Site Updates

Important update: angelahighland.info becoming my primary site

Hey all, just so everyone knows, due to the ongoing web server instability on my home network, keeping angelahighland.com as my primary author website has become problematic. So I’m going to convert angelahighland.info to be my new primary author site.

If you’re following angelahighland.com posts directly via RSS, I invite you to follow angelahighland.info instead as I’m going to start putting the bulk of my activity there. You should be able to use https://angelahighland.info/feed/ instead.

If you actually have a WordPress.com account of your own, you can subscribe via their mechanism for that, too. WordPress.com has a help page about how to do that here.

Those of you who read me via my crossposts to Dreamwidth, I’ll need to see if I can set up something to crosspost from the .info site. I don’t know if I can yet, and unless I upgrade from my current premium plan to a business one, WordPress.com won’t let me install plugins there. So I’ll need to look at other options. For the time being, anything I need to post out to Dreamwidth will probably come in off annathepiper.org.

Most if not all of the primary content from the .com site is going to get copied over to the .info site over the next few days. And by primary content, that means, the actual book-related static pages.

Content here that isn’t directly related to my books (e.g., Quebec music stuff) will probably get copied back to annathepiper.org. Posts and comments I will probably also copy back over there.

Eventually, I will probably have this site go dark. But I need to do all the content transfer first! And I’ll also be setting up redirects for the major site pages so that people who hit them (at least assuming that our web server is actually friggin’ UP) can go safely over to the .info site.

Any questions, y’all, let me know!

Other People's Books, Uncategorized

End of 2019 book roundup

This post is going up as my first in 2020, but it’s all the remaining books acquired during 2019, so these count to 2019’s overall count!

Acquired from Audible in audiobook form:

  • The A.I. Who Loved Me, by Alyssa Cole. Contemporary romance. Grabbed this one as I’ve been very fond of Cole’s work lately, and also because this is an audio-only release.
  • Signal, by Tony Peak. SF. Grabbed this one just because I had a free credit to spend from Audible due to the settlement they had to do, and there was apparently a limited number of titles to choose from, so I grabbed an SF story I didn’t recognize. Hopefully it’ll be good?

Acquired from Tor.com:

  • Wild Cards I, edited by George R.R. Martin. This is the long-running superheroes series that George R.R. Martin has to his credit, I believe as primary creator and editor? This was a recent freebie on the Tor.com monthly ebook club.

Acquired from Amazon:

  • The Deep, by Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes. Fantasy. Got this in both novella and audiobook form, in no small part because Daveed Diggs apparently does the reading. And now that I’ve finally fallen in love with the Hamilton soundtrack, I was VERY interested to hear about this story as he does the audiobook narration. Plus, the story sounds pretty amazing: a race of mermaids is descended from pregnant African women who threw themselves overboard to escape slavery. And a female of this race, who’s charged with being the keeper of her people’s memories, rediscovers the surface world. Yowza. (I’m only counting this title once for the count, even though I got it in two formats.)
  • In the Dark, by Loreth Anne White. Thriller/romantic suspense. Got this one because I was able to get it for $1.99, and because I’ve read the author before and liked a previous title of hers.
  • The Vine Witch, by Luanne G. Smith. Fantasy. Nabbed this one because it sounds charming, a historical-type fantasy set in France and centered around magically-powered winemaking.
  • Daughter of Shadows, Son of Solace, and Ashes of Chadanar, by Mirren Hogan. Fantasy/fantasy romance. Grabbed this entire trilogy as I got word via the Romance Alliance discord server that author Mirren Hogan had lost her home in the fires going on down in Australia. 🙁 So I donated a little to the GoFundMe set up for her, and grabbed a few of her books as well.
  • The Melding, The Nameless Knight, and The Call of Aven-Ra, by Claire Ryan. Fantasy/fantasy romance. Grabbed this entire trilogy because of Claire Ryan doing splendid work compiling the massive timeline of events in the RWA scandal that broke just before Christmas.

Acquired from Kobo:

  • Parable of the Talents, by Octavia E. Butler. SF. Part 2 of the duology that starts with Parable of the Sower. Nabbed this because I already had book 1, and we wanted to read the pair of them in our little book club.
  • A Prince on Paper, by Alyssa Cole. Romance. Book 3 of her Reluctant Royals series, which I am enjoying immensely.
  • Talk Sweetly to Me, Once Upon a Marquess, A Kiss for Midwinter, Proof by Seduction, and Trial by Desire, all by Courtney Milan. Historical romance. Also Hold Me and Trade Me by same. Bought all of these to show my support for her in the aforementioned RWA scandal. Because DAMN.
  • Magic for Liars, by Sarah Gailey. Grabbed this because I like their hippo books and because it was on sale at the time.

Acquired in print as a Christmas gift:

  • Sauron Defeated, by J.R.R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien. This is book 9 of the History of Middle-Earth series, a bunch more analysis and supplementary material for the entire Middle-Earth legendarium. I’ve gotten more interested in acquiring these books due to Tor.com’s ongoing series People of Middle-Earth, looking in depth at various lesser-known characters. The writer of these posts is pulling considerably out of the History of Middle-Earth series, so yeah, I want to have a look at them myself.

86 for the year.

Movies

Movie review: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

The Rise of Skywalker Poster

The Rise of Skywalker

On Christmas Day, Dara and I did our annual “go see a movie” thing. And, as should surprise exactly none of you who follow me and my postings, that movie was Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

It’s taken me a few days to get a post together because I’ve been mulling over my thoughts on it, hardcore. The picoreview: I liked several things about it, and actively hated a few other things. Overall I found it a serviceable finale to the Skywalker saga, but only serviceable, which was a disappointment to me. It didn’t engage me emotionally nearly as much as I was hoping for.

I’ve seen reviews that have described the movie as unimaginative. That’s… kind of where I am with it. It makes some plot choices that feel utterly predictable, and presents them in a way that doesn’t reach the level The Force Awakens did to make them fun anyway.

That said, I’m still glad I saw it, and at least after my first viewing, I’m pretty sure I found it more enjoyable than any of the three movies in the prequel trilogy. I will probably need to see it again to find out whether my current overall opinion holds.

Follow the wayfinder to the SPOILERS behind the fold! As always, if you’re coming over to this post from anywhere it’s crossposted (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn), please comment here to try to keep spoilers in a contained area. Dreamwidth readers, your comments section is fair game. (But if any Dreamwidth readers haven’t seen the movie yet, be warned that the comments ARE a spoiler-friendly zone!)

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Books, Other People's Books

Yet another ebook roundup

So yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything besides an ebook report, I know! This post is not actually going to change that, but it’s taken me several days to compose it and I really need to get it out of my queue. So here you go!

The Candle and the Flame

The Candle and the Flame

Acquired from Kobo:

The Widow of Rose House, by Diana Biller. Gothic/historical romance. Nabbed it because of this excellent review over on Smart Bitches Trashy Books.

Palimpsest, Speak Easy, and The Refrigerator Monologues, all by Catherynne Valente. Fantasy and superheroes. Nabbed them partly because she’s just generally an excellent author, and partly also because I saw word going around on Twitter that her family got hard-hit by recent storm action. So I thought I’d make a point of grabbing a few of her titles I didn’t have already.

The City in the Middle of the Night, by Charlie Jane Anders. SF. Grabbed because I like the premise, and because it went briefly on sale for reduced price.

The Candle and the Flame, by Nafiza Azad. Fantasy. Gotten because good lord that cover is gorgeous, and because I was drawn in by the sample I read on Kobo. And by the protagonist playing an oud! (As y’all know, I am very partial to musician protagonists, and hey, I have even SEEN an oud.)

The Queen of Rhodia, Daughter of the Sun, and The Queen of Ieflaria, by Effie Calvin. SF/SF Romance, and specifically F/F as well. Book 1 of this series, The Queen of Ieflaria, originally came across my radar because of how pretty I found the cover. But the series came up again in discussion on Smart Bitches, and I was pleased enough by what I heard there that I went ahead and got all three of these.

Acquired from Amazon:

Search Image, by Julie E. Czerneda. SF. Got this one because Amazon offered me a small credit against the purchase price for recently buying something else by Czerneda. Also because I love her books.

Fortuna, by Kristyn Merbeth. SF/Space opera. Nabbed this one because I won it in a Goodreads giveaway, yo.

The Immortals, by Jordanna Max Brodsky. Urban fantasy. Nabbed this one because it’s book 1 of a series featuring Greek mythology–and in particular, starring Artemis. Partial to Greek mythos, as y’all may recall! And this book was on sale for $1.99 when I nabbed it.

Acquired from Tor.com’s Ebook of the Month mailing promotion:

The Tiger’s Daughter, by K Arsenault Rivera. Fantasy. Gotten for free as I’m on Tor.com’s periodic “here have a free ebook” promotional list.

63 for the year.

Books, Other People's Books

Long overdue ebook roundup post

A roundup post, mostly but not exclusively composed of various books I’ve picked up on sale over the last several weeks:

Picked up from Kobo:

Ink and Bone, by Rachel Caine. First in her Great Library series, which I’ve been meaning to read for a while. (Particularly now that she’s said on Twitter she’s fighting cancer. I suspect I’ll be buying a few more of these to do my part to contribute to her book income, because boy howdy she’s gonna need it!)

Among Others, by Jo Walton. SF. This got some very favorable buzz a few years ago when it came out, and it took both a Nebula in 2011 and a Hugo in 2012.

Jade City, by Fonda Lee. Fantasy. This is getting very favorable buzz now, and I finally picked it up after discussing it with one of my book club peeps.

Year One, by Nora Roberts. I’m not sure whether to call this SF or SF romance; given that it’s Nora Roberts, I’m inclined to think the latter is more likely. Either way I perked up a bit when the release of this was announced, since post-apocalyptic SF-ish stories are a pretty new thing for her. Historically I’ve liked her standalone romantic suspense novels better than her forays into paranormal. But given that I also like the SFnal flavor of the J.D. Robbs, I’m very intrigued to see how this turns out.

Picked up from Amazon:

Thorn, by Anna Burke. F/F retelling of Beauty and the Beast? WHY YES I will have some, thank you.

The Revolution Betrayed, by Leon Trotsky. If you look at this and go, “HEY ANNA this is absolutely nothing like anything you usually read,” you would be correct. I picked this up because we read it in book club. Dara has a print copy, but I didn’t want to take it out of the house to read at work while she needed to read it for book club. So I wound up nabbing the ebook version on Kindle.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns, by Rae Carson. This is a YA I’ve been meaning to read for ages, and it going on sale briefly was a good excuse to finally buy it.

The Gossamer Mage, by Julie E. Czerneda. Because Julie Czerneda taking another crack at fantasy? WHY YES I will have some of this too, thank you.

50 for the year.

Books

Breaking radio silence book roundup

So it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, and I’ve gotten quite a few books lately from various sources. Time for another roundup post!

First up, I’ve seen some Romanceland brouhaha going around Twitter this week about yet another round of “but but but THERE WEREN’T ANY BLACK PEOPLE IN THE REGENCY!” One of the many tweets I happened to see from author Courtney Milan on the topic was an RT of a link to Black London: Life before Emancipation, a book from Rutgers University Press that delves into the history of people of color in London. The link offers the book in multiple formats, including the ability to read it online. And, it’s free.

So I nabbed it in EPUB and in MOBI form, because I definitely want to educate myself on this.

Next, from Tor.com:

The Murders of Molly Southbourne, by Tade Thompson. Nabbed this one because it was the free download of the month from the Tor.com mailing list, last month.

From Kobo:

  • The Only Thing to Fear, by Julie E. Czerneda. A novella in her Web Shifter series, which I grabbed because I am sorely behind on reading her things!
  • Mixed Signals and Signal Boost, by Alyssa Cole. Books 2 and 3 of her Off the Grid series from Carina. Nabbing these because I finally read book 1, so I’m in to give books 2 and 3 a go. Liking that from what I’m seeing, this seems like a post-apocalyptic story in which there is in fact a recovery from the apocalypse, and I’m very down with that little glimmer of hope.
  • Rosewater, by Tade Thompson. Nabbed this as I spotted it on sale, and because it’s SF set in Nigeria.
  • Her Royal Spyness, by Rhys Bowen. Book 1 of the series of the same name, period mysteries starring a young British aristocrat in 1932. She’s nowhere near the throne in the line of succession, and she’s penniless, so what’s she to do? Solve murders, naturally! Grabbed this one as another one I spotted on sale.
  • Beneath the Sugar Sky, by Seanan McGuire. Book 3 of her Wayward Children series.
  • Named of the Dragon, by Susanna Kearsley. This is one of hers I’ve already read, but in print and it hasn’t been high on my list to re-read. But the ebook went on sale for cheap, so I nabbed it. Want to give this one another shot as I didn’t quite care for it the first time and I want to see if it reads better a second time through. Having it in ebook form will bump up the chances I’ll take another look.
  • Artificial Condition, by Martha Wells. SF. Book 2 of The Murderbot Diaries. MURDERBOT! <3
  • The Toll, by Cherie Priest. A new Gothic by Priest? OH HELL YES sign me up.
  • The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics, by Olivia Waite. Book 1 of her Feminine Pursuits series, which I am nabbing because OH HELL YES F/F historical romance sign me up for that too. 😀 And I find both the title and the cover rather charming.

From Amazon:

Wolfhunter River, by Rachel Caine. Book 3 of her Stillhouse Lake thriller series. Plowed through books 1 and 2 very quickly, as I am wont to do with pretty much anything of hers I read, so I had to nab this one too. Got it from Amazon as it’s exclusively sold there.

42 for the year.

Main

I’m launching a Patreon!

Dara told me today that if I ever wanted to launch a Patreon, today is the last day to get an account grandfathered in under their current fee structure before they change things around.

Between that, and feeling like my writing really needs a jumpstart, I’ve decided to try this and see if a Patreon would actually help me get going again.

So as of today, y’all, I now have a Patreon up! In keeping with all my various social media accounts, its URL should not surprise any of you:

https://www.patreon.com/annathepiper

There are two tiers, a $1 and a $5. The lower tier gives you immediate access to any posts I make there, as well as early glimpses of works in progress and cover art drafts. (This is stuff I’ve posted about here on angelahighland.com before, but my thinking here is that Patreon supporters will get quicker looks at this stuff before I make it public on the main site.)

The $5 tier will mean at least one piece of short fiction a month, no fewer than 500 words. I have a rough goal here of making this a serialized story, with one of two ideas I’m playing around with. I may in fact take a poll from any supporters as to which story I should pursue first.

And I have an initial goal set of $100. If I make that goal, I will write a new character vignette of no fewer than 1,000 words, featuring any character from any of my published books. Supporters will be able to nominate their choices and vote on who I should write about!

RIGHT THEN. Let’s see what happens with this, shall we?