-log, and feel free to make suggestions as to what he should read. I started with Bujold because it seems to me, from my romance-deep and fantasy-not-as-much reading history, that her writing would be one of the best bridges into RomanceLandia for a curious reader.
Another male curious about the romance? WIN!
I love both of these genres! Let me throw my hat into the ring.
Mercedes Lackey – her latest stuff is iffy, but start with Arrows of the Queen
Jacqueline Carey – Kushiel’s Dart and it’s sequels
Jennifer Roberson – Lady of the Forest and the Sword Dancer series
P.C Cast – anything by P.C is gold
Anne Bishop – everything is good, but start with The Dark Jewels trilogy
Most of these are more fantasy than romance (except for Cast), but all of them have some great romantic elements. I would also recommend Luna Books, which is an imprint of Harlequinn. Everything I’ve read by Luna has been a true mix of fantasy and romance, not just romances posing as fantasy.
I’d recommend Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, PN Elrod’s Vampire Files, and Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter series (all laced with humor, romance, and a lot of fun.)
I’m so happy to hear this, as Going Postal is one of my favorites of the Discworld series. Any word on who will be playing the protagonist? I’d recommend Simon Pegg or David Tennant myself.
For pulp fans, I recommend (if you can find them) Robert Leslie Bellem’s Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective stories. They’re laugh-out-loud hilarious hard boiled private eye spoofs from the Thirties and Forties. Turner uses ever slang term known to humankind, drinks enough Scotch to float a barge (Vat 69, get it? ha, ha) and gets laid more often than James Bond. They’re not really romances, though, and not great literature by any means, just silly fun.
While I adore The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon and it’s totally female centric, it’s not a romance. Paks is celebate and wholy uninterested in either sex.
Absolutly fab fighting and militia scenes, though.
I’d suggest Robin Mckinley’s Sunshine myself.
me needs the spel ck lik dam
I have Robin McKinley’s Sunshine on my keeper shelf and can’t remember why. I guess I need to reread it
My great love of SF/Fantasy predates my discovery of romance novels by a couple of decades, so I’m thrilled to hear of a fellow Sci-Fi geek who’s discovered the joys of romance. Right off the top of my head, I thought of Linnea Sinclair, as did many others here. But I also really, really like Susan Grant, who pens a mean space opera and can definitely bring the witty/snarky dialogue. In more of a fantasy vein, I think Scrin would enjoy the alternate universes depicted in Sarah Hoyt’s Heart and Soul series (a Victorian British empire with dragons and were-tigers) and the Promethean Age books by Elizabeth Bear.
Connie Willis hasn’t been mentioned yet. If you can find a copy of Promised Land, by Connie Willis and Cynthia Felice, it’s a straight-up science fiction “colonizing the new planet” story combined with a classic “marriage of convenience” plot. Since those are two of my favorite plot devices ever in two of my favorite genres, I love the book. (since it’s out of print, maybe others don’t. It’s a bit of a hack, but I thought it was fun!)
Not out of print, Connie Willis’s “To Say Nothing of the Dog” is slightly science-fiction (time travelers from the future visit Victorian England in the past to try to change the future), but it’s also a romance and a comedy of errors. One of my favorite books in either genre.
As I think about it, so many of the SF books I’ve enjoyed have strong romance themes. John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War, to think of a recent, hard-SF example that my husband loved, is basically a really complicated love story! With battles and warriors and transferred personalities and computers and all that. 🙂
Definitely a Linnea Sinclair for the SFR 😀 No question there. Ann Aguirre, Susan Grant are also good SFR reads.
Maybe a Lisa Shearin for the fun of a Terry Pratchett (and some of Isabo Kelly’s books, like Thief’s Desire to go along with…).
Aah yes. Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. Local custom is my favorite 🙂 And Sharon Shinn is fabulous too. Top choice there is a toss up between ‘Alleluia Files’ and Angelica(for it’s subplot…).
For the Trigun *thinks really hard*. I need to think a bit more on that one. You need the right balance for that sort of recommendation.
But I’ll think about it 🙂
J! Thank you! I can’t believe I forgot Connie Willis when I was trying to think of suggestions.
I love her book Passages, too.
And I’m another SF & romance fan who’s happy to see people who like both. I get so much attitude from SF people about what I read, it’s insane.
For those asking where to start with the two other Bujold series – here you go:
The Vorkosigan books start with Shards of Honour and Barrayar (available together as Coredelias Honour) and they are about Aral and Cordelia getting together.
The Miles books start with Warriors Apprentice. You could start with any of them up to about Mirror Game – once you get past that the subsequent stories draw heavily upon the previous books and you might get a little lost.
http://www.dendarii.co.uk/FanFic/timeline.html – will give you a timeline of the story and where the books fit in
An option to start with might be Cetaganda which is a Miles book but its a bit of a standalone.
There are also the 5 Gods series – Curse of Chalion, Paladin of Souls and Hallowed Hunt – the first two are paired and HH is completely separate
Scrin I wish I was you, and having so many wonderful writers and authors to look forward to 🙂 I have quite similar reading tastes to you so heres hoping these are something you will like (may have already been mentioned)
Any and all of the Liaden Series – but start with Agent of Change if you can find by Lee and Miller
Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop
Flesh & Spirit / Breath&Bone; by Carol Berg (lots of cartography in this)
Heroes Die by Matthew Woodring Stover (a stonkingly good action book)
All the Vorkosigan books also by Bujold
Inda and sequels by Sherwood Smith
Jim Butcher has two different but both excellent series – Harry Dresden books about a modern day wizard with a smart mouth and a bad attitude and the Alera series which starts with Furies of Calderon – lots of different magic and action and a bit of romance and interesting politics (which normally I dislike)
House of Cards series by CE Murphy – gargoyles made out of different rock
I too, have just picked up this book. I read the first few pages and had to resist an urge to swallow it whole just so I could GET THAT GOODNESS IN ME FASTER. I am having a blast of a time, though I am a bit further ahead than our friend here. I must say, my thoughts are very much in line with his own.
Is Scrin looking to meet interesting single women? Daughter is a 22 year old geologist, beautiful, brilliant (geologists are exceptionally bright, and she is no exception to the rule), loves field work in cell phone dead zones (Andes, remote areas of the Missouri River, Boundary Waters), jeans and hiking boots and adventure.
A guy geologist who is open to reading romances . . . wow . . . he’s definitely special, and possible mate material for my daughter . . .
I’d also recommend R. McKinley’s Damia books:
The Blue Sword
The Hero & the Crown
both have heavy romantic elements in with the adventure/fantasy….
Reality Helix
I’m further along than this would indicate. There’s a delay between me sending it in and it getting put up, you know?
Its marketed as YA Fantasy, but Graceling has a great romance at its heart.
Katsa, our heroine, has a special gift—known as a “grace”—and its for KILLING PEOPLE. She’s an assassin, sent out to kill and maim on the whims of her thug-uncle, the King. She’s the toughest thing around—until she meets a graced fighter, Po, someone who can stand up to her own grace and give her a run for her money. Then there is adventure and romance, and killing, and fighting, and secrets, and did I say this already, roooomaaanceee. Swoon.
I really liked the romance. I also really liked the fact that the heroine is a dark character, not pure or innocent, and in fact does things that are considered morally reprehensible. The author doesn’t pull those punches, but lets the story work itself out.
Huzzah for The Deed of Paksenarrion. Truly epic, and a female lead that just keeps on truckin’.
I’ll also second (strongly!) the Liaden books by Lee and Miller. Scrin seems to dig the excellently written character, and Lee and Miller are one of the few who (imo) write characters equal to Bujold’s.
Finally, I’ll hop on the Asaro rec as well. How about Quantum Rose for wonderful world-building and the ‘quantum mechanics as a metaphor for the love triangle’ essay at the end of the book?
The Accidental Goddess by Linnea Sinclair is a good read. It mostly takes place on a space station and it’s populated with other-wordly beings aplenty.
Hmm, based on his SF picks, I would say he like Teh Funny (as well as Teh Epic).
For funny, I would definitely second Linnea Sinclair and Connie Willis… and I assume if he’s a Pratchett fanboy he’s gone through Gaiman, but if not then Neverwhere and Good Omens are musts. Christopher Stasheff’s Warlock series is also good fantasy/SF/romatic fun… but stick to the earlier books.
For epic, gritty SF… maybe F.M. Busby’s Rissa and Tregare books? That’s quite the romance. For epic fantasy, anything by Guy Gavriel Kay is AMAZING and will have romance—I would start with Ysabel, which is one of his more accessible books. I feel like I have to mention Robert Jordan, even though a lot of people hate his male/female dynamics and also most everyone’s read him already anyway. But he did the epic thing similarly to Eddings (and IMHO a bit better).
The assorted recs here have hit most of my favorites (Carey, McKinley, McKillip, Wrede, Czerneda, Shinn, Bishop…sigh) but I will add a few that I don’t think have been mentioned and then cut myself off:
CJ Cherryh… the ultimate in gritty SF world-building, but she usually throws in some romance. Merchanter’s Luck is probably my favorite of hers for an SF romance and it’s as good a point as any to start exploring the Cherryh universe.
Andre Norton—might be a little old school in some of the older stories, and a little tedious in some of the newer (much like M. Lackey or A. McCaffery) BUT, I would think he would like the Simon-Jaelithe Witchworld books (can’t remember the actual titles, but they’ve recently been re-released in one volume… a bit grittier and “manlier” than a lot of her work) and Knave of Dreams and Forerunner might also be SF winners.
My all time favorites also deserve a mention too—M.K. Wren’s Phoenix trilogy, quite possibly the best S.F. romance saga ever… EPIC. Really, you all must read this. Just skip the econ and stats sections if you must. =P Plus Cheryl J. Franklin’s Taormin books… they have math! And really cool science! And wizards (sort of!)… and of course the most heartbreaking, delicately written romances ever. SOOOOO good. And finally, Emma Bull’s Falcon (and anything else by her really, but Falcon is the best)…SF on a grand scale, and amazing protagonist, and a truly heart-wrenching romance. Ooooh how I love that book.
Seemed39? It seems like there are way more than 39 books I could rec here, but I will restrain myself. I love book recs—bring on the newbies, boy or girls or anything in between, I welcome you all!
Marie, you reminded me of someone we’ve all overlooked:
Judith Tarr
She writes AWESOME historical fantasy, with a heavy dose of romance, and solid characterization. I especially recommend:
King and Goddess (Pharoh-Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt)
The Eagle’s Daughter (Theodosia of Byzantium among the Goths)
a series of books about Richard the Lion-hearted, another on Alexander the Great….
as well as her version of the Crusades (The Hound and the Falcon trilogy):
The Isle of Glass
The Golden Horn
The Hounds of God
Good stuff!
I’d have to echo the Lackey and McCaffrey.
But in the realm of quick-witted narrative with a snarky edge in the paranormal fantasy-romance category, I’d very much recommend MaryJanice Davidson’s Betsy the Vampire series, and Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series.
Marie said:
My all time favorites also deserve a mention too—M.K. Wren’s Phoenix trilogy, quite possibly the best S.F. romance saga ever… EPIC. Really, you all must read this
OMGPONIES!!! YES how could I forget this series – it is awesome. It is also extremely hard to find. So hard to find, I have collected two lots of the trilogy over the years just to make sure 🙂
What about Katie Macalister’s Aisling Gray series-or any of her books- dragons, snark, romance? It’s all there.
LOL! I came here to suggest he look up Melanie Rawn – and lo and behold the very first comment also hails MR. 🙂
However, I would suggest The Dragon Prince. Especially for a guy. The Exiles series might be a little too chick-centric, and as mentioned above MR hasn’t bothered to finish it in like 10 odd years or something.
Dragon Prince is like Dynasty with dragons. Definitely one of my favs in the romance/sci fi crossovers.
I’m male. I started reading romance in the 70s (because I’d read all of the SF, Fantasy, Mystery and Westerns in what we laughably called the ship’s library). Back then, they were Harlequin Romances, the kind where the nurse/teacher/babysitter is offered a position/contract/fake marriage because the widower/divorcee has one or more children that need care. Despite the conditions calling for them to part ways after a set time, each secretly falls in love with the other, but doesn’t mention it until the Big Denoument. Ring any bells?
Then I read Bujold, at a friend’s insistance. Liked it, and Cordelia’s Honor is romantic, but Mile In Love is more so. (Miles in Love contains two novels and a novella – Komarr, A Civil Campaign, and Winterfair Gifts.) All the Vorkosigan stories in between are not romances, but contain romantic elements.
Hanging out at Bujold’s Mile to Go conference on Baen’s Bar (a webforum), I’ve been exposed to threads asking for and sharing recommendations for romance authors and books. As a result, I have the complete works of Jennifer Crusie and Susan Elizabeth Phillips, and a small smattering of Nora Roberts.
Last comment(s) re: Bujold’s The Sharing Knife. Volume 1 – Beguilement and Volume 2 – Legacy are halves of a single book that grew too long. They really should be glued front cover to back cover and read together. I picked up the fourth volume last month, hot off the presses, and IMHO this series may be the best Bujold yet.
Gary
Welcome Gary!! I love it what a guy fesses up to reading romance of any kind.
Cruise ship library?
Okay, I’m late to the party, but I whole-heartedly second the Abe, Wynne Jones and Butcher recommendations, as well as Briggs (I LOVE her stuff, old and new), Aiken, MacAlister and Vaughn.
I would also add Maria V. Snyder’s Poison Study, Magic Study and Fire Study to the list—a mix of action, political intrigue, fantasy and romance
USS Benjamin Franklin, SSBN640(G), a fleet ballistic missile nuclear submarine (please try to picture Sean Connery saying that, instead of me.)
Besides the Crusie, Phillips and Roberts, (looks at bookshelf) I have several anthologies – Seduction by Chocolate, For the Love of Chocolate, Hot Chocolate, Chocolate Kisses… you might detect a recurrent theme there. I became a Diane Mott Davidson fan after reading Dying for Chocolate (a mystery).
If coerced, I’ll even confess to writing stories with chocolate and romance in them, posted on the web.
Yay Bujold! I thorougly recommend the Chalion books too (in fact, more), and also the more romancy Vorkosigan books – Shards of Honor/Barrayar and Komarr/A Civil Campaign. But honestly, if you’ve started off with SoH/Barrayar, you might as well read the whole lot. Honestly. You really really should.
< /pimping>
Another seconding for Connie Willis, particularly To Say Nothing of the Dog. And the Kushiel books, although it took me two goes to get past Phedre’s seemingly all-too-perfect presentation initially (I ended up loving the character). Catherine Asaro also writes extremely romance-orientated SF, which are good reads, although a little too overblown for me at times.
Personally, Eddings’ sexual politics make me want to puke, so I can’t offer any other ideas in that vein. And McCaffrey is also problematic, since I’m no longer 16, and I wasn’t an adult in the 1960s (her heart is in the right place with her strong heroines (leaving aside their propensity to fall apart at *strange* times), but, again, the sexual politics seem very retrograde now). Obviously, other people’s mileage varies.
the fact that there were no women on the sub and that there were romance novels in the ship’s library, makes me suspect that they were/are a lot of romance reading seaman. (ok, yes, i could have said squids, but on this blog?)
Why haven’t we pointed him to the JD Robb books if he has read La Nora???
First, it is Not My Fault that there are no women on submarines – that’s all Uncle Sam’s doing. In the novel I’m currently attempting to write, there are plenty of women on board subs. Of course, it’s a Confederate States Navy submarine…
Anyway, there were only three (3) romances in that ship’s library, and I read them all and believed I had the formula for romance novels memorized forever.
My personal jury is still out on La Nora, in whatever of her Noms de Plume she writes. I grab a title off the store shelf, enjoy it but mildly, then comment to her fan club. They reply that I’ve gotton one of her old reprints, written to a formula, yaddda yadda… five times so far. She’s no Jennifer Crusie. 🙂
Loving this conversation, and taking notes!
As a Man Who Reads Romance (MWRR), and who started out with SF/F, I’d have to second a lot of the recommendations here. Andre Norton’s “Witch World” and “Web of the Witch World” meant the world (which world?) to me as a boy, although re-reading them now the ratio of romance to fantasy is different from what I remembered. (More world-building, with the romance less central, I guess.) The original Kushiel trilogy (Dart, Chosen, Avatar) blew me away, especially the third one, which is one of the most moving, haunting books I’ve read in any genre, ever. (Could I teach it all by itself, do you think? Anyone read that one first?)
Whenever you’re ready to leap into non-SF/F romance, Scrin, take Gary’s advice: Crusie, Crusie, Crusie. Great writing, great heroines, the works. Me, I’m heading to the library tonight to pick up some Bujold!
It’s funny how much more i enjoy the JD Robb than La Nora’s regular stuff, but am now working my way through the back list on my ereader thanks to the Brotherhood of the 7 trio. Go figure, right?
And can you just imagine women with PMS no board a sub, for weeks on end underwater, and running out of chocolate. MWWAAAHHHHHHH! God help the enemy!
spamword- results28. Every 28 days would be the same results, cause for some reason they all end up on the same schedule.
I picked them up originally, and scoured for used copies before she died, because they were set in my area.
It’s funny though, I have never really enjoyed the Cruise books. I don’t know why. Maybe I will give them another try at some point.
Go figure.
Another good book with romance is Tinker by Wen Spencer, followed by its sequel Wolf Who Rules. A young girl genius discovers love and sex. Mmmm.
In fact, anything by Wen Spencer has been delicious.
Jenna Black’s Demon series is enjoyable, too.
I’ll second the Judith Tarr recommendation, with two additional notes:
My all-time favorite Tarr title is a stand-alone that’s probably very hard to find now: A Wind in Cairo, a really lovely Arabian Nights-mode fantasy/romance in which the hero spends a great deal of the story transformed into a stallion (yes, this could go off the rails really easily, but Tarr knows horses so well that she makes it work).
And Tarr fans should be aware that she’s presently publishing a new romantic-fantasy trilogy under the name Kathleen Bryan, beginning with The Serpent and the Rose (the third book is due out next month).
A Wind in Cairo is the most fantastic story, and Tarr does horses excellently. I have at least two copies of that book once I found out how rare it is 🙂
She also does an excellent Luna series under the name of Caitlin Brennan – The Mountains Call is the first one, and all the romance and horses you could want if thats your thing 🙂 Tarr breeds Lippizaners and they star in this series.
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/caitlin-brennan/mountains-call.htm
Re Wen Spencer – yes the Tinker series is good (third one is Endless Blue that I havent read yet), however I throw into the ring A Brothers Price, which is a turn of the century romance in a world where one boy is born for every 25 women, and so men are rare and prized and protected and married in group marriages, and this is a delightful societal role reversal story .
Her Ukiah Oregon series are also excellent, about a boy raised by wolves (who finds out he is not entirely human) and has to learn social behavoiur, and finds meeting the right woman along the way a bit of a challeng 🙂
Gary Jordan? As in the “chocolate” stories on ASSTR? Fancy meeting you here.
——-Alex/Jacques LeBlanc