January 12, 2022

Jenn Recommends, Personal, What I’m Reading

2021 Reading Year in Review

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It’s cliche but it’s true: if you want to be a writer, you need to first be a reader. More than just keeping up with current genre trends and studying craft, though, everything we consume as a creative gets woven into our minds and our souls—and you never know when part of that tapestry will work its way into your own work. So it’s nice, at these yearly transitions, to look back at all the things that influenced my own artistic sensibilities in the year 2021. Let’s get into it!

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August 19, 2019

Indie Superhero Summer, Jenn Recommends

Jenn Recommends… Secondhand Origin Stories by Lee Blauersouth - #IndieSuperheroSummer

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Not gonna lie, I loved this book.

I knew I would. Secondhand Origin Stories is the story of four teenagers—three, the children of an elite superhero team called the Sentinels, and the fourth as an aspiring would-be member. Now, I’m a sucker for stories that deal with the long-term effects of a world where superheroes are real, so, right out of the gate it’s got that going for it. But really, I bought this book for the incredible diversity represented within the characters, and oh man, it did not disappoint on that front. This book has most of the LGBTQIA+ spectrum represented, plus some good body-diversity going on, plus a number of disabilities, plus a wide range of racial and cultural backgrounds. Several of the identities are also intersectional, and all of these aspects were handled with what looks from the outside like effortless grace.

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July 22, 2019

Indie Superhero Summer, Jenn Recommends

Jenn Recommends… Cinnamon Blade: Knife in Shining Armor by Shira Glassman - #IndieSuperheroSummer

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This a short little book, so my recommendation of it is going to be, as well.

Listen, I don’t typically gravitate toward novellas. Nothing against the form, really, just—lack of availability at libraries, the desire to spend more time in the story, etc. typically keeps me from diving into them. Still, this one had been on my radar for a while, because well, f/f superheroes? I mean, I think I’m kind of obligated to give it a try, aren’t I?

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June 17, 2019

Indie Superhero Summer, Jenn Recommends

Jenn Recommends: The Crashers by Magen Cubed - #IndieSuperheroSummer

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This is a book that I owned for a long time before reading it, and that was a mistake. I should have read it immediately. I should have sat down and swallowed it whole the instant it was on my Kindle. To think of all the time I wasted, having this book in my library but not in my life… honestly, it’s a goddamn tragedy.

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January 31, 2018

Jenn Recommends, What I’m Reading

Favorite Stories of 2017

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(Shush, it’s still technically January, I can still do year-end retrospectives!)

Let’s be honest: 2017 was a hard year. I had a number of personal highs, sure, but on the whole I will not be looking back on it with any great fondness. So it was important for me to find books and movies and TV series that lifted up my experience, and while I didn’t set any records for quantity of new media consumed, I was overall quite satisfied with my reading/watching choices. Let’s just dive straight in, then, a roundup of my favorite new-to-me fictional worlds.

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