Once I mentioned how important Gemma Files became to me for her fearless inclusion of strong, gay characters as protagonists in a narrative, which prior to “A Book of Tongues” has featured a binary couple almost exclusively. I can’t speak about every book ever published, but it certainly felt like it was the only book willing to take Weird Western with its tough setting and tough men, definitive symbols of masculinity, and show raw masculinity didn’t suffer from homosexuality. Read More [Women in Genre, Day 25] Anne Lyle and Historical Sexuality
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Anne Lyle
It’s a little known fact amongst casual readers, but the majority of published authors hold down a day-job, or are stay-at-home parents, or have some other responsibility in their life that takes a big chunk of time away from writing. This is particularly tough in a market where an author is often expected to put out at least one novel a year, regardless of how much time they have to work on it. I fit into both these categories – there’s been a roughly 8-10 month gap between the scheduled releases of the three parts of my trilogy – so of course people often ask me, “How do you find time to write?”. Read More Authors Talk Shop: Anne Lyle on Making Time to Write
I made Anne Lyle’s acquaintance at EasterCon in 2011 and thought her a fun, brilliant lady with an interesting concept for her debut novel, which at the time neared its publication date. Though I had The Alchemist of Souls on my radar for quite some time, I only had the chance to read my copy this January. Boy, am I sour for the delay, because the book takes you on a risky adventure, where everyone has his own agenda. Here’s the official blurb in case you want to know about the plot, because I, sure as hell, won’t talk about the story.
“When Tudor explorers returned from the New World, they brought back a name out of half-forgotten Viking legend: skraylings. Red-sailed ships followed in the explorers’ wake, bringing Native American goods—and a skrayling ambassador—to London. But what do these seemingly magical beings really want in Elizabeth I’s capital? Mal Catlyn, a down-at-heel swordsman, is seconded to the ambassador’s bodyguard, but assassination attempts are the least of his problems. What he learns about the skraylings and their unholy powers could cost England her new ally—and Mal his soul.” Read More Thoughts: Sexuality and Gender in “The Alchemist of Souls” by Anne Lyle