It isn’t often that a book makes me actually exclaim aloud while I’m reading it. The turns of plot and turns of phrase in this novel are awe-inspiring.
It’s a fantasy novel set in a place that is just as weird and unhinged as the actual countries, cities, and belief systems that human beings have created. This is one of those books that makes me want to level up as a writer – and I can’t even be jealous about it, because I’m just so happy it exists in the world.
The Saint of Bright Doors sets the high drama of divine revolutionaries and transcendent cults against the mundane struggles of modern life, resulting in a novel that is revelatory and resonant.
Fetter was raised to kill, honed as a knife to cut down his sainted father. This gave him plenty to talk about in therapy.
He walked among invisible powers: devils and anti-gods that mock the mortal form. He learned a lethal catechism, lost his shadow, and gained a habit for secrecy. After a blood-soaked childhood, Fetter escaped his rural hometown for the big city, and fell into a broader…
Umberto Eco’s novels and non-fiction have shaped my life as a writer, and brought me a lot of joy.
His essays unfailingly make me see the world differently; his style is so simple, so intimate, and friendly, that the revelations feel like gentle little gifts along the way.
This collection of essays is based on lectures Eco delivered in Milan in the last 15 years of his life, and they cover several topics touching on art, literature, and philosophy. I listened to this in the car, and after every drive I found myself wanting to talk the latest essay over with someone, and headed to social media to share my thoughts. The narration by Pete Cross is excellent.
A posthumous collection of essays by one of our greatest contemporary thinkers that provides a towering vision of Western culture.
In Umberto Eco's first novel, The Name of the Rose, Nicholas of Morimondo laments, "We no longer have the learning of the ancients, the age of giants is past!" To which the protagonist, William of Baskerville, replies: "We are dwarfs, but dwarfs who stand on the shoulders of those giants, and small though we are, we sometimes manage to see farther on the horizon than they."
On the Shoulders of Giants is a collection of essays based on lectures Eco…
The best re-imaginings, if you ask me, are the ones that feel faithful and daring all at once.
This is an Arthurian novel that features a Valkyrie – both things are always a draw for me – but it’s based in a modern Vancouver. I fell in love with the queer characters, the page-turning story, and the subversive undercurrent asking how we can take ownership of the stories that shape our lives.
Arthurian legends are reborn in this upbeat queer urban fantasy with a mystery at its heart
The knights of the round table are alive in Vancouver, but when one winds up dead, it’s clear the familiar stories have taken a left turn. Hildie, a Valkyrie and the investigator assigned to the case, wants to find the killer ― and maybe figure her life out while she’s at it. On her short list of suspects is Wayne, an autistic college student and the reincarnation of Sir Gawain, who these days is just trying to survive in a world that wasn’t made…
The Valkyrie is a queer, feminist retelling of old legends that inspired Tolkien.
Brynhild is a Valkyrie: shieldmaiden of the All-Father, chooser of the slain. But now she too has fallen, flightless in her exile. Gudrun is a princess of Burgundy, a daughter of the Rhine, a prize for an invading king – a king whose brother Attila has other plans, and a dragon to call upon. And in the songs to be sung, there is another hero: Sigurd, a warrior with a sword sharper than the new moon.
As the legends tell, these names are destined to be rivals, fated as enemies. But here on Midgard, legends can be lies.
