Contemporary Authors

• Roses and Rot Saga (New York, NY), 2016
• The End of the Sentence Subterranean 2014

1. An unkindness of magicians https://lccn.loc.gov/2016053937 Howard, Kat, author. An unkindness of magicians / Kat Howard. First edition. London : Saga Press, [2017] pages cm PS3608.O9246 U55 2017 ISBN: 9781481451192 (hardcover : alk. paper)9781481451208 (trade paper : alk. paper) 2. Roses and rot https://lccn.loc.gov/2016287107 Howard, Kat, author. Roses and rot / Kat Howard. First edition. London ; New York : Saga Press, [2016] 307 pages ; 22 cm PS3608.O9246 R67 2016 ISBN: 9781481451161 (hardcover)1481451162 (hardcover)

• Kat Howard Books - http://www.kathowardbooks.com/about/

  Kat Howard is a writer of fantasy, science fiction, and horror who lives and writes in New Hampshire. Her short fiction has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award, performed on NPR, and anthologized in year’s best and best of volumes. In the past, she’s been a competitive fencer and a college professor. Her debut novel, Roses and Rot was released from Saga Press in May of 2016, and will be followed by another novel in summer 2017 and a short fiction collection, A Cathedral of Myth and Bone, in 2018, both also from Saga. You can find her on twitter, and on tumblr.

• Simon & Schuster - http://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Kat-Howard/510626649

  Kat Howard’s short fiction has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award, anthologized in best of and annual best of collections, and performed on NPR. She is the author of the critically acclaimed Roses and Rot. She lives in New Hampshire, and you can find her on twitter at @KatWithSword.

• Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kat_Howard

  Kat Howard
  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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  Find sources: "Kat Howard" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR · free images (April 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
  Kat Howard is an American writer.

  Her stories have been published in the anthologies Stories (edited by Neil Gaiman), and Oz Reimagined (based on L. Frank Baum's characters). She is also a contributor to magazines such as Lightspeed, Subterranean, Uncanny Magazine and Apex.[1][2]

  The novella The End of the Sentence, co-written with Maria Dahvana Headley, is "a fairytale of ghosts and guilt, literary horror blended with the visuals of Jean Cocteau, failed executions, shapeshifting goblins, and magical blacksmithery." It was published by Subterranean Press in September 2014.[3] It was named one of NPR's Best Books of 2014.[4]

  In 2016 she published her first novel, Roses and Rot (Saga Press, edited by Joe Monti).[5][6]

• Terrible Minds - http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2016/05/19/kat-howard-five-things-i-learned-writing-roses-and-rot/

  KAT HOWARD: FIVE THINGS I LEARNED WRITING ROSES AND ROT

  Imogen has grown up reading fairy tales about mothers who die and make way for cruel stepmothers. As a child, she used to lie in bed wishing that her life would become one of these tragic fairy tales because she couldn’t imagine how a stepmother could be worse than her mother now. As adults, Imogen and her sister Marin are accepted to an elite artists’ colony—Imogen as a writer and Marin as a dancer. Soon enough, though, they realize that there’s more to the school than meets the eye. Imogen might be living in the fairy tale she’s dreamed about as a child, but it’s one that will pit her against Marin if she decides to escape her past to find her heart’s desire.

  * * *

  NOT EVERYONE NEEDS TO GO TO HELL.

  Roses and Rot is a riff on the medieval ballad “Tam Lin.” And one of the things that has always been my favorite part of “Tam Lin” is that every seven years, Faerie pays a tithe to Hell. And boy, do I love a good trip to Hell. I mean, it’s great in terms of story – the tragedy, and the direness of the situation, the impossible task to bring the lost person back safe, the backward glance.

  Actually, you should probably skip that one.

  But really, it’s one of my favorite tropes. So I tried and tried to make it work out in early drafts. Nope! Turns out, if you disappear one half of one of the most important relationships in your book for like the entire middle third of the text, things go flatter than a soda left out overnight. So for the sake of the story, I said goodbye to one of my favorite plot points.

  WRITE FOR AN AUDIENCE.

  From the moment I knew I wanted to write Roses and Rot, I knew I was writing this particular story for my sister. Now, you probably cannot write a book for my sister (well, you could, I suppose, but that might cross over into weird), but you can write a book for someone. Maybe it’s you. Maybe it’s your best friend. Maybe it’s a fuck you to the person who told you that you couldn’t write. But writing a book can be hard, and it can help to have a person that you’re thinking of, where giving them that story can help you keep going.

  BUT DON’T WRITE FOR EVERYONE.

  It ‘s a truth universally acknowledged that an author with a book is in want of a one-star review. Someone out there is going to hate what you write, because someone out there hates everything. And there’s something really freeing in acknowledging that you’re not here for everyone, you’re here for the people who like what you do. I mean, if what you want is a book about killer robots, or mind-controlled bee assassins, or a lonely astronaut on a quest for one more inhabitable planet, Roses and Rot is not going to be the book for you. (Though, I might want to write about mind-controlled bee assassins, actually.) But if you want a version of “Tam Lin” set at a modern day artists’ colony that has romance and betrayal and sacrifice and magic, it might well be.

  Also, did I mention it has a sea monster? Don’t worry, we’ll get to that.

  ROMANCE NOVELS WILL SAVE YOU.

  I spent one month doing a fairly massive revision of Roses and Rot. Like, throw out almost the entire draft and rewrite it in a month sort of revision. It was probably the hardest thing I’ve done in my career, and it fried my brain. (I ran into a friend at a local Starbucks, and he literally stepped back when I said hi because “it looks like you might bite someone.”) Not just because of the amount of words that I was trying to write every day, but because there are parts of this book that are not at all nice. Things hurt. Not everyone gets out of the story alive. I needed a way to step out of that world, and let me tell you, fun stories with a guaranteed happy ending? Yes and yes. I read Nora Roberts and Eloisa James and Tessa Dare and I think Julie Anne Long’s entire catalogue. Having the comfort of something that I liked that I could turn to at the end of the day’s writing was the best, and exactly what my brain needed to keep writing. Maybe it’s not romance novels for you – maybe it’s binging on a favorite tv show, or playing a well-loved video game. But have something that you can relax with that isn’t the writing, and that keeps you from biting people.

  SOMETIMES YOU NEED A SEA MONSTER.

  I do this thing, when I am stumped on how to begin writing for the day. I think of the weirdest possible thing that could happen. I figure that once I’ve shaken that bit loose from my brain, the stuff that the story actually needs will fall out, too. And sometimes it turns out that the weird bits were exactly what I needed.

  In the case of Rose and Rot – set, by the way, mainly in a forested area of rural New Hampshire – I decided that an acid yellow sea monster needed to show up. I was probably going to edit it out later, once I got into the scene and figured things out, but (spoiler, I guess) it’s still there, because having the sea monster show up was a way for two characters to have a needed conversation. Like I said, sometimes the weird works out. Maybe for you, it’s not a sea monster, but whatever it is that you need to start writing, or keep writing, or distract your brain enough to get to the part of the plot that you actually need, use that. And write.

  * * *

  Kat Howard’s short fiction has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award, anthologized in best of and annual best of collections, and performed on NPR. Roses and Rot is her debut novel. She lives in New Hampshire.

• TOR - http://www.tor.com/2016/05/19/myth-and-magic-a-conversation-with-kat-howard/

  INTERVIEWS
  Myth and Magic: A Conversation with Kat Howard

  Sarah McCarry
  Thu May 19, 2016 11:00am Post a comment Favorite This
  Photo by Shane Leonard
  I’ve long been a fan of speculative fiction writer Kat Howard’s lyrical fairytale mashups, whether it’s her stunning collaborative work (as in The End of the Sentence with Maria Dahvana Headley, a gleeful and gory Western by way of Old Norse myth) or her beautiful short fiction (Howard’s numerous accolades include multiple year’s best and best-of anthologies and a World Fantasy Award nomination). (I’m such a fan, in fact, that I published one of Howard’s stories myself.)

  Howard’s debut novel, Roses and Rot, releases this month, and it has all of her distinctive hallmarks: gorgeous prose, riveting storytelling, sources that range from Scottish ballads to Shakespeare, a hellish dilemma, and, at its heart, a heroine who’s learning hard lessons about art, sacrifice, and love. When I finished it I turned back to the first page and read it again. Howard was gracious enough to sit down for a conversation on myth, magic, and monsters.

  Sarah McCarry: Why “Tam Lin”? And why artists?

  Kat Howard: Well, to start with the first, it’s all Pamela Dean’s fault. I read her Tam Lin when I was in high school, and I just fell in love with that book. I read all the books Janet reads, I learned Ancient Greek (yes, I am that exact sort of nerd), if I hadn’t already been fencing, I would have taken up the sport. But aside from basically becoming the biggest possible fangirl, I also fell for the underlying ballad, the story of Tam Lin.

  Which sort of leads into the second part. One of the things about the ballad that has always stuck with me was that in the original, Faerie pays a tithe to Hell. Well, how does this happen? How do these two worlds get stuck together like that? When I was at Clarion [Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers’ Workshop], I wrote a “Tam Lin” riff for my Week Two story, one that tried to set up an origin for that part of the ballad. It was not a successful story, and I still don’t actually have an answer to that part of the question, but one thing my instructor for that week, James Patrick Kelly, said really haunted me. I’d had the tithe be artists there, too—too many have died far too young, and so I was trying to wedge their deaths into my plot, but he told me that I really needed to think about why the Fae would choose artists in the first place. And eventually, that thinking, mixed with some other things, became this book.

  SM: In the original “Tam Lin,” a woman risks her life to save her (male) lover from the clutches of the Queen of Faerie. Without spoiling anything, why did you choose to subvert the traditional framework of that story?

  KH: Hmm. I’m not sure I can answer this question honestly without spoiling, but let me give it a try. Even though I’ve shifted some pieces of the traditional framework around—you’ll notice that Hell isn’t a part of things, for example—one of the questions that I started with was, okay, who would you risk that much for? Who would you be willing to stand against Hell itself, or the collected might of Faerie, or something great and terrible, with odds that you would almost certainly not survive? Like, that is a powerful amount of love. And it’s not that I don’t believe that a pair of lovers could have that sort of connection, but that’s a story that gets told a lot—almost every “I’m going to walk into Hell, and I am taking my person back out with me” is a story about lovers.

  But when I asked myself that question, the first person that came to mind was my sister. She was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer when we were teenagers. And she survived—she’s a beautiful, amazing human—but I remember feeling so helpless at the time, because this was someone I loved so much, and would have done anything for, and all I could do was stand by. And so when I knew I wanted to write this story, I knew I wanted to put a pair of sisters at the heart of it.

  SM: One of the things I loved about the book is that for me, its focus was relationships between women—there are plenty of great, multifaceted male characters, but the core of the book is the way these different women take care of (or fail to take care of) each other. That sisterly heart—complicated, troubled, but ultimately deeply loving—extends to Imogen and Marin’s housemates at Melete as well. Did you know going into it that female friendship would be so foregrounded in the book, or did the relationships between the characters emerge as you worked?

  KH: I really like the way you phrase that—that they both take care of, and fail to take care of each other. I didn’t want to write about Mean Girls or that sort of trope. It certainly has its place, but that wasn’t the story that I was interested in telling. I tried very hard to let these women be people, with all the messiness that implies.

  The precise way that their relationships showed up was really something that emerged as I wrote. I knew from the beginning that Helena and Ariel were living in the same house as Imogen and Marin, but I really didn’t have a handle on who they were—Helena, in particular, changed a lot as a character over the course of revising, and as the characters themselves changed, their relationships did, too. And that change sort of built out in the different layers of the story—Beth, for example, was another character who went through huge changes over the course rewriting and revising, and that one was a really conscious change. She was built on the idea that I wanted Imogen to have a particular kind of relationship in her life.

  SM: Roses and Rot is very much about artists and the sacrifices they (we) make, and are willing to make, for their work, and there’s a strong contrast throughout the book between the character of Helena, who would give anything to be chosen as Melete’s tithe to Faerie in order to become a great poet, and Ariel, who tells Imogen she’d rather spend the seven years of the tithe working as hard as she can. That tension—between sacrifice and labor—plays out in many ways through the book, sometimes with tragic consequences. Do you think there’s a real-world equivalent to seven years in Faerie? Or do you think hard work is the only way to become an artist?

  KH: I think in the real world, I see labor and sacrifice as entwined. Both Helena and Ariel—all of the women at the core of this story—in my mind, they’ve done the work, and they’ve made the sacrifices. For most of us, who are not hugely wealthy with infinite amounts of time, we have to take the time to make our art, and we usually have to sacrifice things to get to where we are—it’s the hours of practice, or the saving up to pay for classes or art supplies, or instruction of some sort. It’s the choosing not to do other things, and to make art the priority of the time and energy we have. Even if it’s something small and annoying—not going out on the weekend because we have wordcount to make—I think we all give things up in the course of that work. And yes, the reality is that some people start in a more privileged place than others and sometimes hard work and sacrifices aren’t enough even when they should be. But I think that, even though those characters can be seen as the opposite sides of that spectrum, the reality is much more connected.

  SM: Marin and Imogen have both spent their lives trying to escape their abusive, domineering mother, but there were places in the book where I read the voice of their mother as that awful voice that lives in most of us, the voice that tells us we’ll never be good enough, nothing we make is good enough, our work will never be good enough. Do you live with that monster, too? How do you navigate her?

  KH: Oh, I so live with that monster. Like, I turned in the draft of my next novel (totally unrelated to Roses and Rot, which is fully standalone) to my editor at the end of March. And nothing in my life has been so hard to write. It was like at every moment, I found a new way to convince myself that things were going wrong, that I was writing the wrong thing, and that I would never be able to make it right. It got to the point where even good news about Roses and Rot got in the way of working on the new book, because the new book wasn’t Roses and Rot—I had specifically set out to make a bunch of difference choices with it—and so would obviously be worse.

  Roses and Rot Kat HowardThanks, monster.

  As to navigating—I am in the process of that. Some of navigating the monster is taking care of my own mental health. Some is writing through it—taking that voice, and putting it in a book, and then writing characters who could make their art louder than that voice. In trying to focus on making my art, rather than evaluating it, and in letting the push to be better, to dream bigger, to be ambitious in my work, both on the level of individual projects and on the level of my career, come from inside me. Because I do think there’s a huge difference between saying “I can be better” and saying “you’re not good enough” to myself, so I’m trying to make the first my mantra, and not the second.

  SM: That, to me, is also one of the central themes of the book. Is there anything else you hope readers take away from the novel?

  KH: In terms of a theme or a lesson? No—I think if I could have articulated anything this book is potentially saying any other way, I would have done so. The way I could say the things that people might find here was by writing this book. And I do think one of the great and powerful things about art is that it’s a space to be interpreted—that someone might find something different than what I might have thought I was writing. So, I guess, I hope that readers find what they need in it.

  SM: Ah, I really love that. I think that’s true for me in my own work as well—the story is always going to mean something else to another reader, especially when you’re working with very old myths and recasting them within the context of your own mythology. We all come to those stories from different places.

  Much of your work—your short fiction in addition to the novel—centers women who are in some way monstrous—either figuratively or literally—or who fall in love with monsters. Why girl monsters? What is the pull there for you?

  KH: Because being monstrous is a way for women to have power. I’m really interested in telling women’s stories, and I’m really interested in the ways women have to navigate a world that is all too often murderously aggressive towards them. So I’m interested in the women who take up space, who want too much, who make bad decisions and have messy lives, and the way the metaphors of fantasy allow me to write about them.

  SM: Amen to that.

• The Huffington Post - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ilana-teitelbaum/through-the-looking-glass_7_b_9890518.html

  Through the Looking Glass: “Roses and Rot” by Kat Howard
  05/11/2016 03:54 pm ET

  Ilana Teitelbaum
  Author
  Art, fairy tales, and folklore take center stage in Kat Howard’s enchanting debut fantasy, Roses and Rot. The protagonist, Imogen, is a writer who is accepted to a prestigious—and mysterious—artist’s colony that has a way of making people’s fortunes. Her sister, a dancer, joins her there too. The world Howard creates is glittering, intricately crafted, and unexpectedly dark. Bonds of family, the drive to create, and the relationship of that drive to coping with traumas are some of the themes explored.

  I’ve been anticipating this novel since I heard about it, as a fan of fairy tales and stories that examine the impulse to create. In this interview Kat talks about her inspirations, her journey to becoming a writer, and more.

  2016-05-10-1462904487-7042409-rosesandrothardcovercover.jpg

  I’m intrigued by your journey to becoming a writer. My impression is that you’ve worn many hats, and come through several life transitions to reach this point. Is that right?

  It is. I was never one of those people who knew from a young age that they wanted to be a writer. I loved to write, but it took a while for it to seem like something that was possible for me. So I went to law school, and taught law for a bit, and got a PhD in medieval literature, and then - when I was almost finished with that, my personal life sort of imploded. And I basically thought, well, I might as well try this thing - everything else has gone wrong, so what do I have to lose? So I applied to the Clarion Writers Workshop, and realized while I was there that I was a writer.

  Having come through so many ordeals to become a writer, does the theme of Roses and Rot about great art coming at a price have particular resonance for you?

  I’m not sure if I would say I came through ordeals - I honestly feel like I’ve been very lucky, in that once I decided that I was going to seriously pursue writing, my family and friends have been incredibly supportive of me. And the idea of art coming with a price - I think anyone who has seriously pursued art of any kind is familiar with making sacrifices in that pursuit. I just sort of took that idea and pushed it as far as I could.

  Roses and Rot is a beautifully written book, and there is something especially transcendent about the passages that describe dance. What is your relationship with the dance world?

  Oh, thank you so much for saying that. I was actually very nervous about those passages, because I’m not a dancer. I love dance - it’s one of my favorite art forms, and one of my very dear friends, Megan Kurashige, is a professional dancer (as well as a talented writer.) I’d been fortunate enough to collaborate with the company that she and her sister Shannon founded, Sharp & Fine, on a piece called A Thousand Natural Shocks, in 2012, and I learned a tremendous amount during that process. Megan also gave me a lot of insight into a dancer’s life, and so what I got right came out of discussions with her.

  One of my favorite elements of Roses and Rot is the way it is fairly dripping with fairy tale references, and is itself very much a fairy tale. Can you talk about that aspect of the book?

  Well, while “Tam Lin” is originally a ballad, it’s always felt like a fairy tale in my head, and the elements I was interested in playing with for the sake of this book (which I’m being cagey about, for the sake of avoiding spoilers) were the ones that had the most fairy tale feel to me. So it made sense in my head to situate the story I wanted to tell in that tradition, and to pull on the thematic resonance that the fairy tale elements offered.

  What do you think influenced your decision to make this take on the ballad of Tam Lin so subversive, so dark?

  Some of it came out of the original ballad - a couple of places that I had wanted to make work in my version of it but couldn’t. For example, Faerie having to pay a tithe to Hell every seven years, or the line where the Faerie Queen tells Thomas that if she’d known he was going to leave her, she would have taken out his heart of flesh, and replaced it with a heart of stone. I mean! It’s great.

  But also, to go back to an earlier question of yours, I did want to bring in the theme of sacrifice. That was in the story from the beginning, and I wanted the idea there to be stark enough to mean something - I wanted the choices that got made in the book to hurt.

  You are clearly someone incredibly well-read. What can you recommend to readers who loved Roses and Rot, if they want to pursue some background texts?

  The first thing that I would recommend to anyone is Pamela Dean’s beautiful novel, Tam Lin. It was where I discovered the story, and it’s one of my favorite books. I name-check Maria Tatar at one point in Roses and Rot, and really, if you like fairy tales, you should absolutely check out her work. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling have edited many excellent anthologies of retold fairy tales - it would be impossible for me to pick a favorite. I also mention the Thomas the Rhymer story briefly, and Ellen Kushner wrote a novel - Thomas the Rhymer - which is as smart and elegant as all her work.

  What’s next for you?

  You can usually find me writing short fiction of one sort or another, and I’ll be spending this summer putting the finishing touches on my short fiction collection, A Cathedral of Myth and Bone, which will be out in early 2018. I’ll also be editing my next novel, which will be out in late 2017.

Roses and Rot
Publishers Weekly.
263.14 (Apr. 4, 2016): p64.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text: 
* Roses and Rot
Kat Howard. S&S/Saga, $24.99 (320p)
ISBN 978-1-4814-5116-1
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Howard weaves a dark and enticing tale of sisterly bonds, fairy promises, and the price of artistic success in this lushly written debut fantasy set
in the present-day U.S. As a child, Imogen was certain that no fairy tale stepmother could possibly be cruder than her own mother, a controlling
tyrant. Fortunately, Imogen and her younger sister, Marin, escaped to pursue their dreams: Imogen as a writer, Marin a dancer. After seven years
apart, the women are reunited when both are selected to be fellows at Melete, a prestigious artist colony in rural New Hampshire. Melete's
fantastical campus seems perfect, but the sisters learn it's hiding an extraordinary secret: Melete's creative energy feeds the Fair Folk. Every seven
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years, the most promising Fellow is taken to live in Faery--and Imogen and Marin are short-listed for this dubious honor. Howard's characters are
deftly drawn, and her writing is seductive as fairy magic. This story will resonate with readers long after the last page. (May)
Source Citation   (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Roses and Rot." Publishers Weekly, 4 Apr. 2016, p. 64. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA448902700&it=r&asid=f795383f876856f4dfac185a1dd0f8ff. Accessed 6 Feb. 2017.
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Horton, Rich: THE YEAR'S BEST SCIENCE FICTION &
FANTASY 2012 EDITION
Kirkus Reviews.
(Aug. 15, 2012):
COPYRIGHT 2012 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text: 
Horton, Rich THE YEAR'S BEST SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY 2012 EDITION Prime Books (Adult Fiction) $19.95 9, 1 ISBN:
978-1-60701-344-0
A fourth annual anthology from this editor, and not to be confused with its rival, The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, edited by
Jonathan Strahan, which appeared in April 2012. Of the 29 mostly top-quality offerings, no less than six of what are arguably among the best
stories here--perhaps inevitably--also appeared in the rival volume: Karen Joy Fowler's "Younger Women," Kij Johnson's "The Man Who Bridged
the Mist," Paul McAuley's "The Choice," K.J. Parker's "A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong," Robert Reed's "Woman Leaves Room" and E. Lily
Yu's "The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees." That disappointment aside, there's plenty of great writing and dazzling ideas among the
rest: "The Silver Wind" by Nina Allan, a wonderful yarn of a strange genius in an alternate-world London; a Martian odyssey from John Barnes;
a stunning take on the essential tragedy of the vampire condition, "Late Bloomer" by Suzy McKee Charnas; the riveting and surpassingly strange
"Walking Stick Fires" by Alan DeNiro; a tale of World War II, Indian magic and a blacklisted writer, Bradley Denton's "The Adakian Eagle";
historical time travel from Theodora Goss; "Ghostweight" (Yoon Ha Lee), an ugly war on a distant planet; a weird life-after-death yarn from
Rachel Swirsky; a typically elliptical and engrossing tale of fairyland from Catherynne M. Valente; a woman under an evil enchantment, forced to
bear children for her enemies (C.S.E. Cooney's excellent "The Last Sophia"); urban fantasy from Kelly Link and other eclectic offerings from
Jonathan Carroll, Alexandra Duncan, Neil Gaiman, Gavin J. Grant, Kat Howard, Vylar Kaftan, Margo Lanagan, Chris Lawson, Marissa Lingen,
George Saunders, Lavie Tidhar and Genevieve Valentine. The duplicates are worth re-reading too, of course. Make no mistake, this is a fine
collection, but it's an unfortunate fact: If you bought and enjoyed the Strahan and your budget is limited, you'll probably think twice about this
one.
Source Citation   (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Horton, Rich: THE YEAR'S BEST SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY 2012 EDITION." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Aug. 2012. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA299605455&it=r&asid=90254700b8c8b022d740deda20ffeb29. Accessed 6 Feb.
2017.
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Science fiction/fantasy
Jackie Cassada
Library Journal.
137.15 (Sept. 15, 2012): p49.
COPYRIGHT 2012 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Full Text: 
SEPTEMBER WELCOMES an abundant harvest of strong sf, fantasy, and horror. This month's feature debut, Richard E. Gropp's Bad Glass,
combines conspiracy theory with dark fantasy for a memorable reading experience. A new werewolf series kicks off with Amanda Carlson's Full
Blooded. Major genre author Tad Williams makes his urban fantasy debut in The Dirty Streets of Heaven, set in the borderland between life and
the afterlife, while Richard Kadrey's Devil Said Bang switches between Los Angeles and hell. Alex Bell's fantasy adventure, Lex Trent Versus the
Gods, pits a sometimes likable rogue against a group of spoiled deities.
Science fiction with an emphasis on science comes to the fore in Greg Egan's mind-stretching The Eternal Flame. Larry Correia's Monster Hunter
Legion places fantasy elements in a scientific context--complete with big guns. Dave Swavely's Silhouette introduces a sf technothriller series for
fans of cyberpunk and its offshoots.
Horror makes a significant showing as Halloween approaches. Rob DeBorde's Portland-town brings the Western gothic to life, while traditional
haunted house horror is the focus of Jonathan Janz's House of Skin. Classic horror is also highlighted in the anthology A Book of Horrors, edited
by Stephen Jones.
While urban fantasy continues to dominate mass market paperbacks, Joe McKinney's Mutated provides fodder for fans of zombie fiction, and
space opera makes an appearance in Michael Cobley's Seeds of Earth. In addition to the reviews, the column takes a look at a digital-first
publisher, perhaps a portent of things to come.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
CHECK THESE OUT
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Bell, Alex. Lex Trent Versus the Gods. Headline, dist. by Trafalgar Square. Sept. 2012. c.352p. ISBN 9780755355181. pap. $11.95. FANTASY
Lex Trent's goal is to lie, cheat, and steal his way to an easy life, and he has the Goddess of Luck on his side. But when he gets into trouble from
which even Lady Luck can't rescue him, Lex reluctantly agrees to participate in the Games--a favorite pastime of the gods that is often fatal to
their human "game pieces." Saddled with a partner he detests and pitted against his own kin, Lex soon finds that his dishonest ways aren't
effective and that he must try something new. Set in a divided world where temperamental gods occupy the Lands Beneath while mortals
live in the Lands Above, Bell's (The Ninth Circle; Jasmyn) series launch is an edgy parable about the struggle between virtue and vice. Lex takes
a long time to recognize his many flaws and may need to complete his reformation in later episodes. VERDICT This fantasy adventure featuring
a roguish "hero" should appeal to most fans of the genre.
Carlson, Amanda. Full Blooded. Orbit: Hachette. (Jessica McLain, Bk. 1). Sept. 2012. c.352p. ISBN 9780316205207. pap. $12.99. FANTASY
Jessica McLain comes from a proud family of werewolves. Her father heads Pack Alpha of the U.S. Northern Territories; her twin brother, Tyler,
acts as one of the pack's defenders. When Jessica shifts into wolf form for the first time, however, her pack--and her family--are shaken: no
female in the history of their species has ever manifested her inner wolf. Jessica's change could threaten the safety of her pack and the people she
loves. Complications arise when she discovers that a powerful supernatural mercenary is on her trail and that her pack may harbor a traitor intent
on bringing about a war between the two largest packs in the country. VERDICT Carlson's urban fantasy debut takes a fresh approach to the
werewolf tale, giving Jessica's "inner wolf'' its own personality and voice. Solidly written, with a strong heroine and a compelling romantic lead,
this series opener should find a large audience.
Correia, Larry. Monster Hunter Legion. Baen, dist. by S. & S. Sept. 2012. c.624p. ISBN 9781416537960. $24. FANTASY
Teams of monster hunters gather in Las Vegas for their first--ever professional conference. When an experimental creature, dormant since World
War II, awakens and runs amok through the nearby desert, Owen Pitt and his crew from Monster Hunter International join in the race to subdue or
destroy it. As group rivalries threaten to turn deadly, a different monster emerges, killing its prey with their own nightmares. The monster hunters
find themselves in a battle for their lives. VERDICT The fourth title (and first hardback) in Correia's popular series (Monster Hunter
International; Monster Hunter Vendetta; Monster Hunter Alpha) features fast-paced battle scenes, tongue-in-cheek humor, funny, likeable
characters, and an appropriate amount of gore. Readers of urban fantasy and military sf, as well as series fans, will enjoy this adventure.
* DeBorde, Rob. Portlandtown: A Tale of Oregon Wyldes. Griffin: St. Martin's. Oct. 2012. c.384p. ISBN 9781250006646. pap. $15.99.
HORROR
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When the town gravedigger discovers retired marshal James Kleberg digging up the corpse of a man whose name Kleberg can't remember,
Kleberg's son-in-law Joseph Wylde brings him to live with his family in the boomtown of Portland. Small-time criminal Henry Macke, however,
remembers what Kleberg forgot; with the aid of a book of spells he revives the corpse of the Hanged Man, a legendary gunslinger. Soon, the
Hanged Man is on the hunt for Kleberg, the man responsible for his death. VERDICT DeBorde's extraordinary first novel, a dark fantasy set in
the Old West, tells a compelling tale of the battle between evil personified and a remarkable family with special abilities. Fans of Stephen King's
"Dark Tower" series will enjoy discovering this accomplished writer.
Egan, Greg. The Eternal Flame. Night Shade. (Orthogonal, Bk. 2). Sept. 2012. c.300p. ISBN 9781597802932. $26.99. FANTASY
Alien scientists launched the generation ship Peerless in hopes its crew could find the technology needed to help their home planet avoid
destruction by a shower of meteors known as the Hurtlers--but now the expedition is in danger of being derailed by a fuel shortage. On board,
astronomer Tamara discovers a huge object traveling in a linear trajectory past the ship, and she believes this object could provide the help they
need. In the meantime, biologist Carlo searches for solutions to the food shortage on board the ship and finds, instead, a way to reinvent the act of
giving birth so that it does not result in the mother's death (this species gives birth by fission). VERDICT Set in a universe where the speed of
light is not fixed and where the dominant species is protean in form, this sequel to The Clockwork Rocket explores science's impact on culture
and its ability to alter the very fabric of life. The author imbues his characters with a ferocious individuality that belies their amorphous
appearance. Egan's fans as well as lovers of sf that emphasizes hard science should welcome this tale of courage and self-sacrifice.
Hayes, Lee. The First Male. Strebor: S. & S. (Zane Presents). Sept. 2012. c.352p. ISBN 9781593094393. pap. $15. HORROR
As Simon Cassel's 21st birthday approaches, serpents and shadows permeate his dreams, and he hears voices telling him of a great destiny. He
also receives visions of an old woman who tries to turn him away from the Shadow and toward the Light. Soon, he realizes that he is fated to
become the First Male, a figure who will destroy the world. VERDICT The author of The Bad Seed and Tile Messiah has written a dark,
supernatural thriller that depicts one man's journey into darkness. Graphic violence and explicit sex may limit the audience for this eerie tale, but
fans of the genre will appreciate its inexorable progress to an inevitable conclusion.
Janz, Jonathan. House of Skin. Samhain. Sept. 2012. c.312p. ISBN 9781609289218. pap. $16. HORROR
Paul Carver arrives in Shadeland, IN, to claim the Watermere estate, an unexpected inheritance from his late--and reviled (by the townspeople)--
Uncle Myles. Although he delights in the old mansion, Paul discovers that the house holds many secrets, most of them tied to Myles's wife,
Annabel. When library worker Julia Merrow meets Paul, her growing feelings for him mirror her passion for Watermere; like the house, she has
her own secrets. The author of The Sorrows revives one of horror's most beloved motifs--the haunted house--to good effect in a tale of starcrossed
lovers in thrall to a ruthless ghost. VERDICT Reminiscent of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House and Peter Straub's Ghost
Story, this should please readers who appreciate a good haunting. [This was published first as an ebook.--Ed.]
Kadrey, Richard. Devil Said Bang: A Sandman Slim Novel. Harper Voyager. Sept. 2012. c.416p. ISBN 9780062094575. $24.99. FANTASY
James Stark, also known as Sandman Slim, is trying to break out of Hell--for the second time. This go-round, however, no one wants Stark to
leave because he has become Hell's leader after killing Lucifer. Not everybody, however, is happy with the new regime, and Stark faces assassins
and traitors wherever he goes. When he manages to return to Los Angeles, a place not too different from Hell, he realizes that a ghostly serial
killer is threatening those he cares about. VERDICT The fourth outing for Kadrey's antihero (Sandman Slim; Kill the Dead; Aloha from Hell)
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provides a never-ending supply of violence, mayhem, romance, and macabre humor that should please series fans. [Previewed in Kristi
Chadwick's Genre Spotlight feature "Hungry for SF," LJ 8/12.--Ed.]
Swavely, Dave. Silhouette: A Peacer Novel. Thomas Dunne: St. Martin's. Nov. 2012. c.272p. ISBN 9781250001498. $24.99. SF
After a severe earthquake, San Francisco comes under the control of Saul Rubin, whose Bay Area Security Service represents a return to law and
order but also, in the minds of some, a reign of tyranny and despotism. His protege, Michael Ares, grew up with Rubin's son and expects to play a
part in the city's future. When Michael's young daughter and his best friend are murdered in a car explosion, however, Michael vows to track
down the killer--even when the evidence leads back to himself. Set in a world of city-states, aerocars, and neural cyberware, Swavely's debut
launches a gritty sf technothriller series. VERDICT Intrigue, violence, and double-dealing go high-tech in this rapid-fire tale that should appeal to
fans of cyberpunk and its literary and cinematic descendents.
* Williams, Tad. The Dirty Streets of Heaven. DAW, dist. by Penguin. (Bobby Dollar, Bk. 1). Sept. 2012. c.400p. ISBN 9780756407681. $25.95.
FANTASY
As an advocate for souls awaiting the judgment that will determine where they spend the afterlife, an earthbound angel known as Bobby Dollar
walks a thin line between his commitment to absolute good and his sympathy for imperfect humanity. But when someone begins stealing the
souls of the newly dead before they can face judgment, Bobby must investigate. The celebrated author of such epic fantasies as the "Shadowland"
series now tries his hand at urban fantasy with a tough, likeable hero and a multidimensional plot. VERDICT The author's many fans as well as
urban fantasy enthusiasts will enjoy Williams's take on Heaven's less desirable places as well as his wry humor and keen insights. [Previewed in
Kristi Chadwick's Genre Spotlight feature "Hungry for SF," LJ 8/12.--Ed.]
COLLECTIONS & ANTHOLOGIES
A Book of Horrors. Griffin: St. Martin's. Sept. 2012. c.448p, ed. by Stephen Jones. ISBN 9781250018526. pap. $15.99. HORROR
From Stephen King's eerie tale about pain personified ("The Little Green God of Agony") to Richard Christian Matheson's creepy musing on the
moment of death ("Last Words"), the 14 original short stories and novellas gathered here by Hugo and World Fantasy Award winner Jones (The
Mammoth Book of Best New Horror) hark back to horror's traditional roots before the genre fell to the onslaught of seductive vampires, sexy
werewolves, and romantic ghosts. Ghost stories like Reggie Oliver's "A Child's Problem," Lisa Tuttle's supernatural thriller "The Man in the
Ditch," and Elizabeth Hand's elegantly eerie novella "Near Zennor" prove that classic horror still thrives. VERDICT Fans of old-style horror
should enjoy this varied collection.
Harrison, Kim. Into the Woods: Tales from the Hollows and Beyond. Harper Voyager. Oct. 2012. c.528p. ISBN 9780061974328. $24.99.
FANTASY
Best known for "The Hollows," her urban fantasy series about bounty hunter and witch Rachel Morgan, Harrison here presents five short stories,
two novelettes, and four novellas that demonstrate her talent for short fiction. While most of the stories expand the world of the Hollows and
feature supporting characters from that series, the novelettes "Spider Silk" and "Grace" are set in new fantasy environments. VERDICT Whether
exploring the backstory of Mid the banshee ("Dirty Magic") or trying out a different sort of supernatural creature (e.g., the dryad in "Temson
Estates"), this collection should attract Harrison's sizable fan base.
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The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy: 2012. Prime. 2012. c.544p, ed. by Rich Horton. ISBN 9781607013440. pap. $19.95. SF
This fourth volume in Prime's annual series features 29 of 2011's strongest sf and fantasy stories, from Yoon Ha Lee's "Ghostweight," about a war
fought with origami weaponry and the young woman whose skill has led to countless deaths, to Kij Johnson's tale of an attempt to build an
impossible bridge in "The Man Who Bridged the Mist." Other contributors include veterans Nell Gaiman, John Barnes, and Paul McAuley as
well as newer writers such as E. Lily Yu, Kat Howard, and Genevieve Valentine. Editor Horton provides a list of recommended additional reading
aimed at readers hungry for more. VERDICT This sampler, divided almost equally between sf and fantasy, offers a good introduction to the
current state of both genres.
ADDITIONAL SF & FANTASY
* Carey, Jacqueline. Dark Currents: Agent of Hel. Roc: Penguin. Oct. 2012. c.368p. ISDN 9780451464781. $26.95. FANTASY Since the advent
of Carey's "Kushiel Legacy" historical fantasy series in 2001, fans have come to expect the amazing from this author, and her new urban fantasy
won't disappoint them. Set in the Michigan tourist town of Pemkowet, well known for its eldritch (supernatural) community, it stars the spunky
Daisy Johanssen, accidental hellspawn and enforcer on behalf of Hel, the Norse goddess of death, who presides over the town. Daisy fights her
own demonic nature as well as her attractions to werewolves, lamia, ghouls, and humans as she tries to discover what manner of eldritch being
drowned a college boy. She finds that as scary as her own people can be, sometimes humans can be worse. Daisy is vivacious and relatable, and
her identity as a hellspawn doesn't keep her from trying for a normal life. VERDICT Carey's first urban fantasy turn is as fun and fantastic as her
previous efforts; fans will definitely want this, and pronto. [Previewed in Kristi Chadwick's Genre Spotlight feature "Hungry for SF," LJ 8/12.--
Ed.]--Stacey Comfort, Dexter District Lib., MI
Connolly, Tina. Ironskin. Tor. Oct. 2012. c.304p. ISBN 9780765330598. $24.99. FANTASY
In this historical fantasy debut, a tribute to Jane Eye, Connolly evokes that classic's literary feel but adds her own creative twist. Jane Eliot,
having lost her teaching post, seeks employment as a governess to a "special" child born during the Great War between humankind and the fey.
Jane knows that "special" means the child is like her, a victim of the fey, but whereas Jane wears an iron mask to protect society from the curse of
rage cast on her face by a fey bomb, the child, Dorie, was born to a woman fatally possessed by a fey. As Jane teaches Dorie to act more human,
less fey, she becomes intrigued by her enigmatic employer, Edward Rochart. VERDICT While Connolly echoes Charlotte Brontes novel in some
plot points and names, this is not strictly a literary mashup but rather an unusual blend of alternate history, fantasy, and gothic romance. It should
appeal to fans of Leanna Renee Hieber's The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker as well as such literary mashups as Pride and
Prejudice and Zombies. [Previewed in Kristi Chadwick's Genre Spotlight feature "Hungry for SF," LJ 8/12.--Ed.]--Melanin C. Duncan, Shurling
Lib., Macon, GA
Cornwall, Emma. Incarnation. Gallery: S. & S. Sept. 2012. c.352p. ISBN 9781439190357. pap. $15. FANTASY
In a steampunk Victorian London, a young woman named Lucy Weston watches the opera Aida, mesmerized and horrified by the plight of the
doomed lovers as they are sealed in a tomb. The tall, handsome tenor commands her attention and hypnotizes her into a deep sleep. She awakens
trapped inside a sealed coffin and fights her way out of the grave with a newfound physical strength, determined to find the being who has turned
her into a vampire. When Lucy discovers that author Brain Stoker has distorted her life in Dracula, she seeks to confront him to learn why he lied.
Lucy soon finds that she may be the key to stopping a coming war between vampires and humans. VERDICT Cornwall, a pseudonym for a New
York Times best-selling author of historical and contemporary fiction, blends vampires, steampunk elements, and time travel into an interesting
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though not particularly original paranormal novel. The plot is carried out unevenly, but the well-realized characters will hold a reader's attention.-
-Patricia Altner, Information Seekers, Columbia, MD.
Drake, Jocelynn. Angel's Ink: The Asylum Tales. Harper Voyager. Oct. 2012. c.352p. ISBN 9780062117854. pap. $14.99. FANTASY
This new series launch by the author of the "Dark Days" novels revolves around Gage, a warlock and tattoo artist with a knack for getting himself
into trouble. Gage escaped from the Ivory Towers, the domain of warlocks and witches, to live a simple but guarded life among humans, trolls,
werewolves, and, sometimes, elves. His tattoos are known for their magical effects, but when Gage takes pity on a dying girl and mixes a potion
for her tattoo, the consequences are unintended and surprising. Finding himself on the bad side of a grim reaper and with only three days to right
his wrong, Gage must call upon past acquaintances to free himself from the grim reaper's hold. VERDICT Gage gets himself into an unbelievable
number of bad situations, even by urban fantasy standards. Although piling misfortune upon misfortune creates plenty of fodder for the series, it's
sometimes hard for the reader to swallow it all. However, fans of Kim Harrison and urban fantasy alike will enjoy this. [Previewed in Kristi
Chadwicks' Genre Spotlight feature "Hungry for SF," LJ 8/12.--Ed.]--Brooke Bolton, North Manchester P.L., IN
Shinn, Sharon. Still Life with Shape-Shifter: A Shifting Circle Novel. Ace: Berkley. Nov. 2012. c.352p. ISBN 9780425256817. $25.95.
FANTASY
Shinn's second entry in her "Shifting Circle" series (after The Shape of Desire) explores the strong bond between sisters. Melanie is fiercely
protective of her much younger half sister Ann, who regularly turns into a white husky. All seems to be going well in their lives until
investigative journalist Brody Westerbrook asks to interview Melanie for a book he is writing about shape-shifters. Melanie is driven to protect
Ann and her secret at all costs, but Brody seems to know everything about them already. Soon, however, a more pressing concern becomes Ann's
poor health, and what it will take to heal her. Shinn takes her subject matter seriously as she delves into universal issues of love, trust, and family.
A couple of characters from The Shape of Desire play a small role in the story, but this series entry stands on its own. VERDICT A sure bet for
most fantasy readers, but this novel should also appeal to those who prefer only a touch of the supernatural in their fiction.--Laurel Bliss, San
Diego State Univ. Lib.
Jackie Cassada, formerly with Asheville Buncombe Library System, NC, has been LJ's SF/Fantasy columnist since 1984
Cassada, Jackie
Source Citation   (MLA 8th
Edition)
Cassada, Jackie. "Science fiction/fantasy." Library Journal, 15 Sept. 2012, p. 49+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA303072262&it=r&asid=b2252b8b28cf662cd194190f1fe5f4f6. Accessed 6 Feb. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A303072262

"Roses and Rot." Publishers Weekly, 4 Apr. 2016, p. 64. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do? p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA448902700&it=r. Accessed 6 Feb. 2017. "Horton, Rich: THE YEAR'S BEST SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY 2012 EDITION." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Aug. 2012. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA299605455&it=r. Accessed 6 Feb. 2017. Cassada, Jackie. "Science fiction/fantasy." Library Journal, 15 Sept. 2012, p. 49+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do? p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA303072262&it=r. Accessed 6 Feb. 2017.

• Bookpage
  https://bookpage.com/reviews/19882-kat-howard-roses-rot#.WJgGErYrJR0
  Word count: 333

  Web Exclusive – May 17, 2016

  ROSES AND ROT
  Such devoted sisters
  BookPage review by Gerry Paige Smith

  Brutalized by an abusive mother, Imogen and her younger sister, Marin, dreamt of the day when they could flee her control. But only one girl managed to escape, and the cost is a decade of separation from the sister left behind. When Imogen, now a published writer, and Marin, a rising star in the ballet world, are both accepted to a renowned retreat for artists, they seize the opportunity to reconnect beyond their mother's cruel reach.

  Boasting alumni that populate the highest levels of the art world, Melete offers a magical New England setting that cultivates the maximum potential from its resident artists. But as Imogen and Marin immerse themselves in the community, they find the village's postcard facade hides a symbiotic connection with the land of Faerie. Melete shimmers and blurs with otherworldly murmurs, scents both fragrant and foul, and faces shifting toward sharp edges that are not entirely human.

  Imogen and Marin find their newly rekindled relationship tested when they are compelled to compete against each other for the opportunity to become indentured to the Faerie for a seven-year term, with a guarantee of fame and success at its end. Love and pain have the power to drive each of them toward the prize as well as the power to drive them apart.

  In her debut novel, Kat Howard deftly punctuates Imogen's narration of events with brief yet lyrical fairy tales that draw aside glamorous fabrics to reveal the more visceral textures of traditional “happily ever afters.” With refreshing vision and style, Howard diverges away from expected outcomes in search of deeper exchanges in this lush story. An enchanting literary exploration that is both sensual and sober, Roses and Rot explores the high cost attached to the unbridled pursuit of love, success and escape to create a fairy tale unlike any other.

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