fantasy

  • World Fantasy Awards Nominees 2011

    The World Fantasy Awards were just announced a frew weeks, and it is a doozy of a list! I defy anyone to read the list of nominees for novel of the year and not conclude that these fantasy novels were some of the best literature written this year. The library currently has copies of all the… Continue reading

  • Personalized teen book lists!

    Going on a road trip? Looking for an audiobook that both you and your teen can enjoy? Our teen services librarians are standing by to help. Use our Next 5 Books service to request suggestions for audiobooks that everyone in the family will enjoy. And of course, we’re also happy to suggest beach reads for… Continue reading

  • In honor of Joanna Russ

    In honor of the recent passing of author and critic Joanna Russ, I thought I would put together a short list of just a few of my favorite feminist science fiction and fantasy stories. For those of you who are not familiar with her work, Joanna Russ was one of the most ferocious and fearless… Continue reading

  • Cult Classics: Into the Dark

    Strange things lurk in dark places. Another helping of titles that our readers keep coming back for, year after year. Andrews, V.C. Flowers in the Attic Shocking carnal secrets; torments of the body and the mind; for the Dollangangers, it’s all in the family. After 30 years, this lurid gothic tale is still going strong.… Continue reading

  • What to read while waiting for A Game of Thrones

    It’s hard to believe it’s been a decade since the Lord of the Rings hit theaters, and the world was instantly smitten with High Fantasy–visions of hobbits dancing through our heads! If you loved Tolkien’s Middle Earth and always craved something more after devouring the books, then HBO’s new adaptation of George R. R. Martin’s A… Continue reading

  • Books By People You’ve Probably Never Heard Of, Part II

    It’s hard out there for young writers. The only houses that will house them are small, indie enterprises full of energy but lacking funds, and readers are scared by untested virtue. Be scared no longer sovereign readers! I will test your books for poison. Eat up! The Orange Eats Creeps by Grace Krilanovich There is… Continue reading

  • Books for Giving 2010 — Teen Books, Part 2

    Wondering what to get the teen(s) on your list this year? This post is the second in a two-part series of recently published books for teens recommended by three youth services librarians at The Seattle Public Library. Hayden’s picks (continued): Smile by Raina Telgemeier One night, 6th-grader Raina and her friends decide to race to… Continue reading

  • Paralyzed by anticipation

    The book is sitting on my bedside table.  Its been there, unopened, for two weeks already. I pick it up every evening. It mesmerizes me. And it paralyzes me. For my entire adult life I’ve been reading Terry Pratchett.  His amazingly inventive sardonic wit has caused me endless embarrassment as I laughed out loud in restaurants, on… Continue reading

  • Yelling librarians confront book worms

    In Blake Charlton’s Spellwright, if you can’t spell right, you can’t become a spellwright at the wizard school in Starhaven, where Nicodemus Weal lives. He has a unique disability: every spell he touches goes wrong, partly because he can’t spell the words written in his body, and partly because a piece of his soul lies… Continue reading

  • Book Review: Changes by Jim Butcher

    In Changes, the newest novel by Jim Butcher, wizard-for-hire Harry Dresden learns that he has an eight-year-old daughter who has been kidnapped by some seriously evil vampires.  In the race to save the girl, Harry faces dangerous old enemies and makes some hard decisions that will irrevocably alter his fate — and even change the… Continue reading

  • ‘Tis (almost) the season for new books: Urban fantasies for 2010

    My favorite thing about the last part of any year is book anticipation.  Readers of urban fantasy know that the new year brings with it fresh installments in all our favorite series, and usually, these books arrive in stores (and libraries!) within the first  four months of the calendar year.  I have a very full… Continue reading

  • Magic in the Blood – still magic?

    Magic in the Blood is the second book in Devon Monk’s Allie Beckstrom series (after Magic to the Bone). This time around, there are ghosts causing trouble in Portland, OR and Allie keeps running into them as she tries to track down a couple missing girls for the police. Although this second installment in the series isn’t quite… Continue reading

  • More Summer Staff Favorites for Children: Fantasy Chapter Books

    Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep by Eleanor Farjeon J FARJEON Elsie Piddock was a born skipper from the age of three and, by the time she was seven, the fairies had heard of her.  They taught her the most fantastical skips anyone ever saw.  As Elsie grows older, her skipping is almost forgotten, becoming… Continue reading

  • Great Fantasy Audiobooks for the Road

    Parents everywhere are looking for solutions to their annual summer dilemma…  “How do we find audiobooks that the entire family – adults included – can enjoy for that long car/airplane/boat trip?”  Here are a few suggestions that are guaranteed to entertain:  The Amulet of Samarkand, by Johnathan Stroud Read by Simon Jones CDJ St892A Nathaniel,… Continue reading

  • Chris McGrath: Cover artist

    Despite my commitment one of the library’s favorite adages, “don’t judge a book by its cover,” I have learned that following a particular cover artist can lead the way to new and exciting titles in similar genres and sub-genres. For instance, if you’ve read any urban fantasy, you’ve probably run across some seriously cool covers created… Continue reading

  • Book review: Ghouls Just Haunt to Have Fun

    In Ghouls Just Haunt to Have Fun by Victoria Laurie, ghost-hunting medium MJ Holliday signs on to film a reality TV series centered around her paranormal talent. When a murderer strikes at the hotel where MJ and her crew are staying (and where the TV show is set to be filmed), it quickly becomes apparent… Continue reading

  • Book review: Pure Blood by Caitlin Kittredge

    Washington author Caitlin Kittredge (she lives in Olympia) takes readers on another trip to Nocturne City. In Pure Blood, the second book in her series about werewolf Luna Wilde, bodies of dead drug addicts are turning up around town. Luna knows these people are more than just victims of overdoses, and when the son of… Continue reading

  • Looking for ornery fae in the Tri-Cities

    Moon Called by Patricia Briggs tells the story of Mercy Thompson, an auto-mechanic in the Tri-Cities who can turn into a coyote at will. Mercy’s world is full of ornery fae, egocentric werewolves, and quirky, creepy vampires, all more supernaturally powerful than her. If Mercy can keep her head down and her mouth shut, she… Continue reading