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Well, I’ve been doing some reading. Traveling always means reading for me. And doing the podcast seems to also mean reading to me.

Amongst the many books I’ve been perusing, here are a few books that I think you might appreciate it. Or, if you prefer, these awesome books get my stamp of approval.

The Elephant and Macaw Banner Novelette Series 1-5 by Christopher Kastensmidt: Yes, we did just interview Chris on Unreliable Narrators regarding his work and the SF/F scene in Brazil, largely because I’ve been a big fan for a long time. Chris writes historical adventure and fantasy all at the same time. He has 200 books from the time period he’s writing in, so he’s accurate. The flavor of his work is unlike anything else on the scene today, and I hope to see him get a lot of lovely awards in the future. I feel smarter just reading him. You will too.

The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu: I bought this book on a whim. It was used, and I saw some folks reading it at a con. So, I finally go to it. Lessee…this book is amusing science fiction with spies and a weight loss/geek makeover story. It is funny. And poignant. Inspiring. And original. So, the rest of the world has read all three of these, and is lining up to buy the special novella from Subterranean, right? Right? I’m saying if you’re as behind as I am, you really need to get this book. And the next two. And the special novella. Chu’s voice is fresh, alive. I’m hooked.

Mosaics 1: A Collection of Independent Women: Honestly, I could also talk about the second Mosaics collection as well. I am in the second one, and it’s a pretty good collection of stories. But the first collection is truly cerebral, spot on in its balance, and a wide diversity viewpoints from self-identified women. Of particular note to me was “The Queen of Lakes” by L.S. Johnson, the last story in the collection.

And…I was getting ready for a writer’s retreat, I retreated, and then registration started at work.

But here are three interviews from Unreliable Narrators.

Rachel Marks

Kate Heartfield

Christopher Kastensmidt

Next up: Some reviews of some cool books.

A couple of Unreliable Interviews to tell you about!

Matt Rotundo

Debra Jess

We have a couple more in the series coming out soon.

This has been a pretty productive week. Last week, I felt very in control of things. I am almost done with the first 4th of Pawn of Isis. And by almost done, I mean that it’s not in the bag, but this is solid stuff that will be kept and revised and polished.

I had some terrific editorial suggestions about Cookies this week from the editors of Mosaics 2, which resulted in a really deep revision of the story, so I expect I’ll be seeing another edit on that, but it’s a much better story now. Sometimes editing can seem like a chore. This time it opened doors and windows in my brain.

I have an idea for a new short story called The Devil’s Wingman, which I will get to as soon as I finish this first 4th of Pawn.

And finally, I have an idea for a quirky SF novel. Yes, you heard it hear. I am hot to do some research on it, but I would still like to revise the troll YA. I guess the answer is to write faster.

It’s a good time to be me. I’m sure in a few months I’ll be back to my usual mopy self.

Shortly before I became an Unreliable Narrator, Brent Bowen, a friend of mine who runs Adventures in Sci Fi Publishing gave me a home to post my first podcast interview with Jim C. Hines. Who knew I’d like it so well that I’d become a podcaster?

Well, I guess I should have guessed that.

Anyway, please enjoy this interview. Jim’s in great form and talks about a wide variety of subjects. And, you should check out Adventures in Sci-Fi Publishing. They have awesome episodes, and we support our fellow podcasters and friends that way!

And it’s a wrap! Paradise Icon is full!

Deets here.

Find out all about Elizabeth Bonesteel’s new book, The Cold Between, over at Unreliable Narrators.

There’s this Hugo Nominations Podcast at Unreliable Narrators.

And I still have TWO seats for Paradise Icon. Please help me fill them.

Right. So…I’m going to hazard that the spouse and I are REALLY done with the whole food poisoning/after effects of food poisoning thing. I’ve said this prematurely in certain circles, and regretted it, but I really think we’ve got it this time. I’m still, however, very much not eating lettuce for the foreseeable future.

But this is the report to talk about last Monday’s gastroscopy. Since I went all over-reactive in October when we had the first one that revealed dysplasic cells, I thought you should all know that this time not a single intestinal cell was found in Bryon’s stomach. All the biopsies were benign, and the one polyp that was taken out wasn’t even of the cancerous persuasion.

In short, I hoped for a scenario where nothing had changed from October. What we go was a scenario where things actually changed so that the problem is non-existent. We are so blessed. Bryon will go back for a gastroscopy in three years, but we are basically pretending that October is a Marvel What-If comic.

The universe can be a pretty wonderful place in a pretty wonderful way sometimes. You get food poisoning, sure. But your husband isn’t even remotely near stomach cancer after all.

So, that’s my day so far. I hope yours is right up there.

I would have announced this sooner, but what with two major viruses hitting the two of us because of food poisoning, Bryon’s gastroscopy, and my two visits to the emergency room (food poisoning, acid reflux fall out, both probably from the viruses), I have been pretty much just closing my eyes and wanting my life to return to normal.

But a few awesome things have been happening writing-wise. I don’t know if one will pan out, but the other is that I’m pleased to announce that Drabblecast has bought my short story One in Four Adults, the story I wrote about Bryon’s stomach cells that happened to become a werewolf story (yeah, how does that happen?).

Drabblecast is a podcast, so my story will be read by a wonderfully competent person, and I’ll let you know when it’s posted.

While I’m horn tooting, don’t forget to go order Mosaics 2: A Collection of Independent Women, which comes out May 1st. Don’t buy it for my story, which is horribly depressing. Buy it for the other stories and all the good it will do for women around the world through the Pixel Project.