Melanie Lamaga, Writer, Editor, Photographer
Fiction on the Border Between the Real and Unreal
Exploring the Historical Fantastic Karen Joy Fowler is one of the writers who, to me, exemplify the literary fantastic. Her stories crack the shell of history, looking for strange and beautiful pearls. The fantastical elements always seem entirely probable, if mysterious, and serve to deepen our understanding of the human condition. Her writing style is […] Read more »
Drum Roll Please! As Alert Readers know, last month I advertised a giveaway of three $50 Amazon Gift Certificates and some Metaphysical Circus tee-shirts. I am very happy to say that I exceeded my goal of 60 subscribers by the end of July! Thank you to everyone who helped get the word out. The winners […] Read more »
A Postmodern Fairy Tale with a Wicked Sense of Humor “He is surprised to discover how easy it is. The branches part like thighs, the silky petals caress his cheeks. His drawn sword is stained, not with blood, but with dew and pollen. Yet another inflated legend. He has undertaken this great adventure, not for […] Read more »
This very readable book (which won the Nebula Award for Best Novel this year) is part coming of age, part fantasy and part uber-geek love-letter to the classics of science fiction. Much of the drama has already happened before the novel starts. We learn that Morwenna and her twin sister Morganna spent their childhoods playing […] Read more »
An epic magical realist saga of family and country, connecting far-flung dots into a revealing portrait of the first thirty years of India’s independence from Britain. The narrator is Saleem Sinai, the first of 1000 “Midnight’s Children,” born the first hour of August 15, 1947, when India officially became independent of Britain. Saleem is the […] Read more »
Little, Big is a modern classic of fantastic literature, a book that is praised far and wide, and with good reason. It’s a beautifully written, deep meditation on complex and arcane philosophies of magic and metaphysics (from Plato to Rosicrucian and Theosophist) and the challenges of living an ethical life in light of such considerations. […] Read more »
A Light, Engaging tale by a Modern Master of the Fantastic. Written in letters, the book is a sort of fantasy/mystery that centers around the educated, ex-con Bax’s attempts to unravel the supernatural goings on at the mansion he’s been left by a mysterious man. The letters go down like popcorn. No sooner do you […] Read more »
More Great Reading Ahead… I have many of these titles already on my To Be Read List. And now adding a few more! The 2012 Locus Awards Went to: Science Fiction Novel: Embassytown, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan). Fantasy Novel: A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 5), George R.R. Martin […] Read more »
[amazon_image id=”1416558470″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Coyote Blue: A Novel[/amazon_image] This is a comedic novel that plays with the intersection between mythology or religion, depending on your point of view) and consensual reality; between the identities we are born with and those we assume. Sam Hunter is an ace salesman who seems to have everything under […] Read more »
Most people will never read Shakespeare after wading through Romeo and Juliet and maybe Hamlet in high school, and that’s understandable. Elizabethan English is a bit of brain twister. It’s a shame, though, because unlike many greats of the past that we know we should read because it’s good for us, Shakespeare should be read […] Read more »