If anyone had told me that I would love a novel about a queer female vampire during the 1500's in France, I would have laughed in their face! However, this book is an absolute page-turner!
Even though I generally don't like vampires, medieval war stories, or fictionalized historical epics, this book really sucked me into its irresistible vortex as Vivienne fights for her country disguised as a man, and comes home with some great skills with a sword.
In this fictionalized universe, she meets Joan of Arc just before her capture and being burned at the stake, and is persuaded to try to stop the infamous witch burnings that are going on all over Europe during this period.
Vivienne Underwood disguises herself as a man to fight alongside Henry V. She returns from Agincourt a seasoned warrior. Joan of Arc charges Vivienne to use her powers for women, not just for king and country. Vivienne wields her sword across centuries of war, witch burnings, and progress for women.
A queer historical vampire novel for readers who believe women grow more powerful with age.
Book One of the Blood Sisters Chronicles. The series continues with Vampires of a Certain Age, available now.
This book is a devastating critique of the damage that has been done in every aspect of the fabric of American society due to the massive lay-offs of our federal government workers by the Trump administration.
Lewis has done a meticulous study of the myriad ways that slashing so many of our federal agencies has harmed both workers and the public. Lewis names names and makes it very personal, showing us how Elon Musk's DOGE boys rapaciously laid off the very people who keep our air and water clean at the EPA, predict and prepare us for hurricanes and floods and fires at FEMA, predict and create vital response plans for infectious diseases at HHS, and protect us from food-borne diseases and dangerous drugs and medical devices at the FDA.
There may be a lot of unnecessary paper-pushers in the federal government, but this book makes it clear that they are not the people that were laid off. Instead, we have lost most of the people who are vital to our nation's health and well-being. We should all be alarmed, as there are no longer any grown-ups in the room. Read it and weep!
Blockers. It wasn't a compliment. In the new Washington, it was the worst thing you could be-especially if you worked in the federal government and wanted to keep your job. A Blocker was a holdover, an impediment, someone who didn't get the message-and, most of all, someone who didn't belong.
Michael Lewis found six of them.
Blockers is the story of people who believed they had a calling, who were convinced they were doing something the country couldn't do without, and then discovered they were no longer wanted. One kept Americans' most sensitive tax data out of the wrong hands…
The title is a serious understatement, as it is a collection of very compelling short stories about people whose problems have caused their lives to become catastrophic disasters. We meet people in these stories who have made some colossally bad decisions which have created cascading pain for themselves and everyone around them.
The authors somehow make these characters all too human, and any reader will see echoes of a particularly bad period of their own life where a challenging situation went from bad to worse. I guess it is not surprising that almost all of these sadly recognizable characters are men, including the carpenter whose job loss leads to binge drinking and a loss of his marriage and his home, two bisexual guys on a fishing trip who befriend a mentally unstable woman and end up in jail, and an unemployed man promoting his spiritual self-help program who sleeps with his best friend’s girlfriend.
For some relief from these not-so-lovable-losers, there are stories about people who seem to be smart (and careful) enough to get away with some questionable behavior, including a middle-aged woman seducing men who she believes will never cross paths with her diplomat husband, and an ostensibly heterosexual Indian psychiatrist who develops an unhealthy obsession with a closeted gay patient. I actually felt guilty about being so thoroughly entertained by these “people with problems.”
The Paris Review asks: who hasn't survived a tax audit, a snowstorm, a break-up, or presided over a murder?
The next addictively clever Paris Review anthology is not a self-help manual; rather it is a wicked elaboration on the human effort to overcome--and instigate--trouble. Throughout these pages you will find men plagued with guilt, women burdened by history, scientists bound by passion, mothers fogged with delusion, and lovers vexed with jealousy. In the theme that encompasses every life, no protagonist--or reader!--is exempt.
Includes contributions from Stephin Merritt, Joanna Scott, Annie Proulx, Ben Okri, Wells Tower, Julie Orringer, Rick Bass Snow…
This book explores a unique group of elders, ages fifty-five and older, who practice some form of consensually nonmonogamous relationships. It covers both the joys and challenges of multiple relationships for elders and explores how their relationships develop and evolve. Polyamorous elders have the complexities of juggling multiple relationships, as well as managing all the issues of aging: managing medical conditions and disabilities (their own and/or their partners’); assuming caregiving responsibilities for aging relatives; grieving the deaths of parents, siblings, and partners; retiring from careers and starting new lives; and potentially moving into some form of senior living. The book can help polyamorous elders and their loved ones, as well as therapists and other professionals, to better understand the concerns and diverse lifestyles of this fascinating group.
